PAGODA (

See also:

• PORT

Port. pagode, a word introduced in the 16th

See also:

• CENTURY (from Lat. centuria, a division of a hundred men)

century by the

See also:

• EARLY
• EARLY, JUBAL ANDERSON (1816-1894)

early Portuguese adventurers in

See also:

• INDIA
• INDIA, FRENCH

India, reproducing phonetically some native word, possibly Pers. but-kadah, a

See also:

• HOUSE
• HOUSE (O. Eng. hiss, a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Dut. huis, Ger. Haus; in Gothic it is only found in gudhiss, a temple; it may be ultimately connected with the root of " hide," conceal)

house for an idol, or some

See also:

• FORM (Lat. forma)

form of Sansk. bhagavat, divine,

See also:

• HOLY

holy)  , an Eastern term for a temple, especially a building of a pyramid shape common in India and the Far East and devoted to sacred purposes; in Buddhist countries, notably China, the name of a many-sided tower in which are kept holy relics . More loosely " pagoda " is used in the East to signify any non-Christian or non-Mussulman place of worship . Pagoda or pagod was also the name given to a gold (occasionally also silver) coin, of about the value of seven shillings, at one time current in southern India . From this meaning is derived the expression " the pagoda tree," as synonymous with the " wealth of the Indies," whence the phrase to " shake the pagoda tree." There is a real tree, the Plumieria acuminata, bearing the name . It grows in India, and is of a small and graceful shape, and bears yellow and white flowers tinged with red .