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Notes to The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 1 — Page 20

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

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TALE OF NUR AL-DIN AND HIS SON.

Note 457

The Bres. Edit. says, "would have knocked him into Al-Yaman," (Southern Arabia), something like our slang phrase "into the middle of next week."

TALE OF NUR AL-DIN AND HIS SON.

Note 458

Arab. "Khádim": lit. a servant, politely applied (like Aghá = master) to a castrato. These gentry wax furious if baldly called "Tawáshi" = Eunuch. A mauvais plaisant in Egypt used …

TALE OF NUR AL-DIN AND HIS SON.

Note 459

This sounds absurd enough in English, but Easterns always put themselves first for respect.

TALE OF NUR AL-DIN AND HIS SON. (continued 2)

Note 460

In Arabic the World is feminine.

TALE OF NUR AL-DIN AND HIS SON. (continued 2)

Note 461

Arab. "Sáhib" = lit. a companion; also a friend and especially applied to the Companions of Mohammed. Hence the Sunnis claim for them the honour of "friendship" with the Apostle; b…

TALE OF NUR AL-DIN AND HIS SON. (continued 2)

Note 462

Arab. "Suwán," prop. Syenite, from Syene (Al-Suwan) but applied to flint and any hard stone.

TALE OF NUR AL-DIN AND HIS SON. (continued 2)

Note 463

It was famous in the middle ages, and even now it is, perhaps, the most interesting to travellers after that "Sentina Gentium," the "Bhendi Bazar" of unromantic Bombay.

TALE OF NUR AL-DIN AND HIS SON. (continued 2)

Note 464

"The Gate of the Gardens," in the northern wall, a Roman archway of the usual solid construction shaming not only our modern shams, but our finest masonry.

TALE OF NUR AL-DIN AND HIS SON. (continued 2)

Note 465

Arab. "Al-Asr," which may mean either the hour or the prayer. It is also the moment at which the Guardian Angels relieve each other (Sale's Koran, chapt. v.).

TALE OF NUR AL-DIN AND HIS SON. (continued 2)

Note 466

Arab. "Ya házá" = O this (one)! a somewhat slighting address equivalent to "Heus tu! O thou, whoever thou art." Another form is "Yá hú" = O he! Can this have originated Swift's "Ya…

TALE OF NUR AL-DIN AND HIS SON. (continued 2)

Note 467

Alluding to the τήρατα ("minor miracles which cause surprise") performed by Saints' tombs, the mildest form of thaumaturgy. One of them gravely recorded in the Dabistan (ii. 226) i…

TALE OF NUR AL-DIN AND HIS SON. (continued 2)

Note 468

The River of Paradise, a lieu commun of poets (Koran, chapt. cviii.): the water is whiter than milk or silver, sweeter than honey, smoother than cream, more odorous than musk; its …

TALE OF NUR AL-DIN AND HIS SON. (continued 2)

Note 469

The Moslem does not use the European basin because water which has touched an impure skin becomes impure. Hence it is poured out from a ewer ("ibrík" Pers. Abríz) upon the hands an…

TALE OF NUR AL-DIN AND HIS SON. (continued 2)

Note 470

Arab. "Wahsh," a word of many meanings; nasty, insipid, savage, etc. The offside of a horse is called Wahshi opposed to Insi, the near side. The Amir Taymur ("Lord Iron") whom Euro…

TALE OF NUR AL-DIN AND HIS SON. (continued 2)

Note 471

For "grandson" as being more affectionate. Easterns have not yet learned that clever Western saying:—The enemies of our enemies are our friends.

TALE OF NUR AL-DIN AND HIS SON. (continued 2)

Note 472

This was a simple bastinado on the back, not the more ceremonious affair of beating the feet-soles. But it is surprising what the Egyptians can bear; some of the rods used in the t…

TALE OF NUR AL-DIN AND HIS SON. (continued 2)

Note 473

The woman-like spite of the eunuch intended to hurt the grandmother's feelings.

TALE OF NUR AL-DIN AND HIS SON. (continued 2)

Note 474

The usual Cairene "chaff."

TALE OF NUR AL-DIN AND HIS SON. (continued 2)

Note 475

A necessary precaution against poison (Pilgrimage i. 84, and iii. 43).

TALE OF NUR AL-DIN AND HIS SON. (continued 2)

Note 476

The Bresl. Edit. (ii. 108) describes the scene at greater length.

TALE OF NUR AL-DIN AND HIS SON. (continued 2)

Note 477

The Bul. Edit. gives by mistake of diacritical points, "Zabdaniyah:" Raydaniyah is or rather was a camping ground to the North of Cairo.

TALE OF NUR AL-DIN AND HIS SON. (continued 2)

Note 478

Arab. "La'abat" = a plaything, a puppet, a lay figure. Lane (i. 326) conjectures that the cross is so called because it resembles a man with arms extended. But Moslems never heard …

TALE OF NUR AL-DIN AND HIS SON. (continued 2)

Note 479

Here good blood, driven to bay, speaks out boldly. But, as a rule, the humblest and mildest Eastern when in despair turns round upon his oppressors like a wild cat. Some of the cri…

TALE OF NUR AL-DIN AND HIS SON. (continued 2)

Note 480

These repeated "laughs" prove the trouble of his spirit. Noble Arabs "show their back-teeth" so rarely that their laughter is held worthy of being recorded by their biographers.