Note 269 — KHALIF THE FISHERMAN OF BAGHDAD.
Richard Francis Burton translation · Edition 2
“Yá A’awar” = O one eye! i.e. the virile member. So the vulgar insult “Ya ibn al-aur” (as the vulgar pronounce it) “O son of a yard!” When Al-Mas’údi writes (Fr. Trans. vii. 106), “Udkhul usbu’ak fi aynih,” it must not be rendered “Il faut lui faire violence”: thrust thy finger into his eye (’Ayn) means “put thy penis up his fundament!” (’Ayn being = Dubur). The French remarks, “On en trouverait l’équivalent dans les bas-fonds de notre langue.” So in English “pig’s eye,” “blind eye.” etc.