Chapter PANICALE to PAPAYA of P by The Hobson Jobson Dictionary

PANICALE to PAPAYA

PANICALE, s. This is mentioned by Bluteau (vi. 223) as an Indian disease, a swelling of the feet. Câle is here probably the Tamil kal, ‘leg.’ [Anaikkal is the Tamil name for what is commonly called Cochin Leg.]

PANIKAR, PANYCA, &c., s. Malayal. panikan, ‘a fencing-master, a teacher’ [Mal. pani, ‘work,’ karan, ‘doer’]; but at present it more usually means ‘an astrologer.’

1518.—“And there are very skilful men who teach this art (fencing), and they are called Panicars.”—Barbosa, 128.

1553.—“And when (the Naire) comes to the age of 7 years he is obliged to go to the fencing- school, the master of which (whom they call Panical) they regard as a father, on account of the instruction he gives them.”—Barros, I. ix. 3.

1554.—“To the panical (in the Factory at Cochin) 300 reis a month, which are for the year 3600 reis.”—S. Botelho, Tombo, 24.

1556.—“… aho Rei arma caualleiro ho Panica q ho ensinou.”—D. de Goes, Chron. 51.

1583.—“The maisters which teach them, be graduats in the weapons which they teach, and they bee called in their language Panycaes.”—Castañeda (by N. L.), f. 36v.

1599.—“L’Archidiacre pour assurer sa personne fit appeller quelques-uns des principaux Maitres d’Armes de sa Nation. On appelle ces Gens-là Panicals. … Ils sont extremement redoutez.”—La Croze, 101.

1604.—“The deceased Panical had engaged in his pay many Nayres, with obligation to die for him.”—Guerrero, Relacion, 90.

1606.—“Paniquais is the name by which the same Malauares call their masters of fence.”—Gouvea, f. 28.

1644.—“To the cost of a Penical and 4 Nayres who serve the factory in the conveyance of the pepper on rafts for the year 12,960 res.”—Bocarro, MS. 316.

PANTHAY, PANTHE, s. This is the name applied of late years in Burma, and in intelligence coming from the side of Burma, to the Mahommedans of Yunnan, who established a brief independence at Talifu, between 1867 and 1873. The origin of the name is exceedingly obscure. It is not, as Mr. Baber assures us, used or known in Yunnan itself (i.e. by the Chinese). It must be remarked that the usual Burmese name for a Mahommedan is Pathí, and one would have been inclined to suppose Panthé to be a form of the same; as indeed we see that Gen. Fytche has stated it to be (Burma, Past and Present, ii. 297–8). But Sir Arthur Phayre, a high authority, in a note with which he has favoured us, observes: ‘Panthé, I believe, comes from a Chinese word signifying ‘native or indigenous.’ It is quite a modern name in Burma, and is applied exclusively to the Chinese Mahommedans who come with caravans from Yunnan. I am not aware that they can be distinguished from other Chinese caravan traders, except that they do not bring hams for sale as the others do. In dress and appearance, as well as in drinking samshu (see SAMSHOO) and gambling, they are like the others. The word Pa-thi again is the old Burmese word for ‘Mahommedan.’ It is applied to all Mahommedans other than the Chinese Panthé. It is in no way connected with the latter word, but is, I believe, a corruption of Parsi or Farsi, i.e. Persian.” He adds:—“The Burmese call their own indigenous Mahommedans ‘Pathi-Kulà,’ and Hindus ‘Hindu-Kulà,’ when they wish to distinguish between the two” (see KULA). The last suggestion is highly probable, and greatly to be preferred to that of M. Jacquet, who supposed that the word might be taken from Pasei in Sumatra, which was during part of the later Middle Ages a kind of metropolis of Islam, in the Eastern Seas.¹

We may mention two possible origins for Panthé, as indicating lines for enquiry:—

a. The title Pathí (or Passí, for the former is only the Burmese lisping utterance) is very old, In the remarkable Chinese Account of Camboja, dating from the year 1296, which has been translated by Abel-Rémusat, there is a notice of a sect in Camboja called Pa-sse. The author identifies them in a passing way, with the Tao-sse, but that is a term which Fah-hian also in India uses in a vague way, apparently quite inapplicable to the Chinese sect properly so called. These Pa-sse, the Chinese writer says, “wear a red or white cloth on their heads, like the head-dress of Tartar women, but not so high. They have edifices or towers, monasteries, and temples, but not to be compared for magnitude with those of the Buddhists. … In their temples there are no images … they are allowed to cover their towers and their buildings with tiles. The Pa-sse never eat with a stranger to their sect, and do not allow themselves to be seen eating; they drink no wine,” &c. (Rémusat, Nouv. Mél. As., i. 112). We cannot be quite sure that this applies to Mahommedans, but it is on the whole probable that the name is the same as the Pathi of the Burmese, and has the same application. Now the people from whom the Burmese were likely to adopt a name for the Yunnan Mahommedans are the Shans, belonging to the great Siamese race, who occupy the intermediate country. The question occurs:—Is Panthé a Shan term for Mahommedan? If so, is it not probably only a dialectic