α. 1700s Rohalla, 1700s Rohella, 1700s Rohilah, 1700s 1900s– Rohila, 1700s– Rohilla, 1700s– Rohillah.
β. 1700s Rouhillus (plural), 1700s Ruhila, 1700s Ruhillah, 1900s– Ruhela, 1900s– Ruhilah, 1900s– Ruhilla.
Rohillan.adj.
/ˈrəʊhɪlə/, /rə(ʊ)ˈhɪlə/, U.S. /ˈroʊˌhɪlə/, /roʊˈhɪlə/ A. n.
A member of a people of Afghan Pathan origin inhabiting the region around Bareilly, in the north-west of present-day Uttar Pradesh in northern India.In the early 18th cent. the Rohillas founded the state of Rohilkhand, which was later absorbed into British India. After Independence some Rohillas migrated to Pakistan.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > ethnicities > peoples of Afghanistan and Turkestan > [noun] > person
Kurd1609
Afghan1625
Rohilla1767
Afridi1784
Mohmand1815
Kaffir1834
Powindah1851
Sart1871
Shinwari1875
Guran1882
Afghani1966
1767 London Evening Post 2–5 May They must return home again, disappointed of their annual plunder, or attempt to get it among the Rohillas, or some other Indian nation.
1773 W. Hastings Diary 21 Aug. (1948) 6 The Vizier added that the Abdallee maintained a Correspondence with the Rohellas.
1817 J. Mill Hist. Brit. India II. v. i. 326 The country of the Rohillas was an object of cupidity to both.
1892 R. Kipling Barrack-room Ballads 104 We drove the black Rohillas back.
1943 E. Thompson Making of Indian Princes xix. 111 Sikhs, Rohillas, the Begum Sumroo, even the Muslim leaders and princes of Delhi and the surrounding regions, were plotting to join in one concerted effort to expel the British.
1971 R. Russell tr. A. Ahmad Shore & Wave vi. 52 Some Rohillas had recently been arrested and charged with a series of burglaries and armed robberies.
1994 Jrnl. Mil. Hist. 58 610 These troops..included Najibs, Telingas or Poorbias, Rohillas, and other Hindustani soldiers.
B. adj.
Of or relating to this people.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > ethnicities > peoples of Afghanistan and Turkestan > [adjective]
Pathan1625
Afghan1742
Rohilla1768
Kurdish1806
Kurd1810
Hindki1815
Mohmand1815
Chorasmian1816
Hazara1826
Kaffir1834
Afghani1838
Zakka Khel1860
Pakhtun1867
Powindah1880
Thamudite1881
Sart1898
Thamudaean1909
Tajik1911
Thamudic1937
1768 A. Dow tr. M. Q. Firishtah Hist. Hindostan II. App. vi. 83 To the east of the dominions of the republic of the Seiks lie the countries which are possessed by the Rohilla Afgans.
1790 B. Burges Indostan Lett. 150 Sir Alexander Champion, on St. George's day, in conjunction with Sujah Dowlah, engaged the Ruhillah army.
1839 Times 12 Dec. 4/6 All the Rohilla chiefs were killed at the onset, and the Nabob became a prisoner.
1887 Science 21 Oct. 195/2 Hafiz Rahmat, the great Rohilla captain, and Ahmed Shah, the founder of the Durani empire, had written Divans.
1928 Geogr. Jrnl. 72 169 Allen Macpherson's diaries are specially important for the information they contain of the incidents of the Rohilla campaign.
1994 Jrnl. Econ. & Social Hist. of Orient 37 245 The collapse of the Rohilla state and its Indo-Afghan trading network in northern India caused an overall dwindling of the demand for war-horses.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, November 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.1767