MINICOY, n.p. Minikai; [Logan (Malabar, i. 2) gives the name as Menakāyat, which the Madras Gloss. derives from Mal. min, 'fish,' kayam, 'deep pool.' The natives call it Maliku (note by Mr. Gray on the passage from Pyrard quoted below).] An island intermediate between the Maldive and the Laccadive group. Politically it belongs to the latter, being the property of the Ali Raja of Cannanore, but the people and their language are Maldivian. The population in 1871 was 2800. One-sixth of the adults had perished in a cyclone in 1867. A lighthouse was in 1883 erected on the island. This is probably the island intended for Mulkee in that ill-edited book the E.T. of Tuhfat al-Mujāhidīn. [Mr. Logan identifies it with the "female island" of Marco Polo. (Malabar, i. 287.)]
[c. 1610.—"... a little island named Malicut."—Pyrard de Laval, Hak. Soc. i. 322.]
MISCALL, s. Ar. mis̤ḳāl (mithḳāl, properly). An Arabian weight, originally that of the Roman aureus and the gold dīnār; about 73 grs.
c. 1340.—"The prince, violently enraged, caused this officer to be put in prison, and confiscated his goods, which amounted to 437,000,000 mithkals of gold. This anecdote serves to attest at once the severity of the sovereign and the extreme wealth of the country."—Shihābuddīn, in Not. et Ext., xiii. 192.
1502.—"Upon which the King (of Sofala) showed himself much pleased ... and gave them as a present for the Captain-Major a mass of strings of small golden beads which they call pingo, weighing 1000 maticals, every matical being worth 500 reis, and gave for the King another that weighed 3000 maticals...."—Correa, i. 274.
MISREE, s. Sugar candy. Miṣrī, 'Egyptian,' from Miṣr, Egypt, the Mizraim of the Hebrews, showing the original source of supply. [We find the Miṣrī or 'sugar of Egypt' in the Arabian Nights (Burton, xi. 396).] (See under [SUGAR].)
1810.—"The sugar-candy made in India, where it is known by the name of miscery, bears a price suited to its quality.... It is usually made in small conical pots, whence it concretes into masses, weighing from 3 to 6 lbs. each."—Williamson, V. M. ii. 134.
MISSAL, s. Hind. from Ar. mis̤l, meaning 'similitude.' The body of documents in a particular case before a court. [The word is also used in its original sense of a 'clan.']
[1861.—"The martial spirit of the Sikhs thus aroused ... formed itself into clans or confederacies called Misls...."—Cave-Brown, Punjab and Delhi, i. 368.]
MOBED, s. P. mūbid, a title of Parsee Priests. It is a corruption of the Pehlevi magô-pat, 'Lord Magus.'