Chapter NELLY to NICOBAR ISLANDS of N by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

NELLY to NICOBAR ISLANDS

NELLY, NELE. s. Malayal. nel, ‘rice in the husk’; [Tel. and Tam. nelli, ‘rice-like’]. This is the Dravidian equivalent of paddy (q.v.), and is often used by the French and Portuguese in South India, where Englishmen use the latter word.

1606.—“…when they sell nele, after they have measured it out to the purchaser, for the seller to return and take out two grains for himself for luck (com superstição), things that are all heathen vanities, which the synod entirely prohibits, and orders that those who practise them shall be severely punished by the Bishop.”—Gouvea, Synodo, f. 52b.

1651.—“Nili, that is unpounded rice, which is still in the husk.”—Rogerius, p. 95.

1760.—“Champs de nelis.” See under JOWAUR.

[1796.—“75 parahs Nelly.”—List of Export Duties, in Logan, Malabar, iii. 265.]

NELLORE, n.p. A town and district north of Madras. The name may be Tamil. Nall-ur, ‘Good Town.’ But the local interpretation is from nel (see NELLY); and in the local records it is given in Skt. as Dhanyapuram, meaning ‘rice-town’ (Seshagiri Sastri). [The Madras Man. (ii. 214) gives Nall-ur, ‘Good-town’; but the Gloss. (s.v.) has nellu, ‘paddy,’ uru, ‘village.’ Mr. Boswell (Nellore, 687) suggests that it is derived from a nelli chett tree under which a famous lingam was placed.]

c. 1310.—“Ma’bar extends in length from Kulam to Niláwar, nearly 300 parasangs along the sea coast.”—Wassáf, in Elliot, iii. 32.

NERBUDDA R., n.p. Skt. Narmada, ‘causing delight’; Ptol. [Greek Text] NamadoV; Peripl. [Greek Text] LamnaioV (amended by Fabricius to [Greek Text] NammadoV). Dean Vincent’s conjectured etymology of Nahr-Budda, ‘River of Budda,’ is a caution against such guesses. c. 1020.—“From Dhár southwards to the R. Nerbadda nine (parasangs); thence to Mahrat-des…eighteen…”—Al-Biruni, in Elliot, i. 60. The reading of Nerbadda is however doubtful.

c. 1310.—“There were means of crossing all the rivers, but the Nerbádda was such that you might say it was a remnant of the universal deluge.”—Amír Khusrú, in Elliot, i. 79.

[1616.—“The King rode to the riuer of Darbadath.”—Sir T. Roe, Hak. Soc. ii. 413. In his list (ii. 539) he has Narbadah.]

1727.—“The next Town of Note for Commerce is Baroach…on the Banks of the River Nerdaba.”—A. Hamilton, ed. 1744, i. 145.]

NERCHA, s. Malayal. nerchcha, ‘a vow,’ from verb neruya, ‘to agree or promise.’

1606.—“They all assemble on certain days in the porches of the churches and dine together…and this they call nercha.”—Gouvea, Synodo, f. 63. See also f. 11. This term also includes offerings to saints, or to temples, or particular forms of devotion. Among Hindus a common form is to feed a lamp before an idol with ghee instead of oil.

NERRICK, NERRUCK, NIRK, &c., s. Hind. from Pers. nirkh, vulgarly nirakh, nirikh. A tariff, rate, or price-current, especially one established by authority. The system of publishing such rates of prices and wages by local authority prevailed generally in India a generation or two back, and is probably not quite extinct even in our own territories. [The provincial Gazettes still publish periodical lists of current prices, but no attempt is made to fix such by authority.] It is still in force in the French settlements, and with no apparent ill effects. 1799.—“I have written to Campbell a long letter about the nerrick of exchange, in which I have endeavoured to explain the principles of the whole system of shroffing (see SHROFF).…”—Wellington, i. 56.

1800.—“While I was absent with the army, Col. Sherbrooke had altered the nerrick of artificers, and of all kinds of materials for building, at the instigation of Capt. Norris…and on the examination of the subject a system of engineering came out, well worthy of the example set at Madras.”—Ibid. i. 67.

[ „ “Here is established a niruc, or regulation, by which all coins have a certain value affixed to them; and at this rate they are received in the payment of the revenue; but in dealings between private persons attention is not paid to this rule.”—F. Buchanan, Mysore, ii. 279.]

1878.—“On expressing his surprise at this, the man assured him that it was really the case that the bazar ‘nerik’ or market-rate, had so risen.”—Life in the Mofussil, i. p. 33.