Chapter NIGGER to NIPA of N by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

show that the word is the same which is used in sense b ; and the identity is placed beyond question by the quotations from Teixeira and Mason.

b. Arrack made from the sap of a palm tree, a manufacture by no means confined to the Philippines. The Portuguese, appropriating the word Nipa to this spirit, called the tree itself nipeira.

a.—

1611.—“Other wine is of another kind of palm which is called Nipa (growing in watery places), and this is also extracted by distillation. It is very mild and sweet, and clear as pure water ; and they say it is very wholesome. It is made in great quantities, with which ships are laden in Pegu and Tanasarim, Malaca, and the Philippines or Manila ; but that of Tanasarim exceeds all in goodness.”—Teixeira, Relaciones, i. 17.

1613.—“And then on from the marsh to the Nypeiras or wild-palms of the rivulet of Paret China.”—Godinho de Eredia, 6.

„ “And the wild palms called Nypeiras…from those flowers is drawn the liquor which is distilled into wine by an alembic, which is the best wine of India.”—Ibid. 16r.

[1817.—“In the maritime districts, atap, or thatch, is made almost exclusively from the leaves of the nípa or búyu.”—Raffles, H. of Java, 2nd ed. i. 185.]

1848.—“Steaming amongst the low swampy islands of the Sunderbunds…the paddles of the steamer tossed up the large fruits of the Nipa fruticans, a low stemless palm that grows in the tidal waters of the Indian ocean, and bears a large head of nuts. It is a plant of no interest to the common observer, but of much to the geologist, from the nuts of a similar plant abounding in the tertiary formations at the mouth of the Thames, having floated about there in as great profusion as here, till buried deep in the silt and mud that now form the island of Sheppey.”—Hooker, Himalayan Journals, i. 1–2.

1860.—“The Nipa is very extensively cultivated in the Province of Tavoy. From incisions in the stem of the fruit, toddy is extracted, which has very much the flavour of mead, and this extract, when boiled down, becomes sugar.”—Mason’s Burmah, p. 506.

1874.—“It (sugar) is also got from Nipa fruticans, Thunb., a tree of the low coast-regions, extensively cultivated in Tavoy.”—Hanbury and Flückiger, 655.

These last quotations confirm the old travellers who represent Tenasserim as the great source of the Nipa spirit.

b.—

c. 1567.—“Euery yeere is there lade (at Tenasserim) some ships with Verzino, Nipa, and Benjamin.”—Ces. Federici (E.T. in Hakl.), ii. 359.

1568.—“Nipa, qual’ è vn Vino eccellentissimo che nasce nel fior d’vn arbore chiamato Niper, il cui liquor si distilla, e se ne fa vna beuanda eccellentissima.”—Ces. Federici, in Ramusio, iii. 392v.

1583.—“I Portoghesi e noi altri di queste bande di quà non mangiamo nel Regno di Pegù pane di grano…ne si beve vino ; ma una certa acqua lambiccata da vn albero detto Annippa, ch’ è alla bocca assai gustevole ; ma al corpo giova e nuoce, secondo le complessioni de gli huomini.”—G. Balbi, f. 127.

1591.—“Those of Tanaseri are chiefly freighted with Rice and Nipar wine, which is very strong.”—Barker’s Account of Lancaster’s Voyage, in Hakl. ii. 592.

In the next two quotations nipe is confounded with coco-nut spirit.

1598.—“Likewise there is much wine brought thether, which is made of Cocus or Indian Nuttes, and is called Nype de Tanassaria, that is Aqua - Composita of Tanassaria.”—Lincschoten, 30 ; [Hak. Soc. i. 103].

„ “The Sura, being distilled, is called Fula (see FOOL’S RACK) or Nipe, and is an excellent Aqua Vitae as any is made in Dort.”—Ibid. 101 ; [Hak. Soc. ii. 49].

[1616.—“One jar of Neepe.”—Foster, Letters, iv. 162].

1623.—“In the daytime they did nothing but talk a little with one another, and some of them get drunk upon a certain wine they have of raisins, or on a kind of aqua vitæ with other things mixt in it, in India called nippa, which had been given them.”—P. della Valle, ii. 669 ; [Hak. Soc. ii. 272].

We think there can be little doubt that the slang word nip, for a small dram of spirits, is adopted from nipa. [But compare Dutch nippen, ‘to take a dram.’ The old word nippitatum was used for ‘strong drink’ ; see Stanf. Dict.]