Note 25
Arab. "Tibn"; straw crushed under the sledge: the hay of Egypt, Arabia, Syria, etc. The old country custom is to pull up the corn by handfuls from the roots, leaving the land perfe…
Read the noteBETWEEN THE LINES
Notes to The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 1 — Page 2
698 notes in Richard Francis Burton translation. Follow a thought back to its place in the book.
698 notes
Note 26
Arab. "Yá Aftah": Al-Aftah is an epithet of the bull, also of the chameleon.
Read the noteNote 27
Arab. "Balíd," a favourite Egyptianism often pleasantly confounded with "Wali" (a Santon), hence the latter comes to mean "an innocent," a "ninny."
Read the noteNote 28
From the Calc. Edit., Vol. 1., p. 29.
Read the noteNote 29
Arab. "Abu Yakzán" is hardly equivalent with "Père l'Eveillé."
Read the noteNote 30
In Arab. the wa (x) is the sign of parenthesis.
Read the noteNote 31
In the nearer East the light little plough is carried afield by the bull or ass.
Read the noteNote 32
Ocymum basilicum, the "royal herb," so much prized all over the East, especially in India, where, under the name of "Tulsi," it is a shrub sacred to the merry god Krishna. I found …
Read the noteNote 33
Arab. "Sadaf," the Kauri, or cowrie, brought from the Maldive and Lakdive Archipelago. The Kámús describes this "Wada'" or Concha Veneris as "a white shell (whence to "shell out") …
Read the noteNote 34
Arab. "Kat'a" (bit of leather): some read "Nat'a;" a leather used by way of table-cloth, and forming a bag for victuals; but it is never made of bull's hide.
Read the noteNote 35
The older "Cadi," a judge in religious matters. The Shuhúd, or Assessors, are officers of the Mahkamah or Kazi's Court.
Read the noteNote 36
Of which more in a future page. He thus purified himself ceremonially before death.
Read the noteNote 37
This is Christian rather than Moslem: a favourite Maltese curse is "Yahrak Kiddisak man rabba-k!" = burn the Saint who brought thee up!
Read the noteNote 38
A popular Egyptian phrase: the dog and the cock speak like Fellahs.
Read the noteNote 39
i. e. between the last sleep and dawn when they would rise to wash and pray.
Read the noteNote 40
Travellers tell of a peculiar knack of jerking the date-stone, which makes it strike with great force: I never saw this "Inwá" practised, but it reminds me of the water splashing w…
Read the noteNote 41
i.e., sorely against his will.
Read the noteNote 42
Arab. "Shaykh"=an old man (primarily), an elder, a chief (of the tribe, guild, etc.), and honourably addressed to any man. Comp. among the neo Latins "Sieur," "Signore," "Señor," "…
Read the noteNote 43
The word is mostly plural = Jinnís: it is also singular = a demon; and Ján bin Ján has been noticed.
Read the noteNote 44
With us moderns "liver" suggests nothing but malady: in Arabic and Persian as in the classic literature of Europe it is the seat of passion, the heart being that of affection. Of t…
Read the noteNote 45
Originally in Al-Islam the concubine (Surriyat, etc.) was a captive taken in war and the Koran says nothing about buying slave-girls. But if the captives were true believers the Mo…
Read the noteNote 46
Arab. "Al-Kahánah"=the craft of a "Káhin" (Heb. Cohen) a diviner, soothsayer, etc.
Read the noteNote 47
Arab. "Id al-kabír = The Great Festival; the Turkish Bayrám and Indian Bakar-eed (Kine-fête), the pilgrimage-time, also termed "Festival of the Kurbán" (sacrifice) because victims …
Read the noteNote 48
Arab. "Kalám al-mubáh," i.e., that allowed or permitted to her by the King, her husband.
Read the note