1813.—"Some of the greatest delicacies in India are now made from the rolong-flour, which is called the heart or kidney of the wheat."—Forbes, Or. Mem. i. 47; [2nd ed. i. 32].
a. Ar. ruḳ'a. A letter, a written document; a note of hand.
1680.—"One Sheake Ahmud came to Towne slyly with several peons dropping after him, bringing letters from Futty Chaun at Chingalhatt, and Ruccas from the Ser Lascar...."—Fort St. Geo. Consns. May 25. In Notes and Exts. iii. 20. [See also under [AUMILDAR] and [JUNCAMEER].]
" "... proposing to give 200 Pagodas Madaras Brahminy to obtain a Rocca from the Nabob that our business might go on Salabad (see [SALLABAD])."—Ibid. Sept. 27, p. 35.
[1727.—"Swan ... holding his Petition or Rocca above his head...."—A. Hamilton, ed. 1744, i. 199.]
[b. An ancient coin in S. India; Tel. rokkam, rokkamu, Skt. roka, 'buying with ready money,' from ruch, 'to shine.'
[1875.—"The old native coins seem to have consisted of Varaghans, rookas and Doodoos. The Varaghan is what is now generally called a [pagoda].... The rookas have now entirely disappeared, and have probably been melted into rupees. They varied in value from 1 to 2 Rupees. Though the coins have disappeared, the name still survives, and the ordinary name for silver money generally is rookaloo."—Gribble, Man. of Cuddapah, 296 seq.]
ROOK, s. In chess the rook comes to us from Span. roque, and that from Ar. and Pers. rukh, which is properly the name of the famous gryphon, the roc of Marco Polo and the Arabian Nights. According to Marcel Devic it meant 'warrior.' It is however generally believed that this form was a mistake in transferring the Indian rath (see [RUT]) or 'chariot,' the name of the piece in India.
ROOM, n.p. 'Turkey' (Rūm); ROOMEE, n.p. (Rūmī); 'an Ottoman Turk.' Properly 'a Roman.' In older Oriental books it is used for an European, and was probably the word which Marco Polo renders as 'a Latin'—represented in later times by [firinghee] (e.g. see quotation from Ibn Batuta under [RAJA]). But Rūm, for the Roman Empire, continued to be applied to what had been part of the Roman Empire after it had fallen into the hands of the Turks, first to the Seljukian Kingdom in Anatolia, and afterwards to the Ottoman Empire seated at Constantinople. Garcia de Orta and Jarric deny the name of Rūmī, as used in India, to the Turks of Asia, but they are apparently wrong in their expressions. What they seem to mean is that Turks of the Ottoman Empire were called Rūmī; whereas those others in Asia of Turkish race (whom we sometimes call Toorks), as of Persia and Turkestan, were excluded from the name.