Chapter NUNCATIES to NUZZER of N by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

NUNCATIES to NUZZER

NUNCATIES, s. Rich cakes made by the Mahommedans in W. India chiefly imported into Bombay from Surat. [There is a Pers. word, nankhatai, ‘bread of Cathay or China,’ with which this word has been connected. But Mr. Weir, Collector of Surat, writes that it is really nankhatai, Pers. nan, ‘bread,’ and Mahr. khat, shat, ‘six’ ; meaning a special kind of cake composed of six ingredients—wheat-flour, eggs, sugar, butter or ghee, leaven produced from toddy or grain, and almonds.]

NUTS, s. Hind. nath, Skt. nasta, ‘the nose.’ The nose-ring worn by Indian women.

[1819.—“An old fashioned nuth or nose-ring, stuck full of precious or false stones.”—Trans. Lit. Soc. Bo. i. 284.

[1832.—“The nut (nose-ring) of gold wire, on which is strung a ruby between two pearls, worn only by married women.”—Mrs. Meer Hassan Ali, Obsns. i. 45.]

NUT PROMOTION, s. From its supposed indigestible character, the kernel of the cashew-nut is so called in S. India, where, roasted and hot, it is a favourite dessert dish. [See Linschoten, Hak. Soc. ii. 28.]

NUZZER, s. Hind. from Ar. nazr or nazar (prop. nadhr), primarily ‘a vow or votive offering’ ; but, in ordinary use, a ceremonial present, properly an offering from an inferior to a superior, the converse of in’am. The root is the same as that of Nazarite (Numbers, vi. 2).

[1765.—“The congratulatory nazirs, &c., shall be set opposite my ordinary expenses ; and if ought remains, it shall go to Poplar, or some other hospital.”—Letter of Ld. Clive, Sept. 30, in Verelst, View of Bengal, 127.

[c. 1775.—“The Governor lays before the board two bags…which were presented to him in nizzers.…”—Progs. of Council, quoted by Fox in speech against W. Hastings, in Bond, iv. 201.]

1782.—“Col. Monson was a man of high and hospitable household expenses ; and so determined against receiving of presents, that he would not only not touch a nazier (a few silver rupees, or perhaps a gold mohor) always presented by country gentlemen, according to their rank.…”—Price’s Tracts, ii. 61.

1785. — "Presents of ceremony, called nuzzers, were to many a great portion of their subsistence.…”—Letter in Life of Colebrooke, 16.

1786.—Tippoo, even in writing to the French Governor of Pondichery, whom it was his interest to conciliate, and in acknowledging a present of 500 muskets, cannot restrain his insolence, but calls them “sent by way of nuzr.”—Select Letters of Tippoo, 377.

1809.—“The Aumil himself offered the nazur of fruit.”—Ld. Valentia, i. 453.

[1832. — “I…looked to the Meer for explanation ; he told me to accept Muckabeg’s ‘nuzza.’”—Mrs. Meer Hassan Ali, Observns. i. 193.]

1876.—“The Standard has the following curious piece of news in its Court Circular of a few days ago:—

‘Sir Salar Jung was presented to the Queen by the Marquis of Salisbury, and offered his Muggur as a token of allegiance, which her Majesty touched and returned.’”—Punch, July 15.

For the true sense of the word so deliciously introduced instead of Nuzzer, see MUGGUR.