Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases, and of Kindred Terms, Etymological, Historical, Geographical and Discursive c10.16034

c10.16034

ZUMBOORUCK, s. Ar. Turk. Pers. zambūrak (spelt zanbūrak), a small gun or swivel usually carried on a camel, and mounted on a saddle;—a falconet. [See a drawing in R. Kipling's Beast and Man in India, 255.] It was, however, before the use of gunpowder came in, the name applied sometimes to a cross-bow, and sometimes to the quarrel or bolt shot from such a weapon. The word is in form a Turkish diminutive from Ar. zambūr, 'a hornet'; much as 'musket' comes from mosquetta. Quatremère thinks the name was given from the twang of the cross-bow at the moment of discharge (see H. des Mongols, 285-6; see also Dozy, Suppt. s.v.). This older meaning is the subject of our first quotation: