The Army of the Indian Moghuls: Its Organization and Administration c9.13

c9.13

*Ṭop*, for a helmet, appears several times in Egerton; for instance, on p. 119 and p. 125. This is apparently an Indian word (Shakes., 73), توپ, which must be distinguished from the word *ṭop*, توپ, a cannon, to which a Turkish origin is assigned. A helmet seems to have been called a *ṭop* by the Mahrattas and in Maisūr; but the word is not used by writers in Northern India. If we disregard the difference between ٹ and ت, then we can derive *ṭop*, ‘a helmet,’ and *ṭopī*, ‘a hat,’ as does the compiler of the “Madras Manual of Administration,” iii, 915, from the ordinary Hindī word *ṭopnā*, ‘to cover up.’ But I hardly think this is legitimate.