Chapter BABOON to BADJOE of B by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

BABOON to BADJOE

BABOON, s. This, no doubt, comes to us through the Ital. babuino; but it is probable that the latter word is a corruption of Pers. maimun [‘the auspicious one’], and then applied by way of euphemism or irony to the baboon or monkey. It also occurs in Ital. under the more direct form of maimone in gatto- maimone, ‘cat-monkey,’ or rather ‘monkey-cat.’ [The N.E.D. leaves the origin of the word doubtful, and does not discuss this among other suggested derivations.]

BACANORE and BARCELORE, nn.pp. Two ports of Canara often coupled together in old narratives, but which have entirely disappeared from modern maps and books of navigation, insomuch that it is not quite easy to indicate their precise position. But it would seem that Bacanore, Malayal. Vakkanur, is the place called in Canarese Barkur, the Barcoor-pettah of some maps, in lat. 13° 28½’. This was the site of a very old and important city, “the capital of the Jain kings of Tulava. … and subsequently a stronghold of the Vijiyanagar Rajas.”—Imp. Gazet. [Also see Stuart, Man. S. Canara, ii. 264.]

Also that Barcelore is a Port. corruption of Basrur [the Canarese Basaruru, ‘the town of the waved-leaf fig tree.’ (Mad. Adm. Man. Gloss, s.v.).] It must have stood immediately below the ‘Barsilur Peak’ of the Admiralty charts, and was apparently identical with, or near to, the place called Seroor in Scott’s Map of the Madras Presidency, in about lat. 13° 55’. [See Stuart, ibid. ii. 242. Seroor is perhaps the Shirur of Mr Stuart (ibid. p. 243).]

c. 1330.—“Thence (from Hannaur) the traveller came to Basarur, a small city. …” —Abulfeda, in Gildemeister, 184.

c. 1343.—“The first town of Mulaibar that we visited was Abu-Sarur, which is small, situated on a great estuary, and abounding in coco-nut trees. … Two days after our departure from that town we arrived at Fakanur, which is large and situated on an estuary. One sees there an abundance of sugar- cane, such as has no equal in that country.”—Ibn Batuta, iv. 77–78.

c. 1420.—“Duas praeterea ad maritimas urbes, alteram Pachamuriam … nomine, xx diebus transiit.”—Conti, in Poggius de Var. Fort. iv.

1501.—“Bacanut,” for Bacanur, is named in Amerigo Vespucci’s letter, giving an account of Da Gama’s discoveries, first published by Baldelli Boni, H. Milione, pp. liii. seqq.

1516.—“Passing further forward. … along the coast, there are two little rivers on which stand two places, the one called Bacanor, and the other Bracalor, belonging to the kingdom of Narsyngua and the province of Tolinate (Tulu-nada, Tuluva or S. Canara). And in them is much good rice grown round about these places, and this is loaded in many foreign ships and in many of Malabar. …”—Barbosa, in Lisbon Coll. 294.

1548.—“The Port of the River of Barcalor pays 500 loads (of rice as tribute).”—Botelho, Tombo, 246.

1552.—“Having dispatched this vessel, he (V. da Gama) turned to follow his voyage, desiring to erect the padrao (votive pillar) of which we have spoken; and not finding a place that pleased him better, he erected one on certain islets joined (as it were) to the land, giving it the name of Sancta Maria, whence these islands are now called Saint Mary’s Isles, standing between Bacanor and Baticalá, two notable places on that coast.”—De Barros, I. iv. 11.

„ “… the city Onor, capital of the kingdom, Baticalá, Bendor, Bracelor, Bacanor.”—Ibid. I. ix. 1.

1726.—“In Barseloor or Basseloor have we still a factory … a little south of Basseloor lies Baquanoor and the little River Vier.”—Valentijn, v. (Malabar) 6.

1727.—“The next town to the Southward of Batacola [Batcul] is Barceloar, standing on the Banks of a broad River about 4 Miles from the Sea …. The Dutch have a Factory here, only to bring up Rice for their Garrisons. … Baccanoar and Molkey lie between Barceloar and Mangalore, both having the benefit of Rivers to export the large quantities of Rice that the Fields produce.”—A. Hamilton, i. 284-5. [Molkey is Mulki, see Stuart, op. cit. ii. 259.]

1780.—“St Mary’s Islands lie along the coast N. and S. as far as off the river of Bacanor, or Callianpoor, being about 6 leagues … In lat. 13° 50’ N., 5 leagues from Bacanor, runs the river Barsalor.”—Dunn’s N. Directory, 5th ed. 105.

1814.—“Barcelore, now frequently called Cundapore.”—Forbes, Or. Mem. iv. 109, also see 113; [2nd ed. II. 464].

BACKDORE, s. H. bag-dor (‘bridle-cord’); a halter or leading rein.

BACKSEE. Sea H. baksi: nautical ‘aback,’ from which it has been formed (Roebuck).

BADEGA, n.p. The Tamil Vadagar, i.e. ‘Northerners.’ The name has at least two specific applications:

a. To the Telegu people who invaded the Tamil country from the kingdom of Vijayanagara (the Bisnaga or Narsinga of the Portuguese and old travellers) during the later Middle Ages, but especially in the