c. 1844.—"Sahibs now are very different from what they once were. When I was a young man with an officer in the camp of Lāt Līk Sāhib (Lord Lake) the sahibs would give an ashrafi (Ashrafee), when now they think twice before taking out a rupee."—Personal Reminiscences of an old Khansama's Conversation. Here the gold mohur is meant.
XERCANSOR, n.p. This is a curious example of the manner in which the Portuguese historians represent Mahommedan names. Xercansor does really very fairly represent phonetically the name of Sher Khān Sūr, the famous rival and displacer of Humāyūn, under the title of Sher Shāh.
c. 1538.—"But the King of Bengal, seeing himself very powerful in the kingdom of the Patans, seized the king and took his kingdom from him ... and made Governor of the kingdom a great lord, a vassal of his, called Cotoxa, and then leaving everything in good order, returned to Bengal. The administrator Cotoxa took the field with a great array, having with him a Patan Captain called Xercansor, a valiant cavalier, much esteemed by all."—Correa, ii. 719.
The kingdom of the Patans appears to be Behar, where various Afghan chiefs tried to establish themselves after the conquest of Delhi by Baber. It would take more search than it is worth to elucidate the story as told by Correa, but see Elliot, iv. 333. Cotoxa (Koto sha) appears to be Ḳutb Khān of the Mahommedan historian there.
Another curious example of Portuguese nomenclature is that given to the first Mahommedan king of Malacca by Barros, Xaquem Darxá (II. vi. 1), by Alboquerque Xaquendarxa (Comm. Pt. III. ch. 17). This name is rendered by Lassen's ponderous lore into Skt. Sakanadhara, "d. h. Besitzer kräftiger Besinnungen" (or "Possessor, of strong recollections."—Ind. Alt. iv. 546), whereas it is simply the Portuguese way of writing Sikandar Shāh! [So Linschoten (Hak. Soc. ii. 183) writes Xatamas for Shāh Tamasp.]. For other examples, see [Codovascam], [Idalcan].
Y
YABOO, s. Pers. yābū, which is perhaps a corruption of Ar. ya'būb, defined by Johnson as 'a swift and long horse.' A nag such as we call 'a galloway,' a large pony or small hardy horse; the term in India is generally applied to a very useful class of animals brought from Afghanistan.
[c. 1590.—"The fifth class (yábú horses) are bred in this country, but fall short in strength and size. Their performances also are mostly bad. They are the offspring of Turki horses with an inferior breed."—Āīn, ed. Blochmann, i. 234.]
1754.—"There are in the highland country of Kandahar and Cabul a small kind of horses called Yabous, which are very serviceable."—Hanway, Travels, ii. 367.
[1839.—"A very strong and useful breed of ponies, called Yauboos, is however reared, especially about Baumiaun. They are used to carry baggage, and can bear a great load, but do not stand a long continuance of hard work so well as mules."—Elphinstone, Caubul, ed. 1842, i. 189.]