Chapter BAHIRWUTTEEA to BALCONY of B by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

cx.

1516.—“These balasses are found in Balaxayo, which is a kingdom of the mainland near Pegu and Bengal.”—Barbosa, 213. This is very bad geography for Barbosa, who is usually accurate and judicious, but it is surpassed in much later days.

1581.—“I could never understand from whence those that be called Balassi come.”—Caesar Fredericke, in Hakl. ii. 372.

[1598.—“The Ballayeses are likewise sold by weight.”—Linschoten, Hak. Soc. ii. 156.]

1611.—“Of Ballace Rubies little and great, good and bad, there are single two thousand pieces” (in Akbar’s treasury).—Hawkins, in Purchas, i. 217.

[1616.—“Fair pearls, Ballast rubies.”—Foster, Letters, iv. 243.]

1653.—“Les Royaumes de Pegou, d’où viennent les rubis balets.”—De la Boullaye-le-Gouz, 126.

1673.—“The last sort is called a Ballace Ruby, which is not in so much esteem as the Spinell, because it is not so well coloured.”—Fryer, 215.

1681.—“…ay ciertos balaxes, que llmana candidos, que son como los diamantes.”—Martinez de la Puente, 12.

1689.—“…The Balace Ruby is supposed by some to have taken its name from Palatium, or Palace;…. the most probable Conjecture is that of Marcus Paulus Venetus, that it is borrow’d from the Country, where they are found in greatest Plentie….”—Orington, 588.

BALCONY, S. Not an Anglo-Indian word, but sometimes regarded as of Oriental origin; a thing more than doubtful. The etymology alluded to by Mr. Schuyler and by the lamented William Gill in the quotations below, is not new, though we do not know who first suggested it. Neither do we know whether the word balagani, which Erman (Tr. in Siberia, E. T. i. 115) tells us is the name given to the wooden booths at the Nijnei Fair, be the same P. word or no. Wedgwood, Littré, [and the N.E.D.] connect balcony with the word which appears in English as balk, and with the Italian balco, ‘a scaffolding’ and the like, also used for ‘a box’ at the play. Balco, as well as palco, is a form occurring in early Italian. Thus Franc. da Buti, commenting on Dante (1385–87), says: “Balco è luogo alto doue si monta e scende.” Hence naturally would be formed balcone, which we have in Giov. Villani, in Boccaccio and in Petrarch. Manuzzi (Vocabolario It.) defines balcone as=finestra (?).

It may be noted as to the modern pronunciation that whilst ordinary mortals (including among versewriters Scott and Lockhart, Tennyson and Hood) accent the word as a dactyl (balcony), the crême de la crême, if we are not mistaken, makes it, or did in the last generation make it, as Cowper does below, an amphibrach (bâlcõny): “Xanthus his name with those of heavenly birth, But called Scamander by the sons of earth!” [According to the N.E.D. the present pronunciation, “which,” said Sam. Rogers, “makes me sick,” was established about 1825.]

c. 1348.—“E al continuo v’era pieno di belle donne a’ balconi.”—Giov. Villani, x. 132–4.

c. 1340–50.—

“Il figliuol di Latona avea già nove
Volte guardato dal balcon sovrano,
Per quella, ch’alcun tempo mosse
I suoi sospir, ed or gli altrui commove in vano.”

Petrarca, Rime, Pte. i. Sonn. 35, ed. Pisa, 1805.

c. 1340–50.—

“Ma si com’ uom talor che piange, a parte
Vede cosa che gli occhi, e ’l cor alletta,
Così colei per ch’io son in prigione
Standosi ad un balcone,
Che fù sola a’ suoi di cosa perfetta
Cominciai a mirar con tale desío
Che me stesso, e ’l mio mal pose in oblío:
I’era in terra, e ’l cor mio in Paradiso.”

Petrarca, Rime, Pte. ii. Canzone 4.

1645–52.—“When the King sits to do Justice, I observe that he comes into the Balcone that looks into the Piazza.”—Tavernier, E. T. ii. 64; [ed. Ball, i. 152].

1667.—“And be it further enacted, That in the Front of all Houses, hereafter to be erected in any such Streets as by Act of Common Council shall be declared to be High Streets, Balconies Four Foot broad with Rails and Bars of Iron…shall be placed..…”—Act 19 Car. II., cap. 3, sect. 13. (Act for Rebuilding the City of London.)

1783.

“At Edmonton his loving wife
From the balcõny spied
Her tender husband, wond’ring much
To see how he did ride.”