DEANER, s. This is not Anglo-Indian, but it is a curious word of English Thieves' cant, signifying 'a shilling.' It seems doubtful whether it comes from the Italian danaro or the Arabic [dīnār] (q.v.); both eventually derived from the Latin denarius.
DEBAL, n.p. See [DIUL-SIND].
DECCAN, n.p. and adj. Hind. Dakhin, Dakkhin, Dakhan, Dakkhan; dakkhiṇa, the Prakr. form of Skt. dakshiṇa, 'the South'; originally 'on the right hand'; compare dexter, δεξίος. The Southern part of India, the Peninsula, and especially the Tableland between the Eastern and Western Ghauts. It has been often applied also, politically, to specific States in that part of India, e.g. by the Portuguese in the 16th century to the Mahommedan Kingdom of Bījapur, and in more recent times by ourselves to the State of Hyderabad. In Western India the Deccan stands opposed to the [Concan] (q.v.), i.e. the table-land of the interior to the maritime plain; in Upper India the Deccan stands opposed to [Hindūstān], i.e. roundly speaking, the country south of the Nerbudda to that north of it. The term frequently occurs in the Skt. books in the form dakshiṇāpatha ('Southern region,' whence the Greek form in our first quotation), and dakshīṇātya ('Southern'—qualifying some word for 'country'). So, in the Paṅchatantra: "There is in the Southern region (dakshīṇātya janapada) a town called Mihilāropya."
c. A.D. 80-90.—"But immediately after Barygaza the adjoining continent extends from the North to the South, wherefore the region is called Dachinabadēs (Δαχιναβάδης), for the South is called in their tongue Dachanos (Δάχανος)."—Periplus M.E., Geog. Gr. Min. i. 254.
1510.—"In the said city of Decan there reigns a King, who is a Mahommedan."—Varthema, 117. (Here the term is applied to the city and kingdom of Bījapur).
1517.—"On coming out of this Kingdom of Guzarat and Cambay towards the South, and the inner parts of India, is the Kingdom of Dacani, which the Indians call Decan."—Barbosa, 69.
1552.—"Of Decani or Daquẽ as we now call it."—Castanheda, ii. 50.
" "He (Mahmūd Shāh) was so powerful that he now presumed to style himself King of Canara, giving it the name of Decan. And the name is said to have been given to it from the combination of different nations contained in it, because Decanij in their language signifies 'mongrel.'"—De Barros, Dec. II. liv. v. cap. 2. (It is difficult to discover what has led astray here the usually well-informed De Barros).
1608.—"For the Portugals of Daman had wrought with an ancient friend of theirs a Raga, who was absolute Lord of a Prouince (betweene Daman, Guzerat, and Decan) called Cruly, to be readie with 200 Horsemen to stay my passage."—Capt. W. Hawkins, in Purchas, i. 209.
[1612.—"The Desanins, a people bordering on them (Portuguese) have besieged six of their port towns."—Danvers, Letters, i. 258.]