Note 55 — Chapter VII

This inlaying, or rather the precious metal thus inlaid, is termed in Arabic keft كَفْت. كفّت (2nd conj.) means to plate or cover with a leaf of metal. We read in El-Makrīzy of نحاس مكفت بالذهب والفضة, “Copper, plated with gold and silver;” نحاس اصفر مكفت بالفضة, “Brass, plated with silver;” and elsewhere of فولاد مكفت بالذهب, “Steel, plated with gold;” and saddles, bridles, and precious stones, مكفت, “plated” with, or set in, gold and silver. الطعيم (from طعّم) means “incrustation,” “inlaying;” and مطعّم practically the same as مكفت, only it does not necessarily imply metal-plates. El-Makrīzy writes—الكفت هو ما تطعم به اوانى النحاس من الذهب والفضة, which shows that مطعّم is applied to inlaid metal-work as well as مكفت. But it is also used for inlaid ivory and wood: e.g. خشب مطعّم بالعاج والابنوس, “Wood, inlaid with ivory and ebony,” صنع تابوتا من ابنوس مطعّم بالصدف, “He made a box of ebony inlaid with mother-of-pearl.” See El-Makrīzy, Hist. des Mamlouks, (Quatremère,) ii. i. 114, note.