Note 454 — Chapter XVIII · MUSIC.

Here, in accordance with a rule observed in most modern Arab songs, the masculine gender is applied to the beloved object, who is, nevertheless, a female, as will be seen in several subsequent verses. In translation, I therefore substitute the feminine gender in every case where our language distinguishes gender. Some words occur, bearing double meanings, which I leave unexplained. I write the Arabic words as they are generally pronounced in Cairo, excepting in the case of one letter, which I represent by “k,” to express the sound which persons of education give to it instead of the more usual hiatus.