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(a.) (singular -a, pl. -at, naʿāʾim ) collective noun designating the ostrich ( Struthio camelus ) without any distinction of sex. The only representative of the family of struthionids, of the sub-class of ratities or runners, the ostrich, sometimes called “ostrich-camel” (Greek στρουθο-κάμηλος, Persian us̲h̲turmurg̲h̲ “camel-bird”, Turkish devekus̲h̲u “camel-bird”), at present lives only in equatorial and southern Africa, although some were still alive in the deserts of Syria, ʿIrāḳ and Arabia until the first quarter o…

(A., fem, k̲h̲inzīra , pl. k̲h̲anāzir ) or k̲h̲inzīr barrī designates, amongst the pachyderms, all suidae or porcines belonging to the palaearctic zone, without any distinction between the pig ( k̲h̲inzīr ahlī ), domesticated since farthest antiquity, and the wild boar, Sus scrofa ( k̲h̲inzīr waḥs̲h̲ī ), its feral relative, frequenter of wooded slopes and dense scrub in the valley bottoms. The word k̲h̲inzīr (Hebrew k̲h̲izīr ) is to be attached to the root K̲h̲. Z. R with the idea of “having small eyes”, and has no link with the root K̲h̲.N.Z.R which implies the …

(a.) (fern, namira , pl. anmār , numūr , numur , numr , nimār , nimāra , anmur; Mag̲h̲rib nmer , pl. nmūrd ), masculine noun designating the panther ( Panthera pardus ) better known, in Africa, by the name of “leopard” (from leo-pardus; Old French leupart, liepart, lyépart; Old English leparde, lebarde, libbard). In Berber, it is called ḳinas , agarzam , in Morocco, ag̲h̲ilas in Kabylia, and damesa , anaba , washil in Tamahaḳ. In Turkish it is known by the name of pars and in Persian as palang . This large feline, the most ferocious of the family, along with the lion and tiger, is ubiq…

(a.), masculine substantive (pl. sarāṭīn ) denoting crustaceans ( ḳishriyyāt ) in general and, more specifically, those which are collected for human consumption. The root s-r-ṭ evokes, on the one hand, the notion of eating greedily and, on the other, that of running rapidly. The form saraṭān serves as a substantive, also as a verbal noun and an adjective; it is only the substantive which is considered in this article. Being applied to edible crustaceans ( maḥāra ), it has undergone considerable distortions according to specific regions; thus the forms encountered include sarṭaʿān , salṭ…

, a word of obscure origin which denotes the oryx of the Sahara [see mahāt ]. Now the word is obsolete and occurs only in a proverbial expression inspired by the speed with which it runs: “he runs like a lamṭ ” (see M. Hadj-Sadok, Description du Maghreb et de l’Europe au III e -IX e siècle Algiers 1949, 103, n. 159). It is also used in northern Algeria, where Beaussier ( Dict ., s.v.) found it applied to a mythical animal which, even though it had only one foot, was very swift. Arab geographers of the Middle Ages referred to the lamṭ in association with the tribe of the Lamṭa [ q.v.], who were particularl…

(a., pl. mayādīn ), masculine noun denoting a large, open, demarcated area, flat and generally rectangular, designed for all kinds of equestrian activity. Arab philologists and lexicographers have differing opinions regarding the root to which maydān should be attributed. For al-Zamak̲h̲s̲h̲arī, this term is derived from the root w-d-n since, as he explains ( Asās al-balāg̲h̲a ), the horses “are flogged there severely” ( tādan bi-hi ). For others, this is the paradigm faʿlān from the root m-y-d with the sense of urging and manoeuvring of horses. For others, finally, the same paradigm fa…

(fem, kalba , pl. kilāb , kalīb , aklub , secondary pl. kilābāt , akālib ), the general name for the domestic dog ( Canis familiaris) with no distinction of breed. A fundamentally unclean ( nad̲j̲as ) animal and therefore forbidden food according to ḳurʾānic law, the dog is generally if not despised, then at least avoided, throughout Islam. This is particularly true of urban areas, at any rate insofar as the animal does not assist its master in the pursuit of a permitted activity. For Muslims this reservation…

(a.), pls. aʿḳub , ʿiḳbān , ʿuḳbān , ʿaḳābīn , a fem. noun denoting the eagle in all its species. The eagle has the tecnonyms of Abu ’l-as̲h̲yam “father of the one with the mole or beauty spot”; Abu ’l-ḥud̲j̲d̲j̲ād̲j̲ “the man with the pilgrims”, i.e. of Mecca, since it follows the caravans making their way there in order to feed on the remains of corpses, of humans and their mounts, left en-route; Abu ’l-ḥasan “the fine one”; Abu ’l-dahr “the long-lived one”; Abu ’l-hayt̲h̲am “the eaglet’s father”; and Abu ’l-kāsir “the breaker of bones”. The female is called Umm al-hawār …

(a.) (in rare instances sunnār , sunār ) (pl. sanānīr ), masculine substantive denoting the cat, and synonym of hirr (pl. hirara , hirar ) and of ḳiṭṭ (pl. ḳiṭāṭ , ḳiṭaṭa ) (cf. Latin catus ). These three equivalent terms which have the feminine in -a for the female cat make no distinction between wild and domestic species. Among the former, at least four were known in the lands of Islam: (a) Felis sylvestris lybica , European wild cat, of the Libyan subspecies, with the names ḳiṭṭ al-k̲h̲alā , ḳiṭṭ al-barr, kadīs , in Kabyle ams̲h̲īs̲h̲ boudrar; (b) Felis margarita, Sand cat, which has become…

(A.; pl. banāt āwā , rarely abnāʾ / banū āwā ) denotes the jackal ( Canis aureus , formerly Thos aureus ) in a general sense (Persian s̲h̲ag̲h̲āl , Turkish čakal , French chacal ). This small member of the canidae which, anatomically, is nearer the wolf ( d̲h̲iʾb ) than to the fox ( t̲h̲aʿlab ), has never suffered the least confusion with the last-named among the Arabs; the elongated muzzle of the ibn āwā , the round pupil of the eye, not almond-shaped, its long and shining coat and its swifter pace than that of the fox were sufficient for the Bedouin observer to distinguish between them. The jackal is…

(a.), substantive with a generic sense (unit, samaka , pl. asmāk , sumūk , simāk ), denoting fish in general, whether of fresh water or of the sea (P. samak , māhī , Tkish. balik , Tamahaḳḳ emen , pl. imenān , asūlmei , pl. isūlmeien ). The term samak, which does not figure in the Ḳurʾān, is, in the work of Arab authors, often replaced by one of its two synonyms, ḥūt and nūn (pl. nīnān , anwān ) from the Akkadian nūnu . However, ḥūt (pl. aḥwāt , ḥītān , in dialect, ḥiyūta ) is applied primarily to very large fishes and to cetaceans. 1. Ichthyonomy. It would be impossible here to list all the species w…

(a.) a name, no longer in use, given, according to localities, to two birds whose brilliant plumage is characterised by iridescent colours or shows a colour-scheme varying in the course of the seasons. The quadriliteral root B-R-Ḳ-S̲h̲ , probably derived from the triliteral R-B-Ḳ , has, like R-Ḳ-S̲h̲ , the sense of “to be variegated, motded” and the substantive birḳis̲h̲ indicates the result, synonymous with talawwun . The plural barāḳis̲h̲ has a superlative quality in expressions such as bilād barāḳis̲h̲ “a land decked with flow…

(a.) is a collective noun (noun of unity: -a, pl. ḳaṭawāt , ḳaṭayāt ) denoting the ornithological family of Pteroclididae or, with their Spanish name, gangas (English, sandgrouse), but without distinguishing species. This term, onomatopaeic for the cry of these birds, is a typical example of the language ingeniously adapting itself to the norms of Semitic triliteralism. It is given the root Ḳ-Ṭ-W/Ḳ-Ṭ-Y from which is derived the diminutive ḳuṭayy and to which are connected all the dialectal forms like ḳṭāya / gṭāya , ḳṭawiyya / gṭawiyya , gaṭwa , gāṭū , gaṭṭū . In Islamic lands six specie…

(a.), a masc. noun (pl. surūd̲j̲ ) denoting the horse saddle, and This uniquely; from the same root s-r-d̲j̲ ., there is sarīd̲j̲a for a mule or camel saddle. From This root stem also the verbs sarad̲j̲a , also forms II and IV, for “to saddle a mount” (also used are kasā al-sard̲j̲ and, for unsaddling, ramā al-sard̲j̲ ), and then sarrād̲j̲ , and surūd̲j̲ī for the saddle-maker and seller of saddles, and sirād̲j̲a and surūd̲j̲iyya for the craft of making saddles. A horse which is saddled is musarrad̲j̲ . Every town of the Arab lands had its own quarter or market for saddle-makers ( sūḳ al-sarrād̲j̲īn …

(a.), substantive of collective type ( nomen unitatis, -a), denoting in ancient Arabic texts the Greater Flamingo (“flaming one”) or phoenicopter (the Φοινικόπτερος “purple-winged” of the Greeks and the iṣṣūr nūri “bird of light” of the Akkadians), this being Phoenicopterus ruber roseus or antiquorum of the order of the Phoenicopteridae ( nuḥāmiyyāt ) which resemble waders with their long legs and palmipeds with their webbed feet. The term nuḥām , drawn from the root n-ḥ -m , which evokes the notion of growling, was given to this large and graceful…

(a.), a singular noun with the value of a collective (sing, naḥla ) designating domestic or social bees (apid family) (Pers. naḥl , Turk, arɩ , Kabyle t̲h̲izizwa , Tamaḥaḳ ehenkeker en turawet, pl. ihenkukar ) with the species Apis mellifera/ mellifica in Europe and North Africa and Apis fasciata in Egypt and the Near East. One cannot trace here the primordial economic role that, thanks to honey, bees have played in man’s nutrition since prehistoric times. The sedentary populations of the mountainous and wooded zones of ¶ the Mediterranean rim, following the example of the Greeks,…

, Arabised substantive borrowed from the Persian narang (derived from the Sanskrit, with the meaning of “red”) and designating in a collective manner, in parallel with laymān , hesperideous or aurantiaceous fruits, including oranges and lemons (modern Arabic ḥamḍiyyāt ). The term nārand̲j̲ has passed, at a relatively late stage, along with the introduction of these fruits, into the majority of European languages, sometimes with alterations (loss of the initial n). Thus, at the beginning of the 14th century A.D., French adopted the expression “la pomme d’orenge”, w…

, Sulaḥfāʾ , Sulaḥfāh , Sulaḥfiyya , pl. salāḥif (a.), feminine substantive denoting the tortoise or turtle in general, terrestrial as well as aquatic. The root s.l.ḥ.f is drawn from an ancient and unidentified language, unrelated to Arabic. Besides this classical term and the synonyms g̲h̲aylam for the male and ṭuwama for the female, dialectal names are encountered according to regions: thus in the Mag̲h̲rib, fakrūn , fakir , afkir , pl. fakāʾir , fakārin derived from the Berber īfakrūn , pl. īfkar , īfkaran ; in Syria and Lebanon, ḳurḳaʿa . I. Species. The order of Chelonians with a …

, Muḥammad al-Nāṣirī , a Mamlūk officer of the guard [see Ḥalḳa ] of Sultan al-Malik al-As̲h̲raf S̲h̲aʿbān (764-78/1362-77 [ q.v.]), known as the author of several works on the art of war and of a treatise on hunting. According to a laconic item of information given by Ibn Manglī himself, he must have been born in Cairo at the opening of the 8th/14th century, between the years 700 and 705/1300-6. As his arabised name shows (perhaps originally Möngli), his father was a Ḳi̊pčak [ q.v.], who had been brought at a tender age to the Mamlūk training school and recruited to the corps of the Baḥriyya [ q.v.] …

(a.), masculine noun (pl. numūs , numūsa ) denoting the ichneumon or Egyptian mongoose ( Herpestes ichneumon ), a small carnivore of the family Viverridae, native to Africa and common in Egypt, Morocco and Palestine. In Egypt, with the geographical sub-species pharaonis , the ichneumon was called “Pharaoh’s rat” ( faʾr Firʿawn ) and sometimes “Pharaoh’s cat” ( ḳiṭṭ Firʿawn ), since in the time of the Pharaohs it enjoyed a sacred status and was embalmed after its death. In the Mag̲h̲rib there is the sub-species numidicus (Moroccan Berber sarrū , Kabyle izirdi , Tunisian zīrda …