c. 1546.—"He hath very certaine intelligence, how the Zemindoo hath raised an army, with an intent to fall upon the Towns of [Cosmin] and Dalaa ([DALA]), and to gain all along the rivers of Digon and Meidoo, the whole Province of Danapluu, even to Ansedaa (hod. Donabyu and Henzada)."—F. M. Pinto, tr. by H. C. 1653, p. 288.
c. 1585.—"After landing we began to walk, on the right side, by a street some 50 paces wide, all along which we saw houses of wood, all gilt, and set off with beautiful gardens in their fashion, in which dwell all the Talapoins, which are their Friars, and the rulers of the Pagode or Varella of Dogon."—Gasparo Balbi, f. 96.
c. 1587.—"About two dayes iourney from Pegu there is a Varelle (see [VARELLA]) or Pagode, which is the pilgrimage of the Pegues: it is called Dogonne, and is of a wonderfulle bignesse and all gilded from the foot to the toppe."—R. Fitch, in Hakl. ii. 398, [393].
c. 1755.—Dagon and Dagoon occur in a paper of this period in Dalrymple's Oriental Repertory, i. 141, 177; [Col. Temple adds: "The word is always Digon in Flouest's account of his travels in 1786 (T'aung Pao, vol. i. Les Francais en Birmanie au xviiie Siècle, passim). It is always Digon (except once: "Digone capitale del Pegù," p. 149) in Quirini's Vita di Monsignor G. M. Percoto, 1781; and it is Digon in a map by Antonio Zultae e figli Venezia, 1785. Symes, Embassy to Ava, 1803 (pp. 18, 23) has Dagon. Crawfurd, 1829, Embassy to Ava (pp. 346-7), calls it Dagong. There is further a curious word, "Too Degon," in one of Mortier's maps, 1740.">[
DAIBUL, n.p. See [DIULSIND].
DAIMIO, s. A feudal prince in Japan. The word appears to be approximately the Jap. pronunciation of Chin. taiming, 'great name.' ["The Daimyōs were the territorial lords and barons of feudal Japan. The word means literally 'great name.' Accordingly, during the Middle Ages, warrior chiefs of less degree, corresponding, as one might say, to our knights or baronets, were known by the correlative title of Shōmyō, that is, 'small name.' But this latter fell into disuse. Perhaps it did not sound grand enough to be welcome to those who bore it" (Chamberlain, Things Japanese, 101 seq.).]
DAISEYE, s. This word, representing Desai, repeatedly occurs in Kirkpatrick's Letters of Tippoo (e.g. p. 196) for a local chief of some class. See [DESSAYE].
DALA, n.p. This is now a town on the (west) side of the river of Rangoon, opposite to that city. But the name formerly applied to a large province in the Delta, stretching from the Rangoon River westward.
1546.—See Pinto, under [DAGON].
1585.—"The 2d November we came to the city of Dala, where among other things there are 10 halls full of elephants, which are here for the King of Pegu, in charge of various attendants and officials."—Gasp. Balbi, f. 95.