Chapter KEDGEREE to KHAKEE of K by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

KEDGEREE to KHAKEE

KEDGEREE, n.p. Khijiri or Kijari, a village and police station on the low lands near the mouth of the Hoogly, on the west bank, and 68 miles below Calcutta. It was formerly well known as a usual anchorage of the larger Indiamen.

1683.—“This morning early we weighed anchor with the tide of Ebb, but having little wind, got no further than the Point of Kegaria Island.”—Hedges, Diary, Jan. 26; [Hak. Soc. i. 64].

1684.—“Sign^r Nicolo Pareres, a Portugall Merchant, assured me their whole community had wrott y^e Vice King of Goa … to send them 2 or 3 Frigates with … Soldiers to possess themselves of ye Islands of Kegeria and Ingellee.”—Ibid. Dec. 17; [Hak. Soc. i. 172].

1727.—“It is now inhabited by Fishers, as are also Ingellie and Kidgerie, two neighbouring Islands on the West Side of the Mouth of the Ganges.”—A. Hamilton, ii. 2; [ed. 1744]. (See HIDGELEE.)

1753.—“De l’autre côté de l’entré, les rivières de Cajori et de L’Ingeli (see HIDGELEE), puis plus au large la rivière de Pipli et celle de Balasor (see BALASORE), sont avec Tombali (see TUMLOOK), rivière mentionné plus haut, et qu’on peut ajouter ici, des dérivations d’un grand fleuve, dont le nom de Ganga lui est commun avec le Gange. … Une carte du Golfe de Bengale inserée dans Blaeu, fera même distinguer les rivières d’Ingeli et de Cajori (si on prend la peine de l’examiner) comme des bras du Ganga.”—D’Anville, p. 66.

As to the origin of this singular error, about a river Ganga flowing across India from W. to E., see some extracts under GODAVERY. The Rupnarain River, which joins the Hoogly from the W. just above Diamond Harbour, is the grand fleuve here spoken of. The name Gunga or Old Gunga is applied to this in charts late in the 18th century. It is thus mentioned by A. Hamilton, 1727: “About five leagues farther up on the West Side of the River of Hughly, is another Branch of the Ganges, called Ganga, it is broader than that of the Hughly, but much shallower.”—ii. 3; [ed. 1744].

KEDGEREE-POT, s. A vulgar expression for a round pipkin such as is in common Indian use, both for holding water and for cooking purposes. (See CHATTY.)

1811.—“As a memorial of such misfortunes, they plant in the earth an oar bearing a cudgeri, or earthen pot.”—Solvyns, Les Hindous, iii.

1830.—“Some natives were in readiness with a small raft of Kedgeree- pots, on which the palkee was to be ferried over.”—Mem. of Col. Mountain, 110.

KENNERY, n.p. The site of a famous and very extensive group of cave-temples on the Island of Salsette, near Bombay, properly Kanheri.

1602.—“Holding some conversation with certain very aged Christians, who had been among the first converts there of Padre Fr. Antonio do Porto, … one of them, who alleged himself to be more than 120 years old, and who spoke Portuguese very well, and read and wrote it, and was continually reading the Flos Sanctorum, and the Lives of the Saints, assured me that without doubt the work of the Pagoda of Canari was made under the orders of the father of Saint Josafat the Prince, whom Barlaam converted to the Faith of Christ. …”—Couto, VII. iii. cap. 10.

1673.—“Next Morn before Break of Day we directed our steps to the anciently fam’d, but now ruin’d City of Canorein … all cut out of a Rock,” &c.—Fryer, 71–72.

1825.—“The principal curiosities of Salsette … are the cave temples of Kennery. These are certainly in every way remarkable, from their number, their beautiful situation, their elaborate carving, and their marked connection with Buddh and his religion.”—Heber, ii. 130.

KERSEYMERE, s. This is an English draper’s term, and not Anglo-Indian. But it is through forms like cassimere (also in English use), a corruption of cashmere, though the corruption has been shaped by the previously existing English word kersey for a kind of woollen cloth, as if kersey were one kind and kerseymere another, of similar goods. Kersey is given by Minsheu (2nd ed. 1627), without definition, thus: “Bersie cloth, G. (i.e. French) carizé.” The only word like the last given by Littré is “Carisil, sorte de canevas.” … This does not apply to kersey, which appears to be represented by “Creseau—Terme de Commerce; étoffe de laine croissée à deux envers; etym. croiser.” Both words are probably connected with croiser or with carré. Planché indeed (whose etymologies are generally worthless) says: “made originally at Kersey, in Suffolk, whence its name.” And he adds, equal to the occasion, “Kerseymere, so named from the position of the original factory on the mere, or water which runs through the village of Kersey” (!) Mr. Skeat, however, we see, thinks that Kersey, in Suffolk, is perhaps the origin of the word Kersey: [and