Re: [HM] Indian numbers

Alexander Jones (ajones@dibinst.mit.edu)
Fri, 16 Apr 1999 08:57:16 -0400

> Both laksha and crore are in the OED, with these meanings and with
> quotations going back to 1609. Here is that earliest one
>
> 1609 Hawkins in Purchas Pilgrims I. 216 (Y.) The King's yeerely Income of
> his Crowne Land is fiftie Crou of Rupias, every Crou is an hundred Leckes.

A propos of those lacs and crores that are so familiar to readers of the
history of the East India Company, I can't resist mentioning Lord Clive's
compact statement of an 18th-century Anglo-Indian's heart's desire: "Alas
and alackaday!"

Alexander Jones
Department of Classics
University of Toronto
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