しんどぅー【船頭】 : shinduu | define meaning

Cognate with Kagoshima せんづ sendzu and せんず senzu; Okinawan しんどぅー shinduu; standard Japanese せんどう【船頭】 sendou "boatman". Ultimately from Chinese 【船頭・船头】 "bow (of a ship or boat)" (cf. Mandarin chuántóu; Cantonese syun4 tau4; Hakka sòn-thèu; Hokkien chûn-thâu).

Historical Japanese attestations

• Vocabulario da Lingoa de Iapam (1603), aka Nippo Jisho (日葡辞書), records "Xendô. Funeno caxira. Capitão, ou mestre do navio" (Shendou. Bow of the ship. Captain or master of the ship).
• Historically recorded for the Kagoshima dialect in Gonza's works (ca. early 18th century) under the spelling шенду (shendu).

Historical Ryukyuan attestations

• おもろさうし Omoro Saushi (1531-1623) records "せと", "せど" and "せんとう".
• Essay in Aid of a Grammmar and Dictionary of the Luchuan Language (1895), by Basil Hall Chamberlain, records "Shindū, captain".
• 沖縄語典 Okinawa goten (Okinawan language dictionary) (1896), by Masayo Nakamoto, records "「しんどゥう」舩頭（センドウ）、舩長ニシ".