Chapter KIDDERPORE to KINCOB of K by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

KIDDERPORE to KINCOB

KIDDERPORE, n.p. This is the name of a suburb of Calcutta, on the left bank of the Hoogly, a little way south of Fort William, and is the seat of the Government Dockyard. This establishment was formed in the 18th century by Gen. Kyd, “after whom,” says the Imperial Gazetteer, “the village is named.” This is the general belief, and was mine [H.Y.] till recently, when I found from the chart and directions in the English Pilot of 1711 that the village of Kidderpore (called in the same chart Kitherepore) then occupied the same position, i.e. immediately below “Gobarnapore” and that immediately below “Chittanutte” (i.e. Govindpur and Chatanati (see CHUTTANUTTY).

1711.—“… then keep Rounding Chitti Poe (Chitpore) Bite down to Chitty Nutty Point (see CHUTTANUTTY). … The Bite below Gover Napore (Govindpur) is Shoal, and below the Shoal is an Eddy; therefore from Gover Napore, you must stand over to the Starboard-Shore, and keep it aboard till you come up almost with the Point opposite to Kiddery-pore, but no longer. …”—The English Pilot, p. 65.

KIL, s. Pitch or bitumen. Tam. and Mal. kil, Ar. kir, Pers. kir and kil. c. 1330.—“In Persia are some springs, from which flows a kind of pitch which is called kic (read kir) (pix dico seu pegua), with which they smear the skins in which wine is carried and stored.”—Friar Jordanus, p. 10.

c. 1560.—“These are pitched with a bitumen which they call quil, which is like pitch.”—Correa, Hak. Soc. 240.

KILLADAR, s. P.—H. kil’adar, from Ar. kal’a, ‘a fort.’ The commandant of a fort, castle, or garrison. The Ar. kal’a is always in India pronounced kil’a. And it is possible that in the first quotation Ibn Batuta has misinterpreted an Indian title; taking it as from Pers. kilid, ‘a key.’ It may be noted with reference to kal’a that this Ar. word is generally represented in Spanish names by Alcala, a name borne by nine Spanish towns entered in K. Johnstone’s Index Geographicus; and in Sicilian ones by Calata, e.g. Calatafimi, Caltanissetta, Caltagirone.

c. 1340.—“… Kadhi Khan, Sadr-al-Jihan, who became the chief of the Amirs, and had the title of Kalit- dar, i.e. Keeper of the keys of the Palace. This officer was accustomed to pass every night at the Sultan’s door, with the bodyguard.”—Ibn Batuta, iii. 196.

1757.—“The fugitive garrison … returned with 500 more, sent by the Kellidar of Vandiwash.”—Orme, ed. 1803, ii. 217.

1817.—“The following were the terms … that Arni should be restored to its former governor or Killedar.”—Mill, iii. 340.

1829.—“Among the prisoners captured in the Fort of Hattrass, search was made by us for the Keeledar.”—Mem. of John Shipp, ii. 210.

KILLA-KOTE, s. pl. A combination of Ar.—P. and Hind. words for a fort (kil’a for kal’a, and kto), used in Western India to imply the whole fortifications of a territory (R. Drummond).

KILLUT, KILLAUT, &c., s. Ar.—H. khil’at. A dress of honour presented by a superior on ceremonial occasions; but the meaning is often extended to the whole of a ceremonial present of that nature, of whatever it may consist. [The Ar. khil-a’h properly means ‘what a man strips from his person.’ “There were (among the later Moguls) five degrees of khila’t, those of three, five, six, or seven pieces; or they might as a special mark of favour consist of clothes that the emperor had actually worn.” (See for further details Mr. Irvine in J.R.A.S., N.S., July 1896, p. 533).] The word has in Russian been degraded to mean the long loose gown which forms the most common dress in Turkistan, called generally by Schuyler ‘a dressing - gown’ (Germ. Schlafrock). See Fraehn, Wolga Bulgaren, p. 43.

1411.—“Several days passed in sumptuous feasts. Khil’ats and girdles of royal magnificence were distributed.”—Abdurazzak, in Not. et Exts. xiv. 209.

1673.—“Sir George Oxenden held it. … He defended himself and the Merchants so bravely, that he had a Collat or Seerpaw, (q.v.) a Robe of Honour from Head to Foot, offered him from the Great Mogul.”—Fryer, 87.

1676.—“This is the Wardrobe, where the Royal Garments are kept; and from whence the King sends for the Calaat, or a whole Habit for a Man, when he would honour any Stranger. …”—Tavernier, E.T. ii. 46; [ed. Ball, ii. 98].

1774.—“A flowered satin gown was brought me, and I was dressed in it as a khilat.”—Bogle, in Markham’s Tibet, 25.

1786.—“And he the said Warren Hastings did send kellauts, or robes of honour (the most public and distinguished mode of acknowledging merit known in India) to the said ministers in testimony of his approbation of