▪ I. coolie, cooly
(ˈkuːlɪ)
Forms: 6 pl. colles, 7 collee, (cowler), 7–8 coulee, -ie, coly, 7–9 coolee, 8 couley, 8–9 cooley, 7– coolie, cooly.
[Now found (in sense 2) in the Indian vernaculars generally: Urdū qulī, qūlī, Bengālī kūlī, Tamil, Telugu, Canarese, Malayālam, kūli; of disputed origin.
By some considered to be originally Tamil, and identical with the word kūli ‘hire, payment for occasional menial work’, whence (either by metonymy, or as short for kūli-kāram ‘hire-man’, kūliyāl, ‘hire-person’) kūli ‘hireling, labourer, man who does odd jobs’. The objection to this is that the first known mention of Coolies early in the 17th c. refers not to the Tamil country, in the south, but to the region of Gujarat, in the west of India. On this account there is reason to think the word identical with Kulī or Kolī, the name of an aboriginal tribe of Gujarat (see sense 1), which is actually found spelt Koulli, Coolie in the middle of the 17th. c.
(The Kulīs of Gujarat were well known to the Portuguese in the 16th c.; and these probably carried the name both to Southern India and to China (cf. 1745 in 2). It is probable that the similarity between Kulī and the Tamil word kūli ‘hire’ may have led to the use of coolie in Southern India in the sense of kūli-kāram or kuliyāl.)]
† 1. A variant of Kulī or Kolī, name of a numerous aboriginal tribe of Gujarat, formerly noted as robbers, but now settling down as respectable labourers and cultivators. Obs.
| [1554 Botelho Estado da India in Subsidios (Lisb. 1878) V. 155 E a Renda dos coles que sāo pescadores ás estaquados ao mar, e per este Rio de Ba{cced}a{iacu}m. transl. And the rent from the colés who are fishers at the stakes at the sea, and along this river of Bassein. 1563 Garcia de Orta Colloquios (Lisb. 1872) 34 Colles.] 1598 tr. Linschoten's Voyages xxvii. (Y.), Others that yet dwell within the countrie called Colles: which Colles..doe yet live by robbing and stealing. 1609 W. Finch Jrnl. in Purchas Pilgrims (1625) I. iv. iv. §6. 436 A certain Raiaw [of]..the people called Collees or Quullees, keeping in a Desart Wildernesse, which secures him from Conquest. 1616–22 Terry Voy. E. Ind. (1655) 192 Those who inhabit the Countrey Villages are called Coolies; these till the ground and breed up Cattel, and other things for provision as Hennes, etc. 1630 Lord Banians 85 The husbandmen or inferior sort of people, called the Coulees. 1677 Sir T. Herbert Trav. (ed. 4) 75 To live a while in Gusurat..to extirpate that rascal-race of Coolyes and Bielsgrates. 1698 Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 164 (Y.) The inhabitants of Ramnagur are the Salvages called Coolies. 1727 A. Hamilton New Acc. E. Ind. I. xiii. 143 The Rasspouts and Coulies make Inroads into this Province [Cambay], and plunder even to the Gates of the City. 1820 Trans. Lit. Soc. Bombay III. 355 (Y.) In the profession of thieving the Koolees may be said to act con amore. 1825 Heber Journey (1828) II. 556 A Kholee, the name of a degenerate race of Rajpoots in Guzerât, who, from the low occupations in which they are generally employed, have (under the corrupt name of Coolie) given a name..to bearers of burthens all over India. 1856 A. K. Forbes tr. Râs Mâlâ I. 103 The Koolees lived for a long time on the sea-shore, in the neighbourhood of the Indus. Ibid. 104 The Bheels and Koolees lived in security. 1885 Imp. Gaz. India III. 51 s.v. Bombay, The aboriginal race of Kulīs is rapidly rising in the scale of civilization. |
2. a. The name given by Europeans in India and China to a native hired labourer or burden-carrier; also used in other countries where these men are employed as cheap labourers.
| 1638 W. Bruton in Hakluyt Voy. (1807) V. 49 (Y.) He lent us horses to ride on, and Cowlers (which are Porters) to carry our goods. 1680 in J. T. Wheeler Madras (1861) I. 129 (Y.) That the drum be beat to call all coolies, carpenters, etc. 1698 Fryer Acc. E. India & P. in Phil. Trans. XX. 344 At which his Coolyes were afrightned. 1704 Collect. Voy. (Church.) III. 740/1, 500 Colys or Labourers. 1745 P. Thomas Jrnl. Anson's Voy. 271 We employ'd..many Chinese Labourers, whom they call Cooly's, to make the Chinam. 1763 Orme Milit. Trans. Indostan (1861) I. i. 79 Coolies a cast of Indians whose sole occupation is to carry burthens. 1775 Ann. Reg. 132 Made use of by the natives of Golconda as coolys or slaves in the mines. 1799 Wellington in Gurw. Desp. I. 55 An order..stating the number of Coolies which an officer may call for from a village. 1826 W. Elliott The Nun 100 note, Coolee means a porter, but is often used reproachfully to other servants of superior rank. 1859 Tennent Ceylon (ed. 2) II. 235 The number of Malabar coolies employed. 1873 Morley Rousseau II. 55 A kidnapper of coolies or the captain of a slaver. |
b. S. Afr. [Afrikaans koelie (also used).] An Asian or Indian, esp. one of the lower classes. Also attrib.
| 1920 Cape Times 1 Apr. 3/2 Great Public Sale... No coolies. 1959 L. Lerner Englishman xiv. 220 It was his girl the other one took, the one who slept with koelies. Ibid. xv. 226 You wont, you koelie girl. 1967 Guardian 4 Oct. 13/7 In South Africa the word ‘coolie’ is used by some whites to describe Asians, and is as bitterly resented by them as the word ‘Kaffir’ is resented by Africans. |
3. slang. (See quot.)
| 1803 R. Percival in Naval Chron. X. 31 A Cooly, or common fellow of the lowest class. 1873 Slang Dict., Coolie, a soldier, in allusion to the Hindoo coolies, or day labourers. |
4. attrib. and Comb., as coolie boy, coolie emigrant; coolie labour, coolie system, coolie traffic; coolie-catcher. Coolie Christmas, the name given in Natal to the ceremonies of the Moharram observed by Indian immigrants; coolie hat, one resembling those worn by coolies in Asia; coolie lines [line n.2 20].
| c 1813 Mrs. Sherwood Stories Ch. Catech. xxi. 200 Shall I tell the coolie boy to run after him? 1863 Fawcett Pol. Econ. i. iii. (1876) 92 Coolie-traffic can never be carried on by private enterprise. 1865 Daily Tel. 24 Oct. 4/6 A ship..started from Calcutta with four hundred coolie emigrants. 1879 Constit. California in Bryce Amer. Commw. (1888) II. App. 678 Asiatic coolieism is a form of human slavery, and is for ever prohibited in this State, and all contracts for coolie labour shall be void. 1890 Times (weekly ed.) 21 Feb. 10/4 The Chinese agents employed to collect the coolies, and known as ‘coolie-catchers’. 1902 Graaff Reinet Advertiser 2 May (Pettman), The Coolie Christmas celebration at Umgeni (Natal) last Monday ended in a serious riot. 1905 East London Dispatch 18 Mar. (Pettman), The festivities in connexion with the Hindoo's festival Mohurrum known locally as the Coolie Christmas, commences to-night. 1931 Economist 23 May 1116/1 These [sc. fixed charges] included quit rent, weeding, maintenance of hospital.., coolie lines and machinery, and the upkeep of the estate. 1937 J. Laver Taste & Fashion x. 158 In 1935 there was a vogue for flat hats with rather wide brims, Chinese ‘coolie’ hats, and similar shapes. 1939 R. Godden Black Narcissus xxix. 263 The news spread to the village and the coolie lines. 1955 N.Y. Times 15 July 24/3 Gustavo shows wide, cone-like coolie hats. |
▪ II. coolie
var. of collie, coulée (U.S.).