Note 223 — THE STORY OF THE KAZI WHO BARE A BABE.[204]

A slang name for Death. “Kash’am” has various sigs. esp. the lion, hence Rabí’at al-Faras (of the horses), one of the four sons of Nizár was surnamed Al-Kash’am from his cœur de lion (Al-Mas’údi iii. 238). Another pleasant term for departing life is Abu Yáhyá = Father of John, which also means “The Living” from Hayy—Death being the lord of all: hence “Yamút” lit. = he dies, is an ill-omened name amongst Arabs. Kash’am is also a hyena, and Umm Kash’am is syn. with Umm ’Ámir (vol. I. 43). It was considered a point of good breeding to use these “Kunyah” for the purpose of varying speech (see Al-Hariri Ass. xix). The phrase in the text = meaning went to hell, as a proverb was first used by Zuhayr, one of the “Suspended Poets.” Umm Kash’am was the P.N. of a runaway camel which, passing by a large fire, shied and flung its riding saddle into the flames. So in Al-Siyúti’s “History of the Caliphs” (p. 447), the text has “And Malak Shah went to where her saddle was thrown by Umm Kash’am,” which Major Jarrett renders “departed to hell-fire.”