Note 97
Arab. "Shább" (Lat. juvenis) between puberty and forty or according to some fifty; when the patient becomes a "Rajul ikhtiyár" (man of free will) politely termed, and then a Shaykh…
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Notes to The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Volume 1 — Page 5
698 notes in Richard Francis Burton translation. Follow a thought back to its place in the book.
698 notes
Note 98
Some proverbial name now forgotten. Torrens (p. 48) translates it "the giglot" (Fortune?) but "cannot discover the drift."
Read the noteNote 99
Arab. "Ihtizáz," that natural and instinctive movement caused by good news suddenly given, etc.
Read the noteNote 100
Arab. "Kohl," in India, Surmah, not a "collyrium," but powdered antimony for the eyelids. That sold in the bazars is not the real grey ore of antimony but a galena or sulphuret of …
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The tale of these two women is now forgotten.
Read the noteNote 102
Arab. "Atadakhkhal." When danger threatens it is customary to seize a man's skirt and cry "Dakhíl-ak!" ( = under thy protection). Among noble tribes the Badawi thus invoked will de…
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The formula of quoting from the Koran.
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Lit. "Allah not desolate me" (by thine absence). This is still a popular phrase—Lá tawáhishná = Do not make me desolate, i.e. by staying away too long, and friends meeting after a …
Read the noteNote 105
Charming simplicity of manners when the Prime Minister carries the fish (shade of Vattel!)!) to the cookmaid. The "Gesta Romanorum" is nowhere more naïve.
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Arab. "Kahílat al-taraf" = lit. eyelids lined with Kohl; and figuratively "with black lashes and languorous look." This is a phrase which frequently occurs in The Nights and which,…
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Of course applying to her own case.
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Prehistoric Arabs who measured from 60 to 100 cubits high: Koran, chapt. xxvi., etc. They will often be mentioned in The Nights.
Read the noteNote 109
I Arab. "Dastúr" (from Persian) = leave, permission. The word has two meanings (see Burckhardt, Arab. Prov. No. 609) and is much used, ea. before walking up stairs or entering a ro…
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He speaks of his wife but euphemistically in the masculine.
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A popular saying throughout Al-Islam.
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Arab. "Fata": lit.=a youth; a generous man, one of noble mind (as youth-tide should be). It corresponds with the Lat. "vir," and has much the meaning of the Ital. "Giovane," the Ge…
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From the Bul. Edit.
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The vagueness of his statement is euphemistic.
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This readiness of shedding tears contrasts strongly with the external stoicism of modern civilization; but it is true to Arab character, and Easterns, like the heroes of Homer and …
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The formula (constantly used by Moslems) here denotes displeasure, doubt how to act and so forth. Pronounce, "Lá haula wa lá kuwwata illá bi 'lláhi 'I-Aliyyi 'I-Azim." As a rule mi…
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An Arab holds that he has a right to marry his first cousin, the daughter of his father's brother, and if any win her from him a death and a blood-feud may result. It was the same …
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Arab. "Kahbah;" the coarsest possible term. Hence the unhappy "Cava" of Don Roderick the Goth, which simply means The Whore.
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The Arab "Banj" and Hindú "Bhang" (which I use as most familiar) both derive from the old Coptic "Nibanj" meaning a preparation of hemp (Cannabis sativa seu Indica); and here it is…
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The rubbish heaps which outlie Eastern cities, some (near Cairo) are over a hundred feet high.
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