Page 84 - Arabian Studies (I)

70 A rabian Studies I

143. Reading shaft for Cairo and MM., 22a, satt, a term which QadTs I snuff 1
and Muhammad al-Akwa4 explained as the lowest part of the furrow. ‘One
opposite another’ is best explained by the diagram in Fig. 7.

• o o *
& • t »
Fig. 7.

144. This is lest some grain be bad and should not sprout. If crowded together
(imitharish) there is a fixed time for removing surplus sprouts so as to leave one
sprout to grow by itself. The separating and removing of these sprouts, which arc
used for animal (qurdsh) fodder is faqah, yifqah, fuqidi.
145. l.e. the furrows.
146. Qadf Isma‘fl was not sure of the sense here, but one says ras al-tilm
wa-batn-ah, the top and bottom of a furrow.
147. Reading dharrat with MM., 22a.
148. Vocalisation dubious.
149. The millet head is of course bent over, hanging from a stalk curved at
the top. Hujaina is mentioned by the abbreviated version of the Bughyah, in
mediaeval almanacs, and ‘Star Calendars’, 454, has hijnah. Hujaina is known in
ZabTd today.
150. This dating, based on Glaser, is supplied from ‘Star calendars’, 437, but
it is at variance with the date given in the latter part of the sentence here.
151. Lane, Lexicon, places the rising of al-Nasr al-Waqi‘ about 25 November
which would indicate that al-Waqi‘ is meant here.
152. For al-Jahr cf. supra, p. 9. Qadf Muh. al-Akwa‘ defined it as ‘al-qaiz
'inda-na .
153. Lit.‘nights’.
154. See note 138.
155. A correct if unlikely reading might be Jahn or JurahT. It is just possible
that it might be named after a place, not well known, al-H r jlyah mentioned by
Hamdan\,Sifah, 75.
156. See note 132. A further variant reading is b dh n ha.
157. The Tarim and Cairo Mss. diverge so both are given. I am uncertain
what to propose, but perhaps the original text said its husk was black like
egg-plant, and its head crooked like Budaija/Bujaidah.
158. Maktari, 166, calls a sharj a sub-channel. Cf. my ‘Some irrigation
systems in Hadramawt’,Z?.S(9/l.S, London, 1964, xxvii, i, 54.
159. Cf. note 154.
160. For dukhn cf. al-Iskaff, op. cit., 184, which he says means jawars, cf. fn.
64. The Admiralty Western Arabia ..., 595, has names of three types. In
Dathfnah dukhn baladi and dukhn saiiil are distinguished.
161. Rumf today refers to maize, but in Rasulid times it ought to mean
‘Greek/Byzantine’.
162. Tal\ explained by Q. Isma‘il as sunbulah thamar.
163. For *asTd cf. Prose and poetry, op. cit., Ar. text, 32.