Chapter ORTOLAN to OWL of O by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

ORTOLAN to OWL

ORTOLAN, s. This name is applied by Europeans in India to a small lark, Calandrella brachydactyla, Temm., in Hind. bargel and bageri, [Skt. varga, ‘a troop’]. Also sometimes in S. India to the finch- lark, Pyrrhalauda grisea, Scopoli.

OTTA, OTTER, s. Corruption of ata, ‘flour,’ a Hindi word having no Skt. original; [but Platts gives Skt. ardra, ‘soft’]. Popular rhyme:

“Ai teri Shekhawati
Adha ata adha mati!”
“Confound this Shekhawati land,
My bread's half wheat-meal and half sand.”

Boileau, Tour through Rajwara, 1837, p. 274.

[1853.—“After travelling three days, one of the prisoners bought some ottah. They prepared bread, some of which was given him; after eating it he became insensible.…”—Law Report, in Çhevers, Ind. Med. Jurispr. 166.]

OTTO, OTTER, s. Or usually ‘Otto of Roses,’ or by imperfect purists ‘Attar of Roses, ’ an essential oil obtained in India from the petals of the flower, a manufacture of which the chief seat is at Ghazipur on the Ganges. The word is the Arab. ’itr, ‘perfume.’ From this word are derived ’attar, a ‘perfumer or druggist,’ ’attari, adj., ‘pertaining to a perfumer.’ And a relic of Saracen rule in Palermo is the Via Latterini, ‘the street of the perfumers’ shops.’ We find the same in an old Spanish account of Fez:

1573.—“Issuing thence to the Cayzerie by a gate which faces the north there is a handsome street which is called of the Atarin, which is the Spicery.”—Marmol, Affrica, ii. f. 88.

[’Itr of roses is said to have been di scovered by the Empress Nur-jahan on her marriage with Jahangir. A canal in the palace garden was filled with rose-water in honour of the event, and the princess, observing a scum on the surface, caused it to be collected, and found it to be of admirable fragrance, whence it was called ’itr-i-Jahangiri.]

1712.—Kaempfer enumerating the departments of the Royal Household in Persia names: “Pharmacopoeia…Atthaar choneh, in quâ medicamenta, et praesertim variae virtutis opiata, pro Majestate et aulicis praeparantur.…”—Am. Exot. 124.

1759.—“To presents given, &c.

“l otter box set with diamonds
“Sicca Rs. 3000 … … … 3222 3 6.”

Accts. of Entertainment to Jugget Set, in Long, 89.

c. 1790.—“Elles ont encore une prédilection particulière pour les huiles oderiferantes, surtout pour celle de rose, appelée otta.”—Haafner, ii. 122.

1824.—“The attar is obtained after the rose-water is made, by setting it out during the night and till sunrise in the morning in large open vessels exposed to the air, and then skimming off the essential oil which floats at the top.”—Heber, ed. 1844, i. 154.

OUDH, OUDE, n.p. Awadh; properly the ancient and holy city of Ayodhya (Skt. ‘not to be warred against’), the capital of Rama, on the right bank of the river Sarayu, now commonly called the Gogra. Also the province in which Ayodhya was situated, but of which Lucknow for about 170 years (from c. 1732) has been the capital, as that of the dynasty of the Nawabs, and from 1814 kings, of Oudh. Oudh was annexed to the British Empire in 1856 as a Chief Commissionership. This was re-established after the Mutiny was subdued and the country reconquered, in 1858. In 1877 the Chief Commissionership was united to the Lieut.-Governorship of the N.W. Provinces. (See JUDEA.)

B. C. x.—“The noble city of Ayodhya crowned with a royal highway had already cleaned and besprinkled all its streets, and spread its broad banners. Women, children, and all the dwellers in the city eagerly looking for the consecration of Rama, waited with impatience the rising of the morrow’s sun.”—Ramayana, Bk. iii. (Ayodhya Kanda), ch. 3.

636.—“Departing from this Kingdom (Kanyakubja or Kanauj) he (Hwen T’sang) travelled about 600 li to the S.E., crossed the Ganges, and then taking his course southerly he arrived at the Kingdom of ’Oyut’o (Ayodhya).”—Pèlerins Bouddh. ii. 267.

1255.—“A peremptory command had been issued that Malik Kutlugh Khan…should leave the province of Awadh, and proceed to the fief