thug

thug
thuggery /thug"euh ree/, n.thuggish, adj.
/thug/, n.
1. a cruel or vicious ruffian, robber, or murderer.
2. (sometimes cap.) one of a former group of professional robbers and murderers in India who strangled their victims.
[1800-10; < Hindi thag lit., rogue, cheat]

* * *

▪ Indian bandit
Hindi  ṭhag , Sanskrit  sthaga (“thief,” “rogue”) 

      member of a well-organized confederacy of professional assassins who traveled in gangs throughout India for several hundred years. (The earliest authenticated mention of the thugs is found in Ẓiyāʾ-ud-Dīn Baranī, History of Fīrūz Shāh, dated about 1356.) The thugs would insinuate themselves into the confidence of wayfarers and, when a favourable opportunity presented itself, strangle them by throwing a handkerchief or noose around their necks. They then plundered and buried them. All this was done according to certain ancient and rigidly prescribed forms and after the performance of special religious rites, in which the consecration of the pickax and the sacrifice of sugar formed a prominent part. Although the thugs traced their origin to seven Muslim tribes, Hindus appear to have been associated with them at an early period; at any rate, their religious creed and practices as worshipers of Kālī (Kali), the Hindu goddess of destruction, showed no influence of Islām. The fraternity possessed a jargon of its own (Ramasi) and signs by which its members recognized each other.

      Though sporadic efforts were made toward the extinction of the gangs, it was not until Lord William Bentinck (Bentinck, Lord William) (British governor-general of India, 1833–35) took vigorous steps that the system was seriously attacked. His chief agent, Captain William Sleeman, with the cooperation of the authorities in a number of princely states, succeeded so well in eliminating the evil that from 1831 to 1837 no fewer than 3,266 thugs had been captured, of whom 412 were hanged, 483 gave evidence for the state, and the remainder were transported or imprisoned for life. The fraternity presumably thereafter became extinct.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Thug — may refer to: *A person, often a criminal, who treats others violently and roughly, especially for hire * Thug (in this usage written with an uppercase T) (from Hindi ठग ṭhag ), a member of the defunct Indian cult Thuggee *Thug, a gardening term… …   Wikipedia

  • Thug — (engl. „Verbrecher“, „Schläger“) bezeichnet: ein Mitglied der indischen kriminellen Geheimorganisation Thuggee den US amerikanischen Rapper Slim Thug eine Abkürzung in Versalien (THUG) einiger Videospiele der Videospielserie Tony Hawk’s… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • thug — thug; thug·gee; thug·gery; thug·gish; …   English syllables

  • thug — ● thug nom masculin Membre d une confrérie religieuse de l Inde, qui, en l honneur de la déesse Kali, se livrait au meurtre rituel par strangulation (XIIe XIXe s.). thug [tyg] n. m. et adj. ÉTYM. Mil. XIXe (in P. Larousse, 1876); angl. thug, 1810 …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Thug — (th[u^]g; 277), n. [Hind. thag a deceiver, robber.] 1. One of an association of robbers and murderers in India who practiced murder by stealthy approaches, and from religious motives. They have been nearly exterminated by the British government.… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Thug —   [tag, englisch θʌg], indische Raubmörderkaste (seit dem 12. Jahrhundert bis etwa 1835). Die Thug verehrten die blutdürstige Göttin Kali …   Universal-Lexikon

  • thug —    (thug) [Hindi: rogue; cheat] A vicious ruffian, thief, or killer. Formerly, one of a confederacy of professional assassins in India who worshipped Kali, the Hindu goddess of destruction.    the lads are chased into the outback by immigration… …   Dictionary of foreign words and phrases

  • thug — ► NOUN 1) a violent and uncouth man, especially a criminal. 2) (Thug) a member of a religious organization of robbers and assassins in India, suppressed by the British in the 1830s. DERIVATIVES thuggery noun thuggish adjective. ORIGIN Hindi,… …   English terms dictionary

  • thug — [thug] n. [Hindi ṭhag, swindler < Sans sthaga, a cheat, rogue, akin to sthagayati, (he) hides < IE base * (s)teg , to cover > THATCH] 1. [also T ] a member of a former group in India that murdered and robbed in the service of Kali 2. a… …   English World dictionary

  • thug — index assailant Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …   Law dictionary

  • thug — [θʌg] n [Date: 1800 1900; : Hindi; Origin: thag thief , from Sanskrit sthaga bad man ] a violent man ▪ He was beaten up by a gang of young thugs …   Dictionary of contemporary English

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”