[FN#419] Arab. "Al-Silah" =conjunctive (sentence), also coition; Al-Mausъl= the conjoined, a grammatical term for relative pronoun or particle.
[FN#420] Arab. "Tanwнn al-Izбfah ma'zъl" = the nunnation in construction cast out. "Tanwнn" (nunnation) is pronouncing the vowels of the case-endings of a noun with n -un for u (nominative) -in for i (genitive) and -an for a (accusative). This nunnation expresses indefiniteness, e.g. "Malikun"=a king, any king. When the noun is made definite by the Ma'rifah or article (al), the Tanwin must be dropped, e.g. Al-Maliku = the King; Al- Malikun being a grammatical absurdity. In construction or regimen (izбfah) the nunnation must also disappear, as Maliku 'l-Hindi = the King of Hind (a King of Hind would be Malikun min Mulъki 'l-Hindi = a King from amongst the Kings of Hind). Thus whilst the wife and the lover were conjoined as much as might be, the hocussed and sleeping husband was dismissed (ma'zъl=degraded) like a nunnation dropped in construction. I may add that the terminal syllables are invariably dropped in popular parlance and none but Mr. G. Palgrave (who afterwards ignored his own assertion) ever found an Arab tribe actually using them in conversation although they are always pronounced when reading the Koran and poetry.
[FN#421] This was a saying of Mohammed about overfrequency of visits, "Zur ghibban, tazid hubban"=call rarely that friendship last fairly. So the verse of Al-Mutanabbi,
"How oft familiarity breeds dislike."
Preston quotes Jesus ben Sirach, {mи йmpipte hнna mи epoorthкs, kaм mи makrаn aphнstoo hнna mи epilesthкs}. Also Al-Hariri (Ass. xv. of "The Legal"; De Sacy p. 478 1. 2.) "Visit not your friend more than one day in a month, nor stop longer than that with him!" Also Ass. xvi. 487, 8. "Multiply not visits to thy friend." "None so disliked as one visiting too often." (Preston p. 352). In the Cent nouvelles (52) Nouvelles (No. lii.) the dying father says to his son:—"Jamais ne vous hantez tant en l'ostel de votre voisin que l'on vous y serve de pain bis." In these matters Moslems follow the preaching and practice of the Apostle, who was about as hearty and genial as the "Great Washington." But the Arab had a fund of dry humour which the Anglo-American lacked altogether.
[FN#422] Arab. "'Amal"—action, operation. In Hindostani it is used (often with an Alif for an Ayn) as intoxication e.g. Amal pбnн strong waters and applied to Sharбb (wine), Bozah (Beer), Tбdн (toddy or the fermented juice of the Tбd, Borassus flabelliformis), Naryбli (juice of the cocoa-nut tree) Saynddi (of the wild date, Elate Sylvestris), Afyъn (opium and its preparations as post=poppy seeds) and various forms of Cannabis Sativa, as Ganja, Charas, Madad, Sabzi etc. for which see Herklots' Glossary.
[FN#423] Arab "Sardбb," mostly an underground room (vol. i. 340) but here a tunnel.
[FN#424] Arab. "Al-Lбwandiyah": this and the frequent mention of coffee and presently of a watch (sб'ah) show that the tale in its present state, cannot be older than the end of the sixteenth century.
[FN#425] Arab. "Su'bбn," vol. i. 172.
[FN#426] The lines have occurred in vol. i. 238, where I have noted the punning "Sabr"= patience or aloes. I quote Torrens: the Templar, however, utterly abolishes the pun in the last couplet:- -