Chapter KING-CROW to KITMUTGAR of K by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

—Moore, Mokanna.

1821.—“We are to keep a small force at Kishmi, to make descents and destroy boats and other means of maritime war, whenever any symptoms of piracy reappear.”—Elphinstone, in Life, ii. 121.

See also BASSADORE.

KISHMISH, s. Pers. Small stone-less raisins originally imported from Persia. Perhaps so called from the island Kishm. Its vines are mentioned by Arrian, and by T. Moore ! (See under KISHM.) [For the manufacture of Kishmish in Afghanistan, see Watt, Econ. Dict. VI. pt. iv. 284.]

[c. 1665.—“Usbec being the country which principally supplies Delhi with these fruits. … Kichmiches, or raisins, apparently without stones. …”—Bernier, ed. Constable, 118.]

1673.—“We refreshed ourselves an entire Day at Gerom, where a small White Grape, without any Stone, was an excellent Cordial … they are called Kismas Grapes, and the Wine is known by the same Name farther than where they grow.”—Fryer, 242.

1711.—“I could never meet with any of the Kishmishes before they were turned. These are Raisins, a size less than our Malagas, of the same Colour, and without Stones.”—Lockyer, 233.

1883.—“Kishmish, a delicious grape, of white elongated shape, also small and very sweet, both eaten and used for wine-making. When dried this is the Sultana raisin. …”—Wills, Modern Persia, 171.

KISSMISS, s. Native servant’s word for Christmas. But that festival is usually called Bara din, ‘the great day.’ (See BURRA DIN.)

KIST, s. Ar. kist. The yearly land revenue in India is paid by instalments which fall due at different periods in different parts of the country ; each such instalment is called a kist, or quota. [The settlement of these instalments is kist-bandi.]

[1767.—“This method of comprising the whole estimate into so narrow a compass … will convey to you a more distinct idea … than if we transmitted a monthly account of the deficiency of each person’s Kistbundee.”—Verclst, View of Bengal, App. 56.]

1809.—“Force was always requisite to make him pay his Kists or tribute.”—Ld. Valentia, i. 347.

1810.—“The heavy Kists or collections of Bengal are from August to September.”—Williamson, V. M. ii. 498.

1817.—“ ‘So desperate a malady,’ said the President, ‘requires a remedy that shall reach its source. And I have no hesitation in stating my opinion that there is no mode of eradicating the disease, but by removing the original cause; and placing these districts, which are pledged for the security of the Kists, beyond the reach of his Highness’s management.’ ”—Mill, vi. 55.

KITMUTGAR, s. Hind. khidmatgar, from Ar.—P. khidmat, ‘service,’ therefore ‘one rendering service.’ The Anglo-Indian use is peculiar to the Bengal Presidency, where the word is habitually applied to a Musulman servant, whose duties are connected with serving meals and waiting at table under the Consumah, if there be one. Kismutgar is a vulgarism, now perhaps obsolete. The word is spelt by Hadley in his Grammar (see under MOORS) khuzmutgâr. In the word khidmat, as in khil’at (see KILLUT), the terminal t in uninflected Arabic has long been dropt, though retained in the form in which these words have got into foreign tongues.

1759.—The wages of a Khedmutgar appear as 3 Rupees a month.—In Long, p. 182.

1765.—“… they were taken into the service of Soujah Dowlah as immediate attendants on his person; Hodjee (see HADJEE) in capacity of his first Kistmutgar (or valet).”—Holwell, Hist. Events, &c., i. 60.

1782.—“I therefore beg to caution strangers against those race of vagabonds who ply about them under the denomination of Consumahs and Kismutdars.”—Letter in India Gazette, Sept. 28.

1784.—“The Bearer … perceiving a quantity of blood … called to the Hookaburdar and a Kistmutgar.”—In Seton- Karr, i. 13.

1810.—“The Khedmutgar, or as he is often termed, the Kismutgar, is with very few exceptions, a Mussulman; his business is to … wait at table.”—Williamson, V. M. i. 212.

c. 1810.—“The Kitmutgaur, who had attended us from Calcutta, had done his work, and made his harvests, though in no very large way, of the ‘Tazee Willant’ or white people.”—Mrs. Sherwood, Autobiog. 283. The phrase in italics stands for tazi Wilayati (see BILAYUT), “fresh or green Europeans”—Griffins (q.v.).

1813.—“We … saw nothing remarkable on the way but a Khidmutgar of Chimnagie Appa, who was rolling from Poona to Punderpoor, in performance of a vow which he made for a child. He had been a month at it, and had become so expert that he went on smoothly and without pausing, and kept rolling evenly along the middle of the road, over stones and everything. He travelled at the rate of two coss a day.”—Elphinstone, in Life, i. 257-8.

1878.—“We had each our own … Kitmutgar or table servant. It is the custom in India for each