[1839.—"Tope is an expression used for a mound or barrow as far west as Peshawer...."—Elphinstone, Caubul, 2nd ed. i. 108.]
TOPE-KHANA, s. The Artillery, Artillery Park, or Ordnance Department, Turco-Pers. tōp-khāna, 'cannon-house' or 'cannon-department.' The word is the same that appears so often in reports from Constantinople as the Tophaneh. Unless the traditions of Donna Tofana are historical, we are strongly disposed to suspect that Aqua Tofana may have had its name from this word.
1687.—"The Toptchi. These are Gunners, called so from the word Tope, which in Turkish signifies a Cannon, and are in number about 1200, distributed in 52 Chambers; their Quarters are at Tophana, or the place of Guns in the Suburbs of Constantinople."—Rycaut's Present State of the Ottoman Empire, p. 94.
1726.—"Isfandar Chan, chief of the Artillery (called the Daroger (see [DAROGA]) of the Topscanna)."—Valentijn, iv. (Suratte), 276.
1765.—"He and his troops knew that by the treachery of the Tope Khonnah Droger (see DAROGA), the cannon were loaded with powder only."—Holwell, Hist. Events, &c. i. 96.
TOPEE, s. A hat, Hind. ṭopī. This is sometimes referred to Port. topo, 'the top' (also tope, 'a top-knot,' and topete, a 'toupee'), which is probably identical with English and Dutch top, L. German topp, Fr. topet, &c. But there is also a simpler Hind. word ṭop, for a helmet or hat, and the quotation from the Roteiro Vocabulary seems to show that the word existed in India when the Portuguese first arrived. With the usual tendency to specialize foreign words, we find this word becomes specialized in application to the [sola] hat.
1498.—In the vocabulary ("Este he a linguajem de Calicut") we have: "barrete (i.e. a cap): tupy."—Roteiro, 118.
The following expression again, in the same work, seems to be Portuguese, and to refer to some mode in which the women's hair was dressed: "Trazem em a moleera huuns topetes por signall que sam Christãos."—Ibid. 52.
1849.—"Our good friend Sol came down in right earnest on the waste, and there is need of many a fold of twisted muslin round the white topi, to keep off his importunacy."—Dry Leaves from Young Egypt, 2.
1883.—"Topee, a solar helmet."—Wills, Modern Persia, 263.