JAVELIN, a spear, particularly one light enough to be thrown, a dart. The javelin was often provided with a thong to help in casting (see [Spear]). Javelin-throwing is one of the contests in the athletic section at the international Olympic games. Formerly the sheriff of a county or borough had a body of men armed with javelins, and known as javelin-men, who acted as a bodyguard for the judges when they went on assize. Their duties are now performed by the ordinary police. The word itself is an adaptation of Fr. javeline. There are several words in Celtic and Scandinavian languages and in Old English, meaning a spear or dart, that seem to be connected with javel, the base form in French; thus Welsh gaflach, Irish gabhla, O. Norwegian gaflok, O. E. gafeluc, later in the form gavelock, cf. O. Norman-Fr. gavelot, javelot, Ital. giavelotto. The origin seems to be Celtic, and the word is cognate with Ir. gafa, a hook, fork, gaff; the root is seen in “gable” (q.v.), and in the German Gabel, fork. The change in meaning from fork, forked end of a spear, to the spear itself is obscure.
JAW (Mid. Eng. jawe, jowe and geowe, O. Eng. cheowan, connected with “chaw” and “chew,” and in form with “jowl”), in anatomy, the term for the upper maxillary bone, and the mandible or lower maxillary bone of the skull; it is sometimes loosely applied to all the lower front parts of the skull (q.v.).
JAWĀLĪQĪ, Abu Manṣūr Mauhūb ul-Jawālīqī (1073-1145), Arabian grammarian, was born at Bagdad, where he studied philology under Tibrīzī and became famous for his handwriting. In his later years he acted as imam to the caliph Moqtafi. His chief work is the Kitāb ul-Mu‘arrab, or “Explanation of Foreign Words used in Arabic.”
The text was edited from an incomplete manuscript by E. Sachau (Leipzig, 1867). Many of the lacunae in this have been supplied from another manuscript by W. Spitta in the Journal of the German Oriental Society, xxxiii. 208 sqq. Another work, written as a supplement to the Durrat ul-Ghawwās of Harīrī (q.v.), has been published as “Le Livre des locutions vicieuses,” by H. Derenbourg in Morgenländische Forschungen (Leipzig, 1875), pp. 107-166.
(G. W. T.)
JAWHAR, a native state of India, in the Konkan division of Bombay, situated among the lower ranges of the western Ghats. Area 310 sq. m. Pop. (1901), 47,538. The estimated revenue is £11,000; there is no tribute. The chief, who is a Koli by caste, traces back his descent to 1343. The leading exports are teak and rice. The principal village is that of Jawhar (pop. 3567).