c. 1790.—"... cloths of great value ... from the countries of Bengal, Bunaras, China, Kashmeer, Boorhanpoor, Mutchliputtun, &c."—Meer Hussein Ali, H. of Hydur Na'ik, 383.
MATE, MATY, s. An assistant under a head servant; in which sense or something near it, but also sometimes in the sense of a 'head-man,' the word is in use almost all over India. In the Bengal Presidency we have a mate-bearer for the assistant body-servant (see [BEARER]); the mate attendant on an elephant under the mahout; a mate (head) of [coolies] or jomponnies (qq.v.) (see [JOMPON]), &c. And in Madras the maty is an under-servant, whose business it is to clean crockery, knives, &c., to attend to lamps, and so forth.
The origin of the word is obscure, if indeed it has not more than one origin. Some have supposed it to be taken from the English word in the sense of comrade, &c.; whilst Wilson gives meṭṭi as a distinct Malayālam word for an inferior domestic servant, [which the Madras Gloss. derives from Tamil mel, 'high']. The last word is of very doubtful genuineness. Neither derivation will explain the fact that the word occurs in the Āīn, in which the three classes of attendants on an elephant in Akbar's establishment are styled respectively Mahāwat, Bhoī, and Meth; two of which terms would, under other circumstances, probably be regarded as corruptions of English words. This use of the word we find in Skt. dictionaries as meṭha, meṇṭha, and meṇḍa, 'an elephant-keeper or feeder.' But for the more general use we would query whether it may not be a genuine Prakrit form from Skt. mitra, 'associate, friend'? We have in Pali metta, 'friendship,' from Skt. maitra.
c. 1590.—"A met'h fetches fodder and assists in caparisoning the elephant. Met'hs of all classes get on the march 4 dáms daily, and at other times 3½."—Āīn, ed. Blochmann, i. 125.
1810.—"In some families mates or assistants are allowed, who do the drudgery."—Williamson, V. M. i. 241.
1837.—"One matee."—See Letters from Madras, 106.
1872.—"At last the morning of our departure came. A crowd of porters stood without the veranda, chattering and squabbling, and the mate distributed the boxes and bundles among them."—A True Reformer, ch. vi.
1873.—"To procure this latter supply (of green food) is the daily duty of one of the attendants, who in Indian phraseology is termed a mate, the title of Mahout being reserved for the head keeper" (of an elephant).—Sat. Rev. Sept. 6, 302.
MATRANEE, s. Properly Hind. from Pers. mihtarānī; a female sweeper (see [MEHTAR]). [In the following extract the writer seems to mean Bhaṭhiyāran or Bhaṭhiyārin, the wife of a Bhaṭhiyāra or inn-keeper.
[1785.—"... a handsome serai ... where a number of people, chiefly women, called metrahnees, take up their abode to attend strangers on their arrival in the city."—Diary, in Forbes, Or. Mem. 2nd ed. ii. 404.]