Page 229 - PERSIAN 2 1879_1883_Neat

residency and muscat political aqknct for 1880-81. 59
tlmt very ofteu the same fish is called by a different name in different
jH»rts of the Gulf, for instance a fish might be known by one name in
jjusrab, by another at Bahraiu, and a third at Muscat, although at all
three places the language is Arabic. The fishermen throughout the
Gulf arc mostly all Arabs, originally Arabs, or Arab speaking, so the
names of the fish arc almost all Arabic. A few fish have Persian names
ns well as Arabic, which I give ns far as possible, as well as a few
Persian named fishes, for which I have not been able to find the Arabic
equivalent, perhaps they have none. For assistance in compiling the
following list and the information contained in it, I am very largely
indebted to Lieutenant-Colonel Miles, Political Agent, Muscat, and also
to Assistant Surgeon A. R. Hakeem, Bassidore. To the former I am
indebted for most of the scientific names given or hazarded.
I have endeavoured, as far as possible, to avoid raentiouing'the
same fish more than once under a different name, but cannot vouch for
complete success.
The list must not be considered as complete, as there must be very
many more species of fish iu these waters which I have been unable to
bring to book.
Arabic scholars must not be surprised to find in names given as*
Arabic the letters G and Ch, for in the Persian Gulf dialect of Arabic
these letters are constantly used, Ch beiDg employed instead of K, and
G in place of the guttural K, for instance, though the proper name of
a common fish is no doubt Kau'ad, yet even on the Arab side of the
Gulf it is always called CbaiPad. In the same way J is frequently
converted into “ Y. ”