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 Ghāzipur on the Ganges. The word is the Arab. 'iṭr, 'perfume.' From this word are derived 'aṭṭār, a 'perfumer or druggist,' 'aṭṭārī, 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 discovered by the Empress Nūr-jahān on her marriage with Jahāngīr. 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 'iṭr-i-Jahāngīrī.]
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.
* * * * *
"1 otter box set with diamonds
"Sicca Rs. 3000 3222 3 6."
Accts. of Entertainment to Jugget Set, in Long, 89.