The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night Volume XV Part 36

[FN#557] I write "Cafilah" and not "Cafila" with the unjustifiable suppression of the final "h" which is always made sensible in the pure p.r.o.nunciation of the Badawi. The malpractice has found favour chiefly through the advocacy of Dr. Redhouse, an eminent Turkish scholar whose judgments must be received with great caution; and I would quote on this subject the admirable remarks of my late lamented friend Dr. G. P. Badger in "The Academy" of July 2, 1887. "Another noticeable default in the same category is that, like Sale, Mr. Wherry frequently omits the terminal ?h' in his transliteration of Arabic. Thus he writes Sura, Amina, Fatima, Madina, Tahama; yet, inconsistently enough, he gives the ?h' in Allah, Khadijah, Kaabah, Makkah, and many other words. This point deserves special notice, owing to Dr.

Redhouse's letter, published in ?The Academy' of November 22 last, in which he denounces as ?a very common European error' the addition of the ?h' or ?final aspirate,' in the English transliteration of many Arabic words. Hence, as I read the eminent Orientalist's criticism, when that aspirate is not sounded in p.r.o.nunciation he omits it, writing "F&amacron;tima,"

not Fatimah, lest, as I presume, the unwary reader may aspirate the ?h.' But in our Bibles we find such names as Sarah, Hannah, Judah, Beulah, Moriah, Jehovah, in the enunciation of which no one thinks of sounding the last letter as an aspirate. I quite agree with Dr. Redhouse that in the construct case the final h a.s.sumes the sound of t, as in Fatimatu bint-Muhammed; yet that does not strike me as a valid reason for eliding the final h, which among other uses, is indicative of the feminine gender, as in Fatimah, Khadijah, Aminah, etc.; also of the nomina vicis, of many abstract nouns, nouns of mult.i.tude and of quality, as well as of adjectives of intensiveness, all which important indications would be lost by dropping the final h. And further unless the vowel a, left after the elision of that letter, be furnished with some etymological mark of distinction, there would be great risk of its being confounded with the a, formative of the singular of many verbal nouns, such as bina, safa, jala; with the masculine plurals ending in the same letters, such as hukama, aghniya, kufara; and with the feminine plurals of many adjectives, such as kubra, sughra, husna, etc. Dr. Redhouse says that ?many eminent Arabists avoid such errors'--a remark which rather surprises me, since Poc.o.c.k, Lane and Palmer, and Fresnel and Perron among French Orientalists, as also Burton, all retain the final aspirate h, the latter taking special care to distinguish, by some adequate, diacritical sign, those substantive and adjective forms with which words ending in the final aspirate h might otherwise be confounded."

[FN#558] In the text, "Wa saba'l-dar wa Zaujatu-hu mutawa.s.siyin bi-ha." [I cannot explain to myself the plural "Mutawa.s.sin"

unless by supposing that the preceding "Sab al-Dar" is another blunder of the scribe for "Sahibu 'l-Dar" when the meaning would be: "and the master of the house and his wife took charge of her (the nurse) during the days of suckling." --ST.]

[FN#559] In text "Saru yarashu-hu wa yatawa.s.su."

[FN#560] [In the text "Fiki" the popular form of the present day "Fikih," properly "learned in the law" (LL.D. as we would say), but now the usual term for "school-master."--ST.]

[FN#561] Both of which are practised by Easterns from horseback, the animal going at fullest speed. With the English saddle and its narrow stirrup-irons we can hardly prove ourselves even moderately good shots after Parthian fashion.

[FN#562] In text "Ihtimam wa Ghullah": I suspect that the former should be written with the major h, meaning fever.

[FN#563] See Suppl. vol. iv. p. 191.

[FN#564] i.e. tempt not Providence unless compelled so to do by necessity.

[FN#565] The youth was taking a "Fal" or omen: see vol. v. 136.

[FN#566] In text "Hasal," for which I would read "Khasal."

[FN#567] A wiser Sprichwort than those of France and America. It compares advantageously with the second par. of the Declaration of Independence (July 4, 1776) by the Representatives of the U.S., which declares, "these truths to be self-evident:--that all men are created equal," etc. It is regretable that so trenchant a state-paper should begin with so gross and palpable a fallacy.

Men are not born equal, nor do they become equal before their death-days even in condition, except by artificial levelling; and in republics and limited monarchies, where all are politically equal, the greatest social inequalities ever prevail. Still falser is the shibboleth-crow of the French c.o.c.k, "Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite," which has borrowed its plumage from the American Bird o' Freedom. And Douglas Jerrold neatly expressed the truth when he said,--"We all row in the same boat but not with the same sculls."

[FN#568] Sayf Kunuzi = a talismanic scymitar: see "Kanz," ix.

320.

[FN#569] In Arab. "Al-Kutb al-Ghauth" = lit. the pole-star of invocation for help; or simply "Al-Ghauth" is the highest degree of sanct.i.ty in the mystic fraternity of Tasawwuf. See v. 384; and Lane (A. N.) i. 232. Students who would understand these t.i.tles will consult vol. iii. chapt. 12 of The Dabistan by Shaw and Troyer, Paris and London, 1843. By the learned studies of Dr.

Pertsch the authorship of this work of the religious eclecticism of Akbar's reign, has been taken from the wrongful claimant and definitively a.s.signed to the legitimate owner, Mobed Shah. (See Z. d. M. G. xvi. 224.) It is regretable that the index of the translation is worthless as its contents are valuable.

[FN#570] Arab. "Su'uban" = c.o.c.katrice, etc., vols. i. 172; vii.

322. Ibn Khaldun (vol. iii. 350) tells us that it was the t.i.tle of a famous and fatal necklace of rubies.

[FN#571] In Ar. "Anakati-h." [This is a very plausible conjecture of the translator for the word written in the text: "'Anfakati-h"

= the hair between the lower lips and the chin, and then used for the chin itself.--ST.]

[FN#572] In the text "Tisht" (a basin for the ewer), which I have translated tray: these articles are often six feet in diameter.

[FN#573] A neat touch of realism: the youth is worn out by the genial labours of the night which have made the bride only the merrier and the livelier. It is usually the reverse with the first post-nuptial breakfast: the man eats heartily and the woman can hardly touch solid food. Is this not a fact according to your experience, Mesdames?

[FN#574] In text "Tazarghit" a scribal error for "Zaghritah." In Mr. Doughty (ii. 621) "Zalaghit" for "Zagharit" and the former is erroneously called a "Syrian word." The traveller renders it by "Lullul-lullul-lullul-la." [Immediately before, however, the correct form "hiya tazaghritu," she was lulli-looing, had been used. The word occurs in numerous forms, differentiated by the interchange of the dental and palatal "t" and of the liquid letters "r" and "l." Dozy gives: "Zaghrata," "Zaghlata" and "Zalghata" for the verb, and "Zaghritah," "Zaghrutah" (both with pl. "Zagharit"), "Zalghutah," "Zalghatah" (both with pl.

"Zalaghit"), and even a plural "Zaghalit" for the noun.--ST.]

[FN#575] In these cases usually an exception is made of brigands, a.s.sa.s.sins and criminals condemned for felony. See Ibn Khaldun, iv. 189.

[FN#576] [In text: "biyarza' fi Asabi-hi" (see supra p. 294).

This is, as far as I remember, the only instance where in the MS.

the aorist is preceded by the preposition "bi," a construction now so common in the popular dialects. Strange as it may appear at first sight, it has a deep foundation in the grammatical sentiment, if I may say so, of the Arabic language, which always ascribed a more or less nominal character to the aorist. Hence its inflection by Raf' (u), Nasb (a) and Jazm (absence of final vowel), corresponding to the nominative, accusative and oblique case of the noun. Moreover in the old language itself already another preposition ("li") was joined to the aorist. The less surprising, therefore, can it be to find that the use of a preposition in connection with it has so largely increased in the modern idiom, where it serves to mark this semi-nominal character of the aorist, which otherwise would be lost in consequence of the loss of the vowel terminations. This interesting subject deserves a fuller development, but I must reserve it for another opportunity--insha 'llah!--ST.]

[FN#577] [Again "yastanit" = he listened attentively; comp. note p. 24.--ST.]

[FN#578] In text "Zarb al-Aklam."

[FN#579] Vol. iii. 247-261. This violation of the Harem is very common in Egypt.

[FN#580] Arab. "Fadawi," here again = a blackguard, see Suppl.

vol. iv. 220.

[FN#581] The Irishman says, Sleep with both feet in one stocking.

[FN#582] Arab. or rather Egypt. "Babuj," from "Babug," from the Pers. "Pay-push" = foot-clothing, vulg. "Papush." To beat with shoe, slipper, or pipe-stick is most insulting; the idea, I believe, being that these articles are not made, like the rod and the whip, for coporal chastis.e.m.e.nt, and are therefore used by way of slight. We find the phrase "he slippered the merchant" in old diaries, e.g. Sir William Ridges, 1683, Hakluyts, mdccclxxvii.

[FN#583] Arab. "Sarmujah" = sandals, slippers, shoes, esp. those worn by slaves.

[FN#584] Suggesting carnal need.

[FN#585] The young man being grown up did not live in his father's house.

[FN#586] Arab. "Tartara." The lexicons give only the sigs.

"chattering" and so forth. Prob. it is an emphatic reduplication of "Tarra" = sprouting, pushing forward.

[FN#587] The youth plays upon the bride's curiosity, a favourite topic in Arab. and all Eastern folk-lore.

[FN#588] There is a confusion in the text easily rectified by the sequel. The facetia suggests the tale of the Schildburgers, who on a fine summer's day carried the darkness out of the house in their caps and emptied it into the sunshine which they bore to the dark room.

[FN#589] A kindly phrase popularly addressed to the returning traveller whether long absent or not.

[FN#590] In the text "Hamakah."

[FN#591] Arab. "Adi" which has occurred before.

[FN#592] This "little orgie," as moderns would call it, strongly suggests the Egyptian origin of the tale.

[FN#593] MS. vol. vi. 262-271. Arab. " 'Adim al-Zauk" which the old Latin dictionaries translate "dest.i.tutus experientiae" and "expers desiderii," and it is = to our deficient in taste, manners, etc. The term is explained in vol. ix. 266. Here it evidently denotes what we call "practical joking," a dangerous form of fun, as much affected by Egyptians as by the Hibernians.

[FN#594] In text "Wakalah" = an inn: vol. i. 266.

[FN#595] " 'Ausaj," for which the dictionaries give only a th.o.r.n.y plant, a bramble.

[FN#596] The grand old Eastern or Desert-gate of Cairo: see vol.

vi. 234.

[FN#597] Arab. "Thakalah," lit. = heaviness, dullness, stupidity.

[FN#598] This is a mere shot: the original has "Baitharan."

[FN#599] Arab. "Mayzah" = the large hall with a central fountain for ablution attached to every great Mosque.