[FN#306] Here I offer a few, but very few, instances from the Breslau text, which is the greatest sinner in this respect. Mas. for fem., vol. i. p. 9, and three times in seven pages, Ahná and nahná for nahnú (iv. 370, 372); Aná ba-ashtarí = I will buy (iii. 109): and Aná ’Ámíl = I will do (v. 367). Alaykí for Alayki (i. 18), Antí for Anti (iii. 66) and generally long í for short . ’Ammál (from ’amala = he did) tahlam = certainly thou dreamest, and ’Ammálín yaakulú = they were about to eat (ix. 315): Aywá for Ay wa’lláhí = yes, by Allah (passim). Bitá’ = belonging to, e.g. Sára bitá’k = it is become thine (ix. 352) and Matá’ with the same sense (iii. 80). Dá ’l-khurj = this saddle-bag (ix. 336) and Dí (for hazah) = this woman (iii. 79) or this time (ii. 162). Fayn as ráha fayn = whither is he gone? (iv. 323). Kamá badri = he rose early (ix. 318): Kamán = also, a word known to every European (ii. 43): Katt = never (ii. 172): Kawám (pronounced ’awám) = fast, at once (iv. 385) and Rih ásif kawí (pron. ’awí) = a wind, strong very. Laysh, e.g. bi tasalní laysh (ix. 324) = why do you ask me? a favourite form for li ayya shayyin: so Máfish = má fihi shayyun (there is no thing) in which Herr Landberg (p. 425) makes “Sha, le présent de pouvoir.” Min ajali = for my sake; and Li ajal al-taudí’a = for the sake of taking leave (Mac. Edit. i. 384). Rijál nautiyah = men sailors when the latter word would suffice: Shuwayh (dim. of shayy) = a small thing, a little (iv. 309) like Moyyah (dim. of Má) a little water: Waddúní = they carried me (ii. 172) and lastly the abominable Wáhid gharíb = one (for a) stranger. These few must suffice: the tale of Judar and his brethren, which in style is mostly Egyptian, will supply a number of others. It must not, however, be supposed, as many have done, that vulgar and colloquial Arabic is of modern date: we find it in the first century of Al-Islam, as is proved by the tale of Al-Hajjáj and Al-Shabi (Ibn Khallikan, ii. 6). The former asked “Kam ataa-k?” (= how much is thy pay?) to which the latter answered, “Alfayn!” (= two thousand!). “Tut,” cried the Governor, “Kam atau-ka?” to which the poet replied as correctly and classically, “Alfáni.”
[FN#307] In Russian folk-songs a young girl is often compared with this tree e.g.—
Ivooshka, ivooshka zelonaia moia!
(O Willow, O green Willow mine!)
[FN#308] So in Hector France (“La vache enragée”) “Le sourcil en accent circonflexe et l’oeil en point d’interrogation.”
[FN#309] In Persian “Áb-i-rú” in India pronounced Ábrú.
[FN#310] For further praises of his poetry and eloquence see the extracts from Fakhr al-Din of Rayy (an annalist of the xivth century A.D.) in De Sacy’s Chrestomathie Arabe, vol. i.
[FN#311] After this had been written I received “Babylonian, das reichste Land in der Vorzeit und das lohnendste Kolonisationsfeld für die Gegenwart,” by my learned friend Dr. Aloys Sprenger, Heidelberg, 1886.
[FN#312] The first school for Arabic literature was opened by Ibn
Abbas, who lectured to multitudes in a valley near Meccah; this
rude beginning was followed by public teaching in the great
Mosque of Damascus. For the rise of the “Madrasah,” Academy or
College’ see Introduct. to Ibn Khallikan pp. xxvii-xxxii.
[FN#313] When Ibn Abbád the Sáhib (Wazir) was invited to visit one of the Samanides, he refused, one reason being that he would require 400 camels to carry only his books.
[FN#314] This “Salmagondis” by Francois Beroalde de Verville was afterwards worked by Tabarin, the pseudo-Bruscambille d’Aubigné and Sorel.