[1764.—"When our seapoys observed the enemy they gave them a ding or huzza."—Carraccioli, Life of Clive i. 57.]
DELHI, n.p. The famous capital of the great Moghuls, in the latter years of that family; and the seat under various names of many preceding dynasties, going back into ages of which we have no distinct record. Dillī is, according to Cunningham, the old Hindu form of the name; Dihlī is that used by Mahommedans. According to Panjab Notes and Queries (ii. 117 seq.), Dilpat is traditionally the name of the Dillī of Prithvī Rāj. Dil is an old Hindi word for an eminence; and this is probably the etymology of Dilpat and Dilli. The second quotation from Correa curiously illustrates the looseness of his geography. [The name has become unpleasantly familiar in connection with the so-called 'Delhi boil,' a form of Oriental sore, similar to Biskra Button, Aleppo Evil, Lahore or Multan Sore (see Delhi Gazetteer, 15, note).]
1205.—(Muhammad Ghori marched) "towards Dehli (may God preserve its prosperity, and perpetuate its splendour!), which is among the chief (mother) cities of Hind."—Hasan Nizāmi, in Elliot, ii. 216.
c. 1321.—"Hanc terram (Tana, near Bombay) regunt Sarraceni, nunc subjacentes dal dili.... Audiens ipse imperator dol Dali ... misit et ordinavit ut ipse Lomelic penitus caperetur...."—Fr. Odoric. See Cathay, &c., App., pp. v. and x.
c. 1330.—"Dillī ... a certain traveller relates that the brick-built walls of this great city are loftier than the walls of Hamath; it stands in a plain on a soil of mingled stones and sand. At the distance of a parasang runs a great river, not so big, however, as Euphrates."—Abulfeda, in Gildemeister, 189 seq.
c. 1334.—"The wall that surrounds Dihlī has no equal.... The city of Dihlī has 28 gates ..." &c.—Ibn Batuta, iii. 147 seqq.
c. 1375.—The Carta Catalana of the French Library shows ciutat de Dilli and also Lo Rey Dilli, with this rubric below it: "Aci esta un soldã gran e podaros molt rich. Aquest soldã ha DCC orifans e C millia homens à cavall sot lo seu imperi. Ha encora paons sens nombre...."
1459.—Fra Mauro's great map at Venice shows Deli cittade grandissima, and the rubrick Questa cittade nobilissima zà dominava tuto el paese del Deli over India Prima.
1516.—"This king of Dely confines with Tatars, and has taken many lands from the King of Cambay; and from the King of Dacan, his servants and captains with many of his people, took much, and afterwards in time they revolted, and set themselves up as kings."—Barbosa, p. 100.
1533.—"And this kingdom to which the Badur proceeded was called the Dely; it was very great, but it was all disturbed by wars and the risings of one party against another, because the King was dead, and the sons were fighting with each other for the sovereignty."—Correa, iii. 506.