BETWEEN THE LINES

Notes to The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 1 — Page 16

698 notes in Richard Francis Burton translation. Follow a thought back to its place in the book.

Explore by chapter698 notes

THE TALE OF THE THREE APPLES

Note 361

i.e. Where the dress sits loosely about the bust.

THE TALE OF THE THREE APPLES

Note 362

He had trusted in Allah and his trust was justified.

TALE OF NUR AL-DIN AND HIS SON.

Note 363

Arab. "Khila'ah" prop. what a man strips from his person: gen. an honorary gift. It is something more than the "robe of honour" of our chivalrous romances, as it includes a horse, …

TALE OF NUR AL-DIN AND HIS SON.

Note 364

Arab. "Izá," i.e. the visits of condolence and so forth which are long and terribly wearisome in the Moslem East.

TALE OF NUR AL-DIN AND HIS SON.

Note 365

Arab. "Mahr," the money settled by the man before marriage on the woman and without which the contract is not valid. Usually half of it is paid down on the marriage-day and the oth…

TALE OF NUR AL-DIN AND HIS SON.

Note 366

Bismillah here means "Thou art welcome to it."

TALE OF NUR AL-DIN AND HIS SON.

Note 367

Arab. "Bassak," half Pers. (bas = enough) and—ak = thou; for thee. "Bas" sounds like our "buss" (to kiss) and there are sundry good old Anglo-Indian jokes of feminine mistakes on t…

TALE OF NUR AL-DIN AND HIS SON.

Note 368

This saving clause makes the threat worse. The scene between the two brothers is written with characteristic Arab humour; and it is true to nature. In England we have heard of a ma…

TALE OF NUR AL-DIN AND HIS SON.

Note 369

Arab. "Misr." (vulg. Masr). The word, which comes of a very ancient house, was applied to the present capital about the time of its conquest by the Osmanli Turks A.H. 923 = 1517.

TALE OF NUR AL-DIN AND HIS SON.

Note 370

The Arab. "Jízah," = skirt, edge; the modern village is the site of an ancient Egyptian city, as the "Ghizah inscription" proves (Brugsch, History of Egypt, ii. 415)

TALE OF NUR AL-DIN AND HIS SON.

Note 371

Arab. "Watan" literally meaning "birth-place" but also used for "patria, native country"; thus "Hubb al-Watan" = patriotism. The Turks pronounce it "Vatan," which the French have t…

TALE OF NUR AL-DIN AND HIS SON.

Note 372

Arab. "Zarzariyah" = the colour of a stare or starling (Zurzúr).

TALE OF NUR AL-DIN AND HIS SON.

Note 373

Now a Railway Station on the Alexandria-Cairo line.

TALE OF NUR AL-DIN AND HIS SON.

Note 374

Even as late as 1852, when I first saw Cairo, the city was girt by waste lands and the climate was excellent. Now cultivation comes up to the house walls; while the Mahmudiyah Cana…

TALE OF NUR AL-DIN AND HIS SON.

Note 375

This is the popular pronunciation: Yakút calls it "Bilbís."

TALE OF NUR AL-DIN AND HIS SON.

Note 376

An outlying village on the "Long Desert," between Cairo and Palestine.

TALE OF NUR AL-DIN AND HIS SON.

Note 377

Arab. "Al-Kuds" = holiness. There are few cities which in our day have less claim to this title than Jerusalem; and, curious to say, the "Holy Land" shows Jews, Christians and Mosl…

TALE OF NUR AL-DIN AND HIS SON.

Note 378

Arab. "Shamm al-hawá." In vulgar parlance to "smell the air" is to take a walk, especially out of town. There is a peculiar Egyptian festival called "Shamm al-Nasím" (smelling the …

TALE OF NUR AL-DIN AND HIS SON.

Note 379

So in the days of the "Mameluke Beys" in Egypt a man of rank would not cross the street on foot.

TALE OF NUR AL-DIN AND HIS SON.

Note 380

Arab. Basrah. The city is now in decay and not to flourish again till the advent of the Euphrates Valley R.R., is a modern place, founded in A.H. 15, by the Caliph Omar upon the Ay…

TALE OF NUR AL-DIN AND HIS SON.

Note 381

This fumigation (Bukhúr) is still used. A little incense or perfumed wood is burnt upon an open censor (Mibkharah) of earthenware or metal, and passed round, each guest holding it …

TALE OF NUR AL-DIN AND HIS SON.

Note 382

The reader of The Nights will remark that the merchant is often a merchant-prince, consorting and mating with the highest dignitaries. Even amongst the Romans, a race of soldiers, …

TALE OF NUR AL-DIN AND HIS SON.

Note 383

These lines in the Calc. and Bul. Edits. Have already occurred (Night vii.) but such carelessness is characteristic despite the proverb, "In repetition is no fruition." I quote Tor…

TALE OF NUR AL-DIN AND HIS SON.

Note 384

Such an address to a royalty (Eastern) even in the present day, would be a passport to future favours.