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第138章

[262]Arab.'Ashab'= the companions of the Prophet who may number 500 (Pilgrimage ii.81,etc.).

[263]Arab.'H silah'prob.a corner of a'Godown'in some Khan or Caravanserai.

[264]Arab.'Funduk'from the Gr.whence the Italian Fondaco e.g.at Venice the Fondaco de' Turchi.

[265]Arab.'Ast r'plur.of Satr: in the Mac.Edit.S tār;both (says Dozy) meaning'Couperet'(a hatchet).Habicht translates it'a measure for small fish,'which seems to be a shot and a bad shot as the text talks only of means of carrying fish.Nor can we accept Dozy's emendation Ast l (plur.of Satl)

pails,situlae.In Petermann's Reisen (i.89) Satr=assiette.

[266]Which made him expect a heavy haul.

[267]Arab.'Urkāb'= tendon Achilles in man hough or pastern in beast,etc.It is held to be an incrementative form of'Akab (heel);as Kur'āb of Ka'b (heel) and Khurtām of Khatm (snout).

[268]Arab.'Karmāt'and'Zakzāk.'The former (pronounced Garmāt) is one of the many Siluri (S.Carmoth Niloticus) very common and resembling the Sh l.It is smooth and scaleless with fleshy lips and soft meat and as it haunts muddy bottoms it was forbidden to the Ancient Egyptians.The Zakzāk is the young of the Sh l (Synodontis Schal: Seetzen);its plural form Zak zik (pronounced Zig zig) gave a name to the flourishing town which has succeeded to old Bubastis and of which I have treated in'Midian'and'Midian Revisited.'

[269]'Y A'awar'=O one-eye! i.e..the virile member.So the vulgar insult'Ya ibn al-aur'(as the vulgar pronounce it)'O son of a yard!'When AlMas'ādi writes (Fr.Trans.vii.106),'Udkhul usbu'ak fi aynih,'it must not be rendered'Il faut lui faire violence': thrust thy finger into his eye ('Ayn) means'put thy penis up his fundament!'('Ayn being=Dubur).The French remarks;'On en trouverait l'?quivalent dans les bas-fonds de notre langue,'So in English'pig's eye,''blind eye,'etc.

[270]Arab.'Nabbāt'=a quarterstaff: see vol.i.234.

[271]Arab.'Banni,'vulg.Benni and in Lane (Lex.Bunni) the Cyprinus Bynni (Forsk.),a fish somewhat larger than a barbel with lustrous silvery scales and delicate flesh,which Sonnini believes may be the'Lepidotes'(smooth-scaled) mentioned by Athenaeus.I may note that the Bresl.Edit.(iv.332) also affects the Egyptian vulgarism'Farkh-Banni'of the Mac.Edit.(Night dcccxxxii.).

[272]The story-teller forgets that Khalif had neither basket nor knife.

[273]Arab.'Rayh n'which may here mean any scented herb.

[274]In the text'Fard Kalmah,'a vulgarism.The Mac.Edit.

(Night dcccxxxv.) more aptly says,'Two words'(Kalmat ni,vulg.

Kalmatayn) the Twofold Testimonies to the Unity of Allah and the Mission of His Messenger.

[275]The lowest Cairene chaff which has no respect for itself or others.

[276]Arab.'Karrat azl hā': alluding to the cool skin of healthy men when digesting a very hearty meal.

[277]This is the true Fellah idea.A peasant will go up to his proprietor with the'rint'in gold pieces behind his teeth and undergo an immense amount of flogging before he spits them out.Then he will return to his wife and boast of the number of sticks he has eaten instead of paying at once and his spouse will say,'Verily thou art a man.'Europeans know nothing of the Fellah.Napoleon Buonaparte,for political reasons,affected great pity for him and horror of his oppressors,the Beys and Pashas;and this affectation gradually became public opinion.The Fellah must either tyrannise or be tyrannised over;he is never happier than under a strong-handed despotism and he has never been more miserable than under British rule,or rather,misrule.

Our attempts to constitutionalise him have made us the laughing-stock of Europe.

[278]The turban is a common substitute for a purse with the lower classes of Egyptians;and an allusion to the still popular practice of turban-snatching will be found in vol.i.p.259.

[279]Arab.'S lih,'a devotee;here,a naked Dervish.

[280]Here Khalif is made a conspicuous figure in Baghdad like Boccaccio's Calandrino and Co.He approaches in type the old Irishman now extinct,destroyed by the reflux action Of Anglo-America (U.S.) upon the miscalled'Emerald Isle.'He blunders into doing and saying funny things whose models are the Hibernian'bulls'and acts purely upon the impulse of the moment;never reflecting till (possibly) after all is over.

[281]Arab.'Kaylālah,'explained in vol.i.51.

[282]i.e.thy bread lawfully gained.The'Baww k'

(trumpeter) like the'Zamm r'(piper of the Mac.Edit.) are discreditable craftsmen,associating with Almahs and loose women and often serving as their panders.

[283]i.e.he was indecently clad.Man's'shame'extends from navel to knees.See vol vi.30.

[284]Rashid would be=garden-cresses or stones: Rashid the heaven-directed.

[285]Arab.'Uff'alayka'=fie upon thee! Uff=lit.Sordes Aurium and Tuff (a similar term of disgust)=Sordes unguinum.To the English reader the blows administered to Khalif appear rather hard measure.But a Fellah's back is thoroughly broken to the treatment and he would take ten times as much punishment for a few piastres.

[286]Arab.'Zurayk'dim.of Azrak=blue-eyed.See vol.iii.104.

[287]Of Baghdad.

[288]Arab.'H sil,'i.e.cell in a Khan for storing goods:

elsewhere it is called a Makhzan (magazine) with the same sense.

[289]The Bresl.text (iv.347) abbreviates,or rather omits;

so that in translation details must be supplied to make sense.

[290]Arab.'Kam n,'vulgar Egyptian,a contraction from Kama' (as) + anna (since,because).So'Kam n shuwayh'=wait a bit;'Kam n marrah'=once more and'Wa Karm na-ka'=that is why.

[291]i.e.Son of the Eagle: See vol.iv.177.Here,however;as the text shows it is hawk or falcon.The name is purely fanciful and made mnemonically singular.

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