E. Indies. Also tanna(h, tha(n)na(h. [Hindī thāna, thānā.] A police station in India; formerly, a military station or fortified post.
1762. Vansittart, trans. Lett. from Nabob, in Narr. (1766), I. 328. I am here taking such measures for regulating the concerns of this quarter, as you might approve of, and have stationed men in the forts and tannahs.
1803. Wellington, in Gurw., Desp. (1837), II. 251. I give you notice, that you may have your tannahs prepared in your villages and desire them to defend them.
1834. A. Princep, Baboo, II. xi. 202 (Stanf.). The Burkundazes at last came up from the Thana.
1879. Low, Jrnl. Gen. Abbott, iii. 214. Thannahs (posts) for the protection of the Cabul were re-established.
1895. Mrs. B. M. Croker, Village Tales (1896), 212. They were found … near the police thana on the Futupore Road.
Hence ǁ Tanadar [Hindī thānadār], the head officer of a police station in India; formerly the commander of a military post.
1802. C. James, Milit. Dict. (1816), Tannadar, a commander of a small fort.
1834. A. Princep, Baboo, I. xviii. 326 (Stanf.). Thou must be a Thanadar at least.
1897. L. J. Trotter, J. Nicholson, xvii. (1908), 233. He suspended a thanadar whom he caught in an act of oppression.
