[1677.—"Cave." See quotation under [TEA].]
1690.—"For Tea and Coffee which are judg'd the privileg'd Liquors of all the Mahometans, as well Turks, as those of Persia, India, and other parts of Arabia, are condemn'd by them (the Arabs of Muscatt) as unlawful Refreshments, and abominated as Bug-bear Liquors, as well as Wine."—Ovington, 427.
1726.—"A certain gentleman, M. Paschius, maintains in his Latin work published at Leipzig in 1700, that the parched corn (1 Sam. xxv. 18) which Abigail presented with other things to David, to appease his wrath, was nought else but Coffi-beans."—Valentijn, v. 192.
COIMBATORE, n.p. Name of a District and town in the Madras Presidency. Koyammutūru; [Kōni, the local goddess so called, muttu, 'pearl,' ūr, 'village'].
COIR, s. The fibre of the coco-nut husk, from which rope is made. But properly the word, which is Tam. kayiru, Malayāl. kāyar, from v. kāyāṛu, 'to be twisted,' means 'cord' itself (see the accurate Al-Birūnī below). The former use among Europeans is very early. And both the fibre and the rope made from it appear to have been exported to Europe in the middle of the 16th century. The word appears in early Arabic writers in the forms ḳānbar and ḳanbār, arising probably from some misreading of the diacritical points (for ḳāiyar, and ḳaiyār). The Portuguese adopted the word in the form cairo. The form coir seems to have been introduced by the English in the 18th century. [The N.E.D. gives coire in 1697; coir in 1779.] It was less likely to be used by the Portuguese because coiro in their language is 'leather.' And Barros (where quoted below) says allusively of the rope: "parece feito de coiro (leather) encolhendo e estendendo a vontade do mar," contracting and stretching with the movement of the sea.
c. 1030.—"The other islands are called Dīva Ḳanbār from the word Ḳanbār signifying the cord plaited from the fibre of the coco-tree with which they stitch their ships together."—Al-Birūnī, in J. As., Ser. iv. tom. viii. 266.
c. 1346.—"They export ... cowries and kanbar; the latter is the name which they give to the fibrous husk of the coco-nut.... They make of it twine to stitch together the planks of their ships, and the cordage is also exported to China, India, and Yemen. This ḳanbar is better than hemp."—Ibn Batuta, iv. 121.
1510.—"The Governor (Alboquerque) ... in Cananor devoted much care to the preparation of cables and rigging for the whole fleet, for what they had was all rotten from the rains in Goa River; ordering that all should be made of coir (cairo), of which there was great abundance in Cananor; because a Moor called Mamalle, a chief trader there, held the whole trade of the Maldive islands by a contract with the kings of the isles ... so that this Moor came to be called the Lord of the Maldives, and that all the coir that was used throughout India had to be bought from the hands of this Moor.... The Governor, learning this, sent for the said Moor, and ordered him to abandon this island trade and to recall his factors.... The Moor, not to lose such a profitable business, ... finally arranged with the Governor that the Isles should not be taken from him, and that he in return would furnish for the king 1000 bahars (barés) of coarse coir, and 1000 more of fine coir, each bahar weighing 4½ quintals; and this every year, and laid down at his own charges in Cananor and Cochym, gratis and free of all charge to the King (not being able to endure that the Portuguese should frequent the Isles at their pleasure)."—Correa, ii. 129-30.
1516.—"These islands make much cordage of palm-trees, which they call cayro."—Barbosa, 164.
c. 1530.—"They made ropes of coir, which is a thread which the people of the country make of the husks which the coco-nuts have outside."—Correa, by Stanley, 133.