JUMBEEA, s. Ar. janbiya, probably from janb, 'the side'; a kind of dagger worn in the girdle, so as to be drawn across the body. It is usually in form slightly curved. Sir R. Burton (Camões, Commentary, 413) identifies it with the agomia and gomio of the quotations below, and refers to a sketch in his Pilgrimage, but this we cannot find, [it is in the Memorial ed. i. 236], though the jambiyah is several times mentioned, e.g. i. 347, iii. 72. The term occurs repeatedly in Mr. Egerton's catalogue of arms in the India Museum. Janbwa occurs as the name of a dagger in the Āīn (orig. i. 119); why Blochmann in his translation [i. 110] spells it jhanbwah we do not know. See also Dozy and Eng. s.v. jambette. It seems very doubtful if the latter French word has anything to do with the Arabic word.
c. 1328.—"Takī-ud-dīn refused roughly and pushed him away. Then the maimed man drew a dagger (khanjar) such as is called in that country janbiya, and gave him a mortal wound."—Ibn Batuta, i. 534.
1498.—"The Moors had erected palisades of great thickness, with thick planking, and fastened so that we could not see them within. And their people paraded the shore with targets, azagays, agomias, and bows and slings from which they slung stones at us."—Roteiro de Vasco da Gama, 32.
1516.—"They go to fight one another bare from the waist upwards, and from the waist downwards wrapped in cotton cloths drawn tightly round, and with many folds, and with their arms, which are swords, bucklers, and daggers (gomios)."—Barbosa, p. 80.
1774.—"Autour du corps ils ont un ceinturon de cuir brodé, ou garni d'argent, au milieu duquel sur le devant ils passent un couteau large recourbé, et pointu (jambea), dont la pointe est tournée du côté droit."—Niebuhr, Desc. de l'Arabie, 54.
JUMDUD, s. H. jamdad, jamdhar. A kind of dagger, broad at the base and slightly curved, the hilt formed with a cross-grip like that of the Katār (see [KUTTAUR]). [A drawing of what he calls a jamdhar katārī is given in Egerton's Catalogue (Pl. IX. No. 344-5).] F. Johnson's Dictionary gives jamdar as a Persian word with the suggested etymology of janb-dar, 'flank-render.' But in the Āīn the word is spelt jamdhar, which seems to indicate Hind. origin; and its occurrence in the poem of Chand Bardāi (see Ind. Antiq. i. 281) corroborates this. Mr. Beames there suggests the etymology of Yama-dant 'Death's Tooth.' The drawings of the jamdhad or jamdhar in the Āīn illustrations show several specimens with double and triple toothed points, which perhaps favours this view; but Yama-dhāra, 'death-wielder,' appears in the Sanskrit dictionaries as the name of a weapon. [Rather, perhaps, yama-dhara, 'death-bearer.']
c. 1526.—"Jamdher." See quotation under [KUTTAUR].
[1813.—"... visited the jamdar khana, or treasury containing his jewels ... curious arms...."—Forbes, Or. Mem. 2nd ed. ii. 469.]
JUMMA, s. Hind. from Ar. jama'. The total assessment (for land revenue) from any particular estate, or division of country. The Arab. word signifies 'total' or 'aggregate.'
1781.—"An increase of more than 26 lacks of rupees (was) effected on the former jumma."—Fifth Report, p. 8.