Chapter MUNZIL to MUSNUD of M by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

MUNZIL to MUSNUD

MUNZIL, s. Ar. manzil, ‘descending or alighting,’ hence the halting place of a stage or march, a day’s stage.

1685.—“We were not able to reach Obdeen-deen (ye usual Menzill) but lay at a sorry Caravan Sarai.”—Hedges, Diary, July 30 ; [Hak. Soc. i. 203. In i. 214, manzeill].

MUSCÁT, n.p., properly Maskat. A port and city of N.E. Arabia ; for a long time the capital of ’Oman. (See IMAUM.) [1659.—“The Governor of the city was Chah-Navaze-kan…descended from the ancient Princes of Machate.…”—Bernier, ed. Constable, 73.]

1673.—“Muschat.” See under IMAUM.

MUSIC. There is no matter in which the sentiments of the people of India differ more from those of Englishmen than on that of music, and curiously enough the one kind of Western music which they appreciate, and seem to enjoy, is that of the bagpipe. This is testified by Captain Munro in the passage quoted below ; but it was also shown during Lord Canning’s visit to Lahore in 1860, in a manner which dwells in the memory of one of the present writers. The escort consisted of part of a Highland regiment. A venerable Sikh chief who heard the pipes exclaimed : ‘That is indeed music ! it is like that which we hear of in ancient story, which was so exquisite that the hearers became insensible (behosh).’

1780.—“The bagpipe appears also to be a favourite instrument among the natives. They have no taste indeed for any other kind of music, and they would much rather listen to this instrument a whole day than to an organ for ten minutes.”—Munro’s Narrative, 33.

MUSK, s. We get this word from the Lat. muschus, Greek [Greek Text] moscoV, and the latter must have been got, probably through Persian, from the Skt. mushka, the literal meaning of which is rendered in the old English phrase ‘a cod of musk.’ The oldest known European mention of the article is that which we give from St. Jerome ; the oldest medical prescription is in a work of Aetius, of Amida (c. 540). In the quotation from Cosmas the word used is [Greek Text] moscoV, and kasturi is a Skt. name, still, according to Royle, a pplied to the musk-deer in the Himalaya. The transfer of the name to (or from) the article called by the Greeks [Greek Text] kastorion, which is an analogous product of the beaver, is curious. The Musk-deer (Moschus moschiferus, L.) is found throu ghout the Himalaya at elevations rarely (in summer) below 8000 feet, and extends east to the borders of Szechuen, and north to Siberia. c. 390.—“Odoris autem suavitas, et diversa thymiamata, et amomum, et cyphi, oenanthe, muscus, et peregrini muris pellicula, quod dissolutis et amatoribus conveniat, nemo nisi dissolutus negat.”—St. Jerome, in Lib. Secund. adv. Jovinianum, ed. Vallarsii, ii. col. 337.

c. 545.—“This little animal is the Musk [Greek Text] moscoV The natives call it in their own tongue [Greek Text] kastouri. They hunt it and shoot it, and binding tight the blood collected about the navel they out this off, and this is the sweet smelling part of it, and what we call musk.”—Cosmas Indicopleustes, Bk. xi.

[“Muske commeth from Tartaria.…There is a certaine beast in Tartaria, which is wilde and big as a wolfe, which beast they take aliue, and beat him to death with small stanes y^t his blood may be spread through his whole body, then they cut it in pieces, and take out all the bones, and beat the flesh with the blood in a mortar very smal, and dry it, and make purses to put it in of the skin, and these be the Cods of Muske.”—Caesar Frederick, in Hakl. ii. 372.]

1673.—“Musk. It is best to buy it in the Cod…that which openeth with a bright Mosk colour is best.”—Fryer, 212.

MUSK-RAT, s. The popular name of the Sorex caerulescens, Jerdon, [Crocidura caerulea, Blanford], an animal having much the figure of the common shrew, but nearly as large as a small brown rat. It diffuses a strong musky odour, so penetrative that it is commonly asserted to affect bottled beer by running over the bottles in a cellar. As Jerdon judiciously observes, it is much more probable that the corks have been affected before being used in bottling ; [and Blanford (Mammalia, 237) writes that “the absurd story…is less credited in India than it formerly was, owing to the discovery that liquors bottled in Europe and exported to India are not liable to be tainted.”] When the female is in heat she is often seen to be