Chapter GAMBIER to GARDEE of G by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

iii. 394v.

c. 1567.—“The current money that is in this Citie, and throughout all this kingdom, is called Gansa or Ganza, which is made of copper and lead. It is not the money of the king, but every man may stampe it that will.…”—Caesar Frederick, E.T., in Purchas, iii. 1717–18.

1726.—“Rough Peguan Gans (a brass mixt with lead).…”—Valentijn, Chor. 34.

1727.—“Plenty of Ganse or Lead, which passeth all over the Pegu Dominions, for Money.”—A. Hamilton, ii. 41; [ed. 1744, ii. 40].

GARCE, s. A cubic measure for rice, &c., in use on the Madras coast, as usual varying much in value. Buchanan (infra) treats it as a weight. The word is Tel. garisa, garise, Can. garasi, Tam. karisai. [In Chingleput salt is weighed by the Garce of 124 maunds, or nearly 5 152 tons (Crole, Man. 58); in Salem, 400 Markals (see MERCALL) are 185·2 cubic feet, or 18 quarters English (Le Fanu, Man. ii. 329); in Malabar, 120 Paras of 25 Macleod seers, or 10,800 lbs. (Logan, Man. ii. clxxix.). As a superficial measure in the N. Circars, it is the area which will produce one Garce of grain.]

[1684–5.—“A Generall to Conimeer of this day date enordring them to provide 200 gars of salt.…”—Pringle, Diary Ft. St. Geo. 1st ser. iv. 40, who notes that a still earlier use of the word will be found in Notes and Exts. i. 97.]

1752.—“Grain Measures.

1	Measure weighs about	26 lb.	1 oz. avd.
8	Do. is 1 Mercal	21	1 oz. avd.
3200	Do. is 400 do. or	8400	1 oz. avd.
1	Garse

    Brooks, Weights and Measures, &c., p. 6.
1759.—“… a garce of rice.…”—In Dalrymple, Or. Rep. i. 120.

1784.—“The day that advice was received … (of peace with Tippoo) at Madras, the price of rice fell there from 115 to 80 pagodas the garce.”—In Seton-Karr, i. 13.

1807.—“The proper native weights used in the Company’s Jaghire are as follows: 10 Vara hun (Pagodas)=1 Polam, 40 Polams =1 Visay, 8 Visay (Vees)=1 Manungu, 20 Manungus (Maunds)=1 Baruays, 20 Baruays (Candies)=1 Gursay, called by the English Garse. The Vara hun or Star Pagoda weighs 52m grains, therefore the Visay is nearly three pounds avoirdupois (see VISS); and the Garse is nearly 1265 lbs.”—F. Buchanan, Mysore, &c., i. 6.

By this calculation, the Garse should be 9600 lbs. instead of 1265 as printed.

GARDEE, s. A name sometimes given, in 18th century, to native soldiers disciplined in European fashion, i.e. sepoys (q.v.). The Indian Vocabulary (1788) gives: “Gardee—a tribe inhabiting the provinces of Bijapore, &c., esteemed good foot soldiers.” The word may be only a corruption of ‘guard,’ but probably the origin assigned in the second quotation may be well founded; ‘Guard’ may have shaped the corruption of Gharbi. The old Bengal sepoys were commonly known in the N.W. as Purbias or Easterns (see POORUB). [Women in the Amazon corps at Hyderabad (Deccan), known as the Zafar Paltan, or ‘Victorious Battalion,’ were called gardunee (Gardani), the feminine form of Garad or Guard.]

1762.—“A coffre who commanded the Telingas and Gardees…asked the horseman whom the horse belonged to?”…Native Letter, in Van Sittart, i. 141.

1786.—“…originally they (Sipahis) were commanded by Arabians, or those of their descendants born in the Canara and Concan or Western parts of India, where those foreigners style themselves Gharbies or Western. Moreover these corps were composed mostly of Arabs, Negroes, and Habissinians, all of which bear upon that coast the same name of Gharbi.…In time the word Gharbi was corrupted by both the French and Indians into that of Gardi, which is now the general name of Sipahies all over India save Bengal…where they are stiled Talingas.”—Note by Transl. of Seir Mutaqherin, ii. 93.

[1815.—“The women composing them are called Gardunees, a corruption of our word Guard.”—Blacker, Mem. of the Operations in India in 1817-19, p. 213 note.]