1598.—"Not any Man in China is esteemed or accounted of, for his birth, family, or riches, but onely for his learning and knowledge, such as they that serve at every towne, and have the government of the same. They are called Loitias and Mandorijns."—Linschoten, 39; [Hak. Soc. i. 133].
1618.—"The China Capt. had letters this day per way of Xaxma (see [SATSUMA]) ... that the letters I sent are received by the noblemen in China in good parte, and a mandarin, or loytea, appointed to com for Japon...."—Cocks, Diary, ii. 44.
1681.—"They call ... the lords and gentlemen Loytias...."—Martinez de la Puente, Compendio, 26.
LOVE-BIRD, s. The bird to which this name is applied in Bengal is the pretty little lorikeet, Loriculus vernalis, Sparrman, called in Hind. laṭkan or 'pendant,' because of its quaint habit of sleeping suspended by the claws, head downwards.
LUBBYE, LUBBEE, s. [Tel. Labbi, Tam. Ilappai]; according to C. P. Brown and the Madras Gloss. a Dravidian corruption of 'Arabī. A name given in S. India to a race, Mussulmans in creed, but speaking Tamil, supposed to be, like the [Moplahs] of the west coast, the descendants of Arab emigrants by inter-marriage with native women. "There are few classes of natives in S. India, who in energy, industry, and perseverance, can compete with the Lubbay"; they often, as pedlars, go about selling beads, precious stones, &c.
1810.—"Some of these (early emigrants from Kufa) landed on that part of the Western coast of India called the Concan; the others to the eastward of C. Comorin; the descendants of the former are the Nevayets; of the latter the Lubbè; a name probably given to them by the natives, from that Arabic particle (a modification of Lubbeik) corresponding with the English here I am, indicating attention on being spoken to. The Lubbè pretend to one common origin with the Nevayets, and attribute their black complexion to inter-marriage with the natives; but the Nevayets affirm that the Lubbè are the descendants of their domestic slaves, and there is certainly in the physiognomy of this very numerous class, and in their stature and form, a strong resemblance to the natives of Abyssinia."—Wilks, Hist. Sketches, i. 243.
1836.—"Mr. Boyd ... describes the Moors under the name of Cholias (see [CHOOLIA]); and Sir Alexander Johnston designates them by the appellation of Lubbes. These epithets are however not admissible; for the former is only confined to a particular sect among them, who are rather of an inferior grade; and the latter to the priests who officiate in their temples; and also as an honorary affix to the proper names of some of their chief men."—Simon Casie Chitty on the Moors of Ceylon, in J. R. As. Soc. iii. 338.
1868.—"The Labbeis are a curious caste, said by some to be the descendants of Hindus forcibly converted to the Mahometan faith some centuries ago. It seems most probable, however, that they are of mixed blood. They are, comparatively, a fine strong active race, and generally contrive to keep themselves in easy circumstances. Many of them live by traffic. Many are smiths, and do excellent work as such. Others are fishermen, boatmen and the like...."—Nelson, Madura Manual, Pt. ii. 86.
1869.—In a paper by Dr. Shortt it is stated that the Lubbays are found in large numbers on the East Coast of the Peninsula, between Pulicat and Negapatam. Their headquarters are at Nagore, the burial place of their patron saint Nagori Mīr Ṣāhib. They excel as merchants, owing to their energy and industry.—In Trans. Ethn. Soc. of London, N.S. vii. 189-190.
LUCKERBAUG, s. Hind. lakṛā, lagṛā, lakaṛbagghā, lagaṛbagghā, 'a hyena.' The form lakaṛbaghā is not in the older dicts. but is given by Platts. It is familiar in Upper India, and it occurs in Hickey's Bengal Gazette, June 24, 1781. In some parts the name is applied to the leopard, as the extract from Buchanan shows. This is the case among the Hindi-speaking people of the Himālaya also (see Jerdon). It is not clear what the etymology of the name is, lakaṛ, lakṛā meaning in their everyday sense, a stick or piece of timber. But both in Hind. and Mahr., in an adjective form, the word is used for 'stiff, gaunt, emaciated,' and this may be the sense in which it is applied to the hyena. [More probably the name refers to the bar-like stripes on the animal.] Another name is haṛvāgh, or (apparently) 'bone-tiger,' from its habit of gnawing bones.