Chapter LAR to LARKIN of L by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

LAR to LARKIN

LAR, n.p. This name has had several applications.

(a). To the region which we now call Guzerat, in its most general application. In this sense the name is now quite obsolete; but it is that used by most of the early Arab geographers. It is the [Greek Text] Larikh of Ptolemy; and appears to represent an old Skt. name Lata, adj. Lataka, or Latika. [“The name Láta appears to be derived from some local tribe, perhaps the Lattas, who, as r and l are commonly used for each other, may possibly be the well- known Rashtrakútas since their great King Amoghavarsha (A.D. 851–879) calls the name of the dynasty Ratta.”—Bombay Gazetteer, I. pt. i. 7.]

c. A.D. 150.—[Greek Text] “ThV de IndoskuqiaV ta apo anatolwn ta men apo qalasshV katecei h Larikh cwra, en h mesogeioi apo men dusewV tou Namadou potamou poliV hde.…Barugaza emporion.”—Ptolemy, VII. ii. 62.

c. 940.—“On the coast, e.g. at Saimur, at Subara, and at Tana, they speak Lari; these provinces give their name to the Sea of Lar (Larawi) on the coast of which they are situated.”—Mas’udi, i. 381.

c. 1020.—“… to Kach the country producing gum (mokl, i.e. Bdellium, q.v.), and bárdrúd (?) … to Somnát, fourteen (parasangs); to Kambáya, thirty … to Tána five. There you enter the country of Lárán, where is Jaimúr” (i.q. Saimúr, see CHOUL).—Al-Biruni, in Elliot, i. 66.

c. 1190.—“Udaya the Parmâr mounted and came. The Dors followed him from Lar. …”—The Poem of Chand Bardai, E.T. by Beames, in Ind. Antiq. i. 275.

c. 1330.—“A certain Traveller says that Tana is a city of Guzerat (Juzrat) in its eastern part, lying west of Malabar (Munibar); whilst Ibn Sa’yid says that it is the furthest city of Lar (Al-Lar), and very famous among traders.”—Abulfeda, in Gildemeister, p. 188.

(b). To the Delta region of the Indus, and especially to its western part. Sir. H. Elliot supposes the name in this use, which survived until recently, to be identical with the preceding, and that the name had originally extended continuously over the coast, from the western part of the Delta to beyond Bombay (see his Historians, i. 378). We have no means of deciding this question (see LARRY BUNDER).

c. 1820.—“Díwal … was reduced to ruins by a Muhammedan invasion, and another site chosen to the eastward. The new town still went by the same name … and was succeeded by Lári Bandar or the port of Lár, which is the name of the country forming the modern delta, particularly the western part.”—M‘Murdo, in J.R. As. Soc. i. 29.


(c). To a Province on the north of the Persian Gulf, with its capital. c. 1220.—Lar is erroneously described by Yakut as a great island between Siraf and Kish. But there is no such island.¹ It is an extensive province of the continent. See Barbier de Meynard, Dict. de la Perse, p. 501.

c. 1330.—“We marched for three days through a desert … and then arrived at Lar, a big town having springs, considerable streams, and gardens, and fine bazars. We lodged in the hermitage of the pious Shaikh Abu Dulaf Muhammad. …”—Ibn Batuta, ii. 240.

c. 1487.—“Retorneing alongest the coast, forneagainst Ormuos there is a towne called Lar, a great and good towne of merchaundise, about ij^ml. houses. …”—Josafa Barbaro, old E.T. (Hak. Soc.) 80.

[c. 1590.—“Lár borders on the mountains of Great Tibet. To its north is a lofty mountain which dominates all the surrounding country, and the ascent of which is arduous. …”—Ain, ed. Jarrett, ii. 363.]

1553.—“These benefactions the Kings of Ormuz … pay to this day to a mosque which that Caciz (see CASIS) had made in a district called Hongez of Sheikh Doniar, adjoining the city of Lara, distant from Ormuz over 40 leagues.”—Barros, II. ii. 2.

1602.—“This man was a Moor, a native of the Kingdom of Lara, adjoining that of Ormuz: his proper name was Cufo, but as he was a native of the Kingdom of Lara he took a surname from the country, and called himself Cufo Larym.”—Couto, IV. vii. 6.

1622.—“Lar, as I said before, is capital of a great province or kingdom, which till our day had a prince of its own, who rightfully or wrongfully reigned there absolutely; but about 23 years since, for reasons rather generous than covetous, as it would seem, it was attacked by Abbas K. of Persia, and the country forcibly taken. … Now Lar is the seat of a Sultan dependent on the Khan of Shiraz. …”—P. della Valle, ii. 322.

1727.—“And 4 Days Journey within Land, is the City of Laar, which according to their fabulous tradition is the Burying-place place of Lot. …”—A. Hamilton, i. 92; [ed. 1744].

LARAI, s. This Hind. word, meaning ‘fighting,’ is by a curious idiom applied to the biting and annoyance of fleas and the like. [It is not mentioned in the dictionaries of either Fallon or Platts.] There is a similar idiom (jang kardan) in Persian.