Chapter BAHIRWUTTEEA to BALCONY of B by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

chillies, salt, garlic, tamarind juice, &c.]

1883.—“…blachang—a Malay preparation much relished by European lovers of decomposed cheese…”—Miss Bird, Golden Chersonese, 96.

BALAGHAUT, used as n.p.; P. bala, ‘above,’ H. Mahr., &c., ghat, ‘a pass,’—the country ‘above the passes,’ i.e. above the passes over the range of mountains which we call the “Western Ghauts.” The mistaken idea that ghat means ‘mountains’ causes Forbes to give a nonsensical explanation, cited below. The expression may be illustrated by the old Scotch phrases regarding “below and above the Pass” of so and so, implying Lowlands and Highlands.

c. 1562.—“All these things were brought by the Moors, who traded in pepper which they brought from the hills where it grew, by land in Bisnega, and Balagate, and Cambay.”—Correa, ed. Ld. Stanley, Hak. Soc. p. 344.

1563.—“R. Let us get on horseback and go for a ride; and as we go you shall tell me what is the meaning of Nizamosha (Nizamaluco), for you often speak to me of such a person.

“O. I will tell you now that he is King in the Bagalate (misprint for Balagate), whose father I have often attended medically, and the son himself sometimes. From him I have received from time to time more than 12,000 pardaos; and he offered me a salary of 40,000 pardaos if I would visit him for so many months every year, but I would not accept.”—Garcia de Orta, f. 33v.

1598.—“This high land on the toppe is very flatte and good to build upon, called Balagatte.”—Linschoten, 20; [Hak. Soc. i. 65; cf. i. 235].

“Ballagate, that is to say, above the hill, for Balla is above, and Gate is a hill….”—Ibia. 49; [Hak. Soc. i. 169].

1614.—“The coast of Coromandel, Balagatt or Telingana.”—Sainsbury, i. 301.

1666.—“Balagate est une des riches Provinces du Grand Mogol…. Elle est au midi de celle de Candich.”—Thevenot, v. 216.

1673.—“…opening the ways to Baligaot, that Merchants might with safety bring down their Goods to Port.”—Fryer, 78.

c. 1760.—“The Ball-a-gat Mountains, which are extremely high, and so called from Bal, mountain, and gatt, flat [!], because one part of them affords large and delicious plains on their summit, little known to Europeans.”—Grose, i. 231.

This is nonsense, but the following are also absurd misdescriptions:—

1805.—“Bala Ghaut, the higher or upper Gaut or Ghaut, a range of mountains so called to distinguish them from the Payen Ghauts, the lower Ghauts or Passes.”—Dict. of Words used in E. Indies, 28.

1813.—“In some parts this tract is called the Balla-Gaut, or high mountains; to distinguish them from the lower Gaut, nearer the sea.”—Forbes, Or, Mem. i. 206; [2nd ed. i. 119].

BALASORE, n.p. A town and district of Orissa; the site of one of the earliest English factories in the “Bay,” established in 1642, and then an important seaport; supposed to be properly Balesvara, Skt. bala, ‘strong,’ isvara, ‘lord,’ perhaps with reference to Krishna. Another place of the same name in Madras, an isolated peak, 6762’ high, lat. 11° 41’ 43”, is said to take its name from the Asura Bana.

1676.—

“When in the vale of Balaser I fought,
And from Bengal the captive Monarch brought.”

Dryden, Aurungzebe, ii. 1.

1727.—“The Sea-shore of Balasore being very low, and the Depths of Water very gradual from the Strand, make Ships in Ballasore Road keep a good Distance from the Shore; for in 4 or 5 Fathoms, they ride 3 Leagues off.”—A. Hamilton, i. 397.

BALASS, s. A kind of ruby, or rather a rose-red spinelle. This is not an Anglo-Indian word, but it is a word of Asiatic origin, occurring frequently in old travellers. It is a corruption of Balakhshi, a popular form of Badakhshi, because these rubies came from the famous mines on the Upper Oxus, in one of the districts subject to Badakhshan. [See Vambéry, Sketches, 255; Ball, Tavernier, i. 382 n.] c. 1350.—“The mountains of Badakhshan have given their name to the Badakhshi ruby, vulgarly called al-Balakhsh.”—Ibn Batuta, iii. 59, 394.

14 04.—“Tenia (Tamerlan) vestido vna ropa et vn paño de seda raso sin lavores ee la cabeça tenia vn sombrero blãco alto con un Balax en cima e con aljofar e piedras.”—Clavijo, §