mehtar

English edit

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mehtar

Etymology edit

Persian (“prince, chief, elder, great personage”). Regarding the sense of a scavenger, Yule & Burnell (see References) state that the term was "applied to the class in question in irony, or rather in consolation".

Noun edit

mehtar (plural mehtars)

(India, historical) A ruler in certain princely states of the Northwest Frontier region.
(India, historical) A sweeper or scavenger of low caste.

References edit

Henry Yule, Arthur Burnell (1903) Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases