talipot

English

Etymology

From Sinhalese talapata, Malayalam tālipat, from Sanskrit [Term?].

Noun

talipot (plural talipots)

  1. A tall palm tree, Corypha umbraculifera, from Sri Lanka and southern India, having very large leaves which were used as a material to write on.
    Synonym: talipot palm
    • 1720, [Daniel Defoe], The Life, Adventures, and Pyracies, of the Famous Captain Singleton, London: […] J. Brotherton, […], J. Graves […], A. Dodd, […], and T. Warner, […], →OCLC, page 304:
      On Sunday, Oct. 12. being ſtored vvith all things needful for their Journey, viz. Ten Days Proviſion, a Baſin to boil their Provision in, two Calabaſhes to fetch VVater in, and tvvo great Tallipat Leaves for Tents, with Jaggory, Svveet-meats, Tobacco, Betell, Tinder-Boxes, and a Deer-Skin for Shoes, to keep their Feet from Thorns, becauſe to them they chiefly truſted.
    • 2020, Sujit Sivasundaram, Waves Across the South, William Collins, published 2021, page 347:
      The leaves of the talipot or palmyra tree were rolled and boiled and oiled so as to prepare them for use in the writing of a manuscript.
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