Chapter MUSTER to MYDAN of M by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

MUSTER to MYDAN

MUSTER, s. A pattern, or a sample. From Port. mostra (Span. muestra, Ital. mostra). The word is current in China, as well as India. See Wells Williams’s Guide, 237.

c. 1444.—“Vierão as nossas Galés por commissão sua com algunas amostras de açucar da Madeira, de Sangue de Drago, e de outras cousas.”—Cadamosta, Navegaçao primeira, 6.

1563.—“And they gave me a mostra of amomum, which I brought to Goa, and showed to the apothecaries here; and I compared it with the drawings of the simples of Dioscorides.”—Garcia, f. 15.

1601.—“Musters and Shewes of Gold.”— Old Transl. of Galvano, Hak. Soc. p. 83.

1612.—“A Moore came aboord with a muster of Cloves.”—Saris; in Purchas, i. 357.

[1612–13.—“Mustraes.” See under CORGE.]

1673.—“Merchants bringing and receiving Musters.”—Fryer, 84.

1702.—“…Packing Stuff, Packing Materials, Musters.”—Quinquepartite Indenture, in Charters of the E.I. Co., 325.

1727.—“He advised me to send to the King…that I designed to trade with his Subjects…which I did, and in twelve Days received an Answer that I might, but desired me to send some person up with Musters of all my Goods.”—A. Hamilton, ii. 200; [ed. 1744].

c. 1760.—“He (the tailor) never measures you; he only asks master for muster, as he terms it, that is for a pattern.”—Ives, 52.

1772.—“The Governor and Council of Bombay must be written to, to send round Musters of such kinds of silk, and silk piece-goods, of the manufacture of Bengal, as will serve the market of Surat and Bombay.”— Price’s Travels, i. 39.

[1846.—“The above muster was referred to a party who has lately arrived from …England.…”—J. Agri. Hort. Soc., in Watt, Econ. Dict. vi. pt. ii. 601.]

MUTLUB, s. Hind. from Ar. matlab. The Ar. from talab, ‘he asked,’ properly means a question, hence intention, wish, object, &c. In Anglo-Indian use it always means ‘purpose, gist,’ and the like. Illiterate natives by a common form of corruption turn the word into matbal. In the Punjab this occurs in printed books; and an adjective is formed, matbali, ‘opinionated,’ and the like.

MUTT, MUTH, s. Skt. matha; a sort of convent where a celibate priest (or one making such profession) lives with disciples making the same profession, one of whom becomes his successor. Buildings of this kind are very common all over India, and some are endowed with large estates.

[1856.—“…a Gosaeen’s Mut in the neighbourhood…”—Ras Mala, ed. 1878, p. 527.]

1874.—“The monastic Order is celibate, and in a great degree erratic and mendicant, but has anchorage places and head- quarters in the maths.”—Calc. Review, cxvii. 212.

MUTTONGOSHT, s. (i.e. ‘Muttonflesh.’) Anglo-Indian domestic Hind. for ‘Mutton.’

MUTTONGYE, s. Sea-Hind. matangai, a (nautical) martingale; a corruption of the Eng. word.

MUTTRA, n.p. A very ancient and holy Hindu city on the Jumna, 30 miles above Agra. The name is Mathura, and it appears in Ptolemy as [Greek Text] Modoura h twn qewn. The sanctity of the name has caused it to be applied in numerous new localities; see under MADURA. [Tavernier (ed. Ball, ii. 240) calls it Matura, and Bernier (ed. Constable, 66), Maturas.]

MUXADABAD, n.p. Ar.—P. Maksudabad, a name that often occurs in books of the 18th century. It pertains to the same city that has latterly been called Murshidabad, the capital of the Nawabs of Bengal since the beginning of the 18th century. The town Maksudabad is stated by Tiefenthaler to have been foun ded by Akbar. The Governor of Bengal, Murshid Kuli Khan (also called in English histories Jafier Khan), moved the seat of Government hither in 1704, and gave the place his own name: It is written Muxudavad in the early English records down to 1760 (Sir W. W. Hunter).

[c. 1670.—“Madesou Bazarki,” in Tavernier, ed. Ball, i. 132.]

1684.—“Dec. 26.— In ye morning I went to give Bulchund a visit according to his invitation, who rose up and embraced me when I came near him, enquired of my health and bid me welcome to Muxoodavad. …”—Hedges, Diary, Hak. Soc. i. 59.

1703–4.—“The first act of the Nuwab, on his return to Bengal, was to change the name of the city of Makhsoosabad to Moorshudabad ; and by establishing in it the mint, and by erecting a palace…to render it the capital of the Province.”— Stewart, H. of Bengal, 309.

1726.—“Moxadabath.”—Valentijn, Chorom., &c., 147.

1727.—“Muxadabaud is but 12 miles from it (Cossimbazar), a Place of much greater Antiquity,