Note 241
Arab. "Harísah," a favourite dish of wheat (or rice) boiled and reduced to a paste with shredded meat, spices and condiments. The "bangles" is a pretty girl eating with him.
Read the noteBETWEEN THE LINES
Notes to The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 1 — Page 11
698 notes in Richard Francis Burton translation. Follow a thought back to its place in the book.
698 notes
Note 242
These lines are repeated with a difference in Night cccxxx. They affect Rims cars, out of the way, heavy rhymes: e. g. here Sakáríj (plur. of Sakrúj, platters, porringers); Tayáhíj…
Read the noteNote 243
This is the vinum coctum, the boiled wine, still a favourite in Southern Italy and Greece.
Read the noteNote 244
Eastern topers delight in drinking at dawn: upon this subject I shall have more to say in other Nights.
Read the noteNote 245
Arab. "Adab," a crux to translators, meaning anything between good education and good manners. In mod. Turk. "Edibiyyet" (Adabiyat) = belles lettres and "Edebi' or "Edíb" = a litté…
Read the noteNote 246
The Caliph Al-Maamún, who was a bad player, used to say, "I have the administration of the world and am equal to it, whereas I am straitened in the ordering of a space of two spans…
Read the noteNote 247
The Rabbis (after Matth. xix. 12) count three kinds of Eunuchs; (1) Seris chammah=of the sun, i.e. natural, (2) Seris Adam=manufactured per homines; and (3) Seris Chammayim—of God …
Read the noteNote 248
The "Lady of Beauty."
Read the noteNote 249
"Káf" has been noticed as the mountain which surrounds earth as a ring does the finger:: it is popularly used like our Alp and Alpine. The "circumambient Ocean" (Bahr al-muhit) is …
Read the noteNote 250
The pomegranate is probably chosen here because each fruit is supposed to contain one seed from Eden-garden. Hence a host of superstitions (Pilgrimage iii., 104) possibly connected…
Read the noteNote 251
i.e. for the love of God—a favourite Moslem phrase.
Read the noteNote 252
Arab. "Báb," also meaning a chapter (of magic, of war, etc.), corresponding with the Persian "Dar" as in Sad-dar, the Hundred Doors. Here, however, it is figurative "I tried a new …
Read the noteNote 253
I use this Irish term = crying for the dead, as English wants the word for the præfica, or myrialogist. The practice is not encouraged in Al-Islam; and Caliph Abu Bakr said, ; "Ver…
Read the noteNote 254
These lines are hardly translatable. Arab. "Sabr" means "patience" as well as "aloes," hereby lending itself to a host of puns and double entendres more or less vile. The aloe, acc…
Read the noteNote 255
Every city in the East has its specific title: this was given to Baghdad either on account of its superior police or simply because it was the Capital of the Caliphate. The Tigris …
Read the noteNote 256
This is very characteristic: the passengers finding themselves in difficulties at once take command. See in my Pilgrimage (I. chapt. xi.) how we beat and otherwise maltreated the C…
Read the noteNote 257
The fable is probably based on the currents which, as in Eastern Africa, will carry a ship fifty miles a day out of her course. We first find it in Ptolemy (vii. 2) whose Maniólai …
Read the noteNote 258
As we learn from the Nubian Geographer the Arabs in early ages explored the Fortunate Islands (Jazírát al-Khálidát=Eternal Isles), or Canaries, on one of which were reported a hors…
Read the noteNote 259
i.e. I exclaimed "Bismillah!"
Read the noteNote 260
The lesser ablution of hands, face and feet; a kind of "washing the points." More in Night ccccxl.
Read the noteNote 261
Arab. "Ruka'tayn"; the number of these bows which are followed by the prostrations distinguishes the five daily prayers.
Read the noteNote 262
The "Beth Kol" of the Hebrews; also called by the Moslems "Hátif"; for which ask the Spiritualists. It is the Hindu "voice divine" or "voice from heaven."
Read the noteNote 263
These formulae are technically called Tasmiyah, Tahlil (before noted) and Takbír: the "testifying" is Tashhíd.
Read the noteNote 264
Arab. "Samn," (Pers. "Raughan" Hind. "Ghi") the "single sauce" of the East; fresh butter set upon the fire, skimmed and kept (for a century if required) in leather bottles and demi…
Read the note