LASCAR  , the name in

common use for all oriental, and especially Indian, sailors, which has been adopted in England into the Merchant Shipping Acts, though without any definition . It is derived from the Persian lashkar = army, or camp, in which sense it is still used in India, e.g . Lashkar, originally the camp, now the permanent capital, of Sindhia at Gwalior . It would seem to have been applied by the Portuguese, first to an inferior class of men in military service (cf . " gun-lascars "), and then to sailors as early as the 17th century . The form askari on the east coast of Africa, equivalent to " sepoy," comes from the Arabic `askar= army, which is believed to be itself taken from the Persian .