‖ mohur
(ˈməʊhə(r))
Forms: 7 moor, 8 muhr, mohr, 9 moher, more, muhar, 8– mohur.
[Pers. muhr, primarily seal, seal ring, cogn. w. Skr. mudrā seal.]
A gold coin, originally Persian, but used in India from the 16th c. onward. Subsequently, ‘the official name of the chief gold coin of British India’ (Yule), weighing 180 grains troy, and containing 165 grains of pure gold; its value was 15 rupees. Usually gold mohur.
| 1696 J. Ovington Voy. Suratt 219 The Gold Moor, or Gold Roupie, is valued generally at 14 of Silver; and the Silver Roupie at Two Shillings Three Pence. 1753 Hanway Trav. (1762) I. v. lxiv. 293 Muhr ashressie, or treble ducat of 6 mildenaer Value 6 [English crowns]. 1763 Scrafton Indostan (1770) 218 The Colonel..sent..a present of five hundred gold mohurs [foot-note, about {pstlg}1000 sterling]. 1776 Trial Jos. Fowke, etc. Depos. 17/1, 15000 rupees in mohurs. 1796 Jane Austen Sense & Sens. (1879) 42 Nabobs, gold mohrs, and palanquins. 1801 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) Suppl. II. 265/1 Moher, in Bengal, a gold coin, worth about 33 shillings. 1827 D. Johnson Ind. Field Sports 175 A Gold Mohur (value two pounds). 1831 E. J. Trelawny Adv. Younger Son lxvii, I contrived to realize a few bags of gold mores, and rupees. 1849 E. B. Eastwick Dry Leaves 201 An offering of one hundred gold muhars (one hundred and fifty pounds). |
| attrib. 1859 Lang Wand. India 9 The good players are playing high. Gold mohur points. |