[445]. This is mentioned because it is the act preliminary to naming the babe.
[446]. Arab. "Kahramánát" from Kahramán, an old Persian hero who conversed with the Simurgh-Griffon. Usually the word is applied to women-at-arms who defend the Harem, like the Urdu-begani of India, whose services were lately offered to England (1885), or the "Amazons" of Dahome.
[447]. Meaning he grew as fast in one day as other children in a month.
[448]. Arab. Al-Aríf; the tutor, the assistant-master.
[449]. Arab. "Ibn harám," a common term of abuse; and not a factual reflection on the parent. I have heard a mother apply the term to her own son.
[450]. Arab. "Khanjar" from the Persian, a syn. with the Arab. "Jambiyah." It is noticed in my Pilgrimage iii., pp. 72, 75. To "silver the dagger," means to become a rich man. From "Khanjar," not from its fringed loop or strap, I derive our silly word "hanger." Dr. Steingass would connect it with Germ. Fänger, e.g., Hirschfänger.
[451]. Again we have "Dastur" for "Izn."
[452]. Arab. "Iklím"; the seven climates of Ptolemy.
[453]. Arab. "Al-Ghadir," lit. a place where water sinks, a lowland: here the drainage-lakes east of Damascus into which the Baradah (Abana?) discharges. The higher eastern plain is "Al-Ghutah" before noticed.
[454]. The "Plain of Pebbles" still so termed at Damascus; an open space west of the city.