Arabic Into Medieval Latin PDF

ARABIC INTO MEDIEVAL LATIN
By J. D. L A T H A M
Western Qiristendom's contacts with the Muslim world during the Middle Ages left an unmistakable mark on the vocabulary of medieval Latin (ML). The main reason for the phenomenon was, of course, the transmission of Muslim scientific, medical and philosophical literature to the West by scholars dedicated to the translation of Arabic texts.1 In the tenth and eleventh centuries certain texts on astronomy and probably on mensuration and mathematics were translated in Spain-at that period the principal area of Christian-Muslim contact.3 In the eleventh century the medical translations of Constantinus Africanus appeared in southern Italy, and then around 1150 the first philosophical works were made available by Dominicus Gundisalvi, a leading light of the Toledan school. By the end of the twelfth century a wide range of scientific and philosophical treatises had been translated in Spain, and it is with these works that the names of Gundisalvi, Gerard of Cremona and Plato of Tivoli are especially associated. Among the Toledan translators were to be found two Englishmen, Adelard of Bath and Robert of Chester, and in the thirteenth century it is Michael Scot who attracts our attention. From this time onwards work on Arabic texts continued until almost all material felt to be worth while had been done into Latin, either in Spain or elsewhere.3 Not all technical terms encountered by the translators were rendered into ML, and indeed some were not even translatable. Accordingly they were merely transcribed. When the question of transcription arose, however, the translator could be faced with a problem: if the word was corrupt, badly written or lacking diacritical points (see below, pp. 3 3 ff.), he had to fall back on his own judgement. Now, although in the vast majority of cases his judgement was obviously sound, his guess could, on occasion, be less than inspired and at worst even result in perplexing balderdash (see in the word-list below s.w. arisbot, baro, btrile, etc). Nor is that all. Words correctly transcribed by the trans1 On this subject see in particular D. M. Dunlop, Arabie Science in the West, Pakistan Hist. Soc PubL 35 (Karachi, 1965). See also Cambridgi History of Islam (CU.P., 1970), n, 851-8. * Dunlop, op. cit. p. 36. Ibid. 30
lator could be distorted out of all recognition by one copyist and then by a succession of others. Confronted with unfamiliar terms and a ML script in which certain letters were frequently indistinguishable from one another - to say nothing of the snares inherent in a system permitting contractions and suspensions a scribe could transform a simple word like alkibrit (below s.v.) into albubit, algibub, alkybric or some other conundrum. Finally, when the printing-press made its appearance, another potential source of error was introduced; for, not only were certain letters so similar as to be confused by the typesetter, but there was, as there still is, the danger of straightforward printing errors. From the foregoing observations it will be clear why my fellow members of the British Academy's Medieval Latin Dictionary Committee1 have encouraged me to publish a paper which will answer many, if not alL of the questions that are bound to arise in the minds of those interested in the etymologies of ML words of known or suspected Arabic origin. In the following pages, then, I shall firstly elaborate some of the points I have already touched upon. (I must, however, stress that my researches into the complexities of the whole subject of Arabic into ML are not yet sufficiently advanced to enable me to accord some topics the full systematic treatment they require and to formulate certain orthographic and philological principles which, when established on more solid foundations than I can as yet provide, will lighten the labours of future workers in the field. My observations should therefore be regarded merely as introductory notes to a study still in progress.) Secondly, I shall list the lemmata for fascicules A and B as supplied by the editor of the dictionary and present my pronouncements on actual or possible etymologies.
(a) Palaeojtfapbic errors in tbe Arabic. As is well known, the rise of Muslim science and philosophy began with the translation and study of works inherited from earlier cultures. Since
The dictionary, rrtitcd by my norr)falrit R. E. T.atViam^ forma part of an international project, the history of which is mmnnriwH in J. PL Baxter and C Johnson, in Medieval Latin Word-List (O.U.P., 1934) and R. E. Tatham, Revised MLWL (O.U.P., 1965), and treated more folly in Sir Mortimer Wheeler's Tbe British Atademj 1949-1968 (O.U.P. for the Academy, 1970). The work is based on British sources (in the widest sense) and covers the period 6th-i6th cent.
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Alexander's time eastern Hellenism in particular had exerted a profound influence on all the civilized lands ofthe Near East, and it was from this cultural substratum that the scientific movement which developed rapidly under the auspices of the Abbasids during the ninth century derived its vital spirit.1 From its inception the movement was closely associated with Gondeshapur (Jundaysabur), a cosmopolitan centre of scientific and philosophical learning established by the Byzantine Nestorians in Sasanid Persia.2 Though nowadays marked only by the ruins of Shahabad in south-west Iran, Gondeshapur in the heyday of the Abbasid caliphate was a major source from which the accumulated teachings of Alexandria and Antioch, Edessa and Nisibis flowed into Baghdad. Greek works were translated into Syriac and into Arabic from the Syriac or the original Greek. By comparison with Greek, Syriac or Persian, Arabic was not, at this stage of its history, the most suitable medium for translations of scientific literature since it did not possess a ready-made technical vocabulary. Scientific terminology presented problems in most fields, but nowhere were they more abundant and acute than in the domain of materia medka, where the lexical problem was complicated by the fact that botanical species vary even in different parts of the Mediterranean basin, let alone other parts of the world. To deal with the difficulty of nomenclature for which they could or would not find Arabic synonyms, scholars adopted three solutions: either they left the foreign term as it was, merely spelling it out in Arabic characters (with or without explanation), or they rendered it by a Persian synonym (or what they took to be such), or, if they knew the literal meaning of the term and found it readily translatable, they produced a caique in Arabic (e.g. Ai0og OEAT|V{TT|S aJ-bajar al-qamart, povryAcoccrov lisdn atb-tbaar, which are direct translations).3
i On the Hellenic and T"'qn Neat East and the general background to the translation movement see F. E. Peters, Aristotlt and the Arabs (New York U.P.-London U.P., 1968), pp. 33-68. For general views of science and medicine in Islam see Cambridg History of Islam, n, 741-79; D. M. Donlop, Arab Civilisation to A.D. IJOO (London-Beirut, 1971), pp. 204-30;
S. H. Nasr, Scienet and Civilisation in Islam (Harvard U.P., 1968).
. * SeeEP, n, i i ^ f c On the transcription of Greek terms in Arabic characters see Dubler, Diose. n, xvii-lvii. On Dioscorides, whose itipl OXTR IctTpnrffc was first translated from Greek into Syriac before passing into Arabic, see EP, n 349 Hunayn b. Ishiq (on whom see EP, m, 5 78 ff.) and his school avoided transcription where possible and thus laid the foundations of an Arabic scientific and technical vocabulary.
3*
It almost goes without saying that, in the hands of scribes unfamiliar with Greek and Persian, borrowings from these tongues ran a much higher risk of distortion than caiques. Moreover, nothing was more calculated to compound the risk than the Arabic script, the evolution and nature of which is perhaps best described for the general reader by Professor A. F. L. Beeston. Having noted the appearance of Arabic script proper in the early seventh century, this author continues:
Sporadic attempts were nude.. .to resolve the multiple ambiguities of the letter values by the use.. .of dots.. .In this way an alphabet of twenty-eight letters developed, of which only six would be unambiguous if the device of dotting had not been adopted. These dots, although thus an integral part of the letter, remained somewhat sporadically used in early and medieval times. It was not until the eighth century.. .that a system was developed . . .by which short vowels were marked by symbols placed above or below the consonant which they follow in speech; other symbols placed above the letter marked the absence of a following vowel, and length of a consonant. But these marks never came into general use.. .*
In circumstances such as those described there was clearly ample scope for scribal errors. The dots, or diacritical points, could be omitted, misplaced or displaced, and they could even be generated by spots of ink accidentally dropped from a pen. Given a sound consonantal ductus, the omission of points may seem preferable to the provision of erroneous ones, but at some stage in the transmission of an important text the question of supplying points was bound to arise, and indeed the matter of points, together with that of vowels, just could not be avoided when it came to translation from Arabic into ML. When the problem was in fact faced, the solution provided could be wide of the mark, as is most strikingly illustrated in the emergence oftdr.qd(Gt. vdpiai) as berile in ML. To add to the confusion, the diacritics of/ and q were not the same in the Muslim West as in the East: in Muslim Spain, for instance, the scribe would mark his / with one dot below the letter and his q with one above, whereas his counterpart in the East would place one dot
Tie Arabic LangfUff Today (Hutchinson U.L., .London, 1970). Arabian, of course, will befamiliarwith what he has to say; but in this paper I need to consider both the Arabist and the medieval Larinist. If to the one I make points that are elementary to the other, it should be realized that they are made for the sake of the other. 3 33 B8I7i
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above his/and two above his q. To translators accustomed to an oriental hand and confronted with some unfamiliar word this MaghribI practice could be a veritable snare. Without attempting to explore the full range of possibilities I consider the following groups of letters as the main source of what we may conveniently term "diacritical error": (i) initial1 and medial b, tftb(t), n,f, q, j/r, a longish downstroke in the initial form of any of this group of letters could, if undotted, be confused with /, and conversely an / with a shortish downstroke might, in the initial form, be confused with an undotted initial form of any of the same group;
V)J, !>,M(M,t>); (iiO 4 Jk U); <fr) r, t; ()'. J* CO; W /, 4\

(vii) the voiced pharyngal * and the voiced postvclar fricative^ While some medieval scribes combined patience with a very high standard of calligraphy, others took less pains and were apt to allow the idiosyncrasies of their own hand a greater or lesser degree of free play. Since some letters, if carelessly written, could easily be mistaken for others, it is not then surprising to find-errors arising from malformation. The commonest letters in this category may be grouped as follows: (i) d, r; (ii) w, r; (iii) &, ; (iv) final r ot z, final n\ (v) final d and final /; (vi) initial3 and - though not so frequently - medial/, b (MaghribI); (vii) initial q and initial n (MaghribI); (viii) final n and final q (MaghribI). To round off this select list of confusibilia in Arabic palaeography, a fewfinalwords on the MaghribI script will not go amiss. What must be stressed in this connection is that a script so markedly different in style from any of the usual eastern systems of writing* could easily take a translator unawares, especially when confronted with technical terms. Some of the pitfalls can be perceived from what has already been said, but in addition to these there are others of which only three need be mentioned
i "Initial" is not to be taken as implying that the letter does not occur in the middle of a word; if the preceding letter cannot be linked with that which follows, the latter must assume the initial form. * On phonology see Beeston, op. fit. pp. 16-25. * See n. i above. * The standard copybook style (noskb) which evolved in the ninth century is characterized by "graceful free-flowing curves". In later centuries other styles developed in various parts of the East, but the West clung to a script rooted in an early eastern tradition imported by the conquerors of Spain and then isolated in the area. The inspiration was die Kufic style, a rather "stiff and somewhat angular and spiky" script. See Beeston, op. cit. pp. 117 34
here. The first resides in d, in which the aJif may be executed with so vigorous a downstroke (not encountered in the East) that it terminates in a marked loop below the main script line and so presents itself to the unpractised eye as a final / (cf. ndr.qd>bdril, ML berile). The second lies in the execution of final -ib (often for ; + the feminine morpheme transliterated -iyatylt))1 in such a way that it may be mistaken for the oriental -id, and the third in final r, which may often closely resemble the oriental final y. To sum up, the number of possible permutations is relatively high. Ideally, the surest method of establishing the etymology of a word known to derive from a translated Arabic text is to trace it to the original Arabic source; but if this is not possible, it is always worth while to visualize a consonantal ductus which may be taken as a point of departure. (b) PaJaeograpbic errors in ML.1 With ML it is not as easy, broadly speaking, to generalize about potential sources of error and resemblances between letters as it is with Arabic All in all a greater part (is played by the period, the country and the individual hand, and a discussion of the combined effects of these factors would be a lengthy matter quite beyond the scope of these notes. Nevertheless it is possible to single out some of the recurrent sources of trouble in the field and period of immediate interest to us. In the first place errors commonly stem from confusion between the following letters: (i) single-bowled a, ci; (ii) double-bowled a, ct in ligature; (iii) b, h; (iv) b, 1 (especially when double or combined); (v) c, t, e, i, ct in ligature, d; (vi) f, long s; (vii) f-, st-; (viii) ii, iu, m, n, ni, u, ui, etc, where there is a succession of minims, i.e. the short perpendicular strokes from which i, m, n, and u 3 are formed according to requirements; (ix) h, b, Ii; (x) tailed "Arabic-2" type r, z; (xi) r, t. Initial capitals also present problems, the following being common confusibilia: (i) A, D; (ii) B, G, H; (iii) C, G; (iv) E, O; (v)H,N,B;(vi)K,R. To save time and space the ML scribe used a system of abbreviations which permitted him, among other things to drop
The frmininr morpheme possesses characteristics both of b (transliterated by some Axabists and ignored by others as a mute letter) and t. For details see ibid. pp. 22, 27, 45, 53. * A useful reference work (though obviously of restricted scope) is L. C Hector, The Handwriting of English Docxmats (2nd ed., London, 1966). More general works are mentioned in its bibliography. * See ibid. pp. 27 f., 40.
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letters from words.1 From this practice the omission of r or -er (often represented by a mere loop) could result Again, the use of a dash of whatever kind above vowels to represent m and n could, in words of foreign origin, easily lead to the loss of those consonants. Suspension (omission of the end of a word) and contraction (omission of letters from the middle) could also make for obvious difficulties. Moreover, the whole system of abbreviation was complicated by the following factor: The medieval system did not aspire to the mechanical precision of a shorthand in which each symbol is given a constant equivalence; and the shape of a mark is not always a n-rfain indication of its function in its context. In particular it will be found that many of the marks which are special or significant when they occur in contractions may be nothing of the kind when they terminate suspended forms.2 Finally, one has to reckon with dittograph'y and haplography (arising under certain circumstances from haplology). Of the two, the former is the more common in the case of Arabic words (e.g. albababor for albabor (aJ-'abSr), albabaca for albaca (al-haq'a)}.* (/) Typographical errors in early printed books. These could arise from (a) faulty reading of the MS from which the text was set up; (b) human error in typesetting; (e) superficial resemblances between certain letters, notably initial capitals, such resemblances depending on the particular style of letter adopted. Dubler has drawn special attention to errors arising from the confusion of C and T, K and R, N and B, N and H, d and k / and an examination of his Laguna word-list as well as that provided by Guigucs in his - often not too scholarly - attempt to identify Serapion's terms will reveal others which need to be noted.s (d) Tie letters of tie ML alphabet and Arabic equivalents. Needless to say, ML translators did not develop systems of transliteration that would satisfy the demands of modem scholarship. Nor did consistency unduly worry them. I therefore think- it useful to furnish a list of letters from the Latin alphabet and to indicate under each head those Arabic consonants (in this context more important than vowels) to which they may correspond. It should be noted that in this list all words cited as examples with no
Sec ibid. pp. 29 S. * Ibid. p. 29. * CaJtftdrier dt Cordoxe, pp. 115, 179. On dittography and haplography 4 see Hector, op. cit. p. 47. Lag. pp. 149 f. Those from other source* derive from the word-lists in Lag. pp. 15 3 fL and Scrap, pp. 481 fL
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ARABIC INTO MEDIEVAL LATIN following transliteration will be found in my word-list in section t w o below. 1 c: k, kb, ^ ( c g . alcohol, albacalay, almucabok); in isolated instances: gb (cafat/g&^fif, Lag.); & (alcanna < alchanna). c (5) 's,b,z (e.g. camech/jvawa/fc, yicharamjsbukaran, Scrap.; alcubd); in isolated instances: db (cararihaIdbardrlb, Lag. probably reflecting the pronunciation of db as );/(cahade//'<*, wxcc&lnarjis, Serap., probably reflecting the pronunciation of aflricated/ as voiced palatal fricative/ or sibilant 2); tb (cheunce\Mnmtbi, Serap., probably reflecting pronunciation of the unvoiced interdental fricative tb as voiceless alveolar fricative s). db- b,k\kb, ^ ( c g . chenne/Amsa', vulg. bemta, Lag., cf. alcheffaJ-burf, chcmps/bimrmf, Lag., yzhtoichlyabrub, Scrap.; alchimia; nisgmgrh (see s.v. asaniat); in isolated instances sb (achneen (for achneeh)/jAw, Lag.)d' d, 4, db, t, tb, j (e.g. adul; alhidada; sa.debjsadAab, Lag.; acarud; aludel, cf. chabdalhadid/o/ al-badid, Lag., nahadjmugbdtb, Scrap.; adlen//#/, cf. handal/irogd/, Lag., mochial ha^daxnjmukbkb d'a%oM, Scrap.). dh: d, db, 3; (e.g. hadhzdh/btqiad, cf. huirtidhjbummdd, kodhabjqu^b, Scrap.; dbcanc/dbardrfp, Serap.; adhaya/'ajiytf (for 'eqlfd), Lag., cf. haidham/'cfrZar, Serap.). f: occasionally appears for b, b in words of Spanish provenance. g: t,j (affiricated prepalatal) (e.g. algarab; zeg/^', Lag.; in isolated instances q (alfag, cf. gaxch/qurf, Serap.). In the case of Spanish words passing into ML g is likely to represent k, kb, qwa (gua-), etc (e.g. aêlga, algorismus, algasullus (alguacil < al-wastfr).* ge, gi:y (aflxicated prepalatal), notably in cases where/ is in the final position (e.g. almagest, aziege, algiebar (see s.v. algebra), alvederagi). h: b, b, ' ( e g . alhigera, almuharran, alhidada; the use of h to transliterate the letter 'ayn should be particularly noted; cf. alahacab; n1mn*ghar; hudes/'ddas, hoad/W, Lag.; Haly/'AlI (name)); in isolated instances/(hataijfufr, Scrap.; cf. my comment under f); ^(hanabroch/ qunbara(t), haraha/ijwr'(<7), hasabel Aaaaicfqafab aJ-dbarfra, Serap.), in which cases h either represents a misreading of k in ML or reflects a colloquial pronunciation of q as a glottal stop; 3 kb (hamc/kbfmf. Lag.). i (as an independent consonant, i.e. not combined with g, etc, followed by a vowel): / (affricated prepalatal), j (e.g. ietgpljarfir, ieasjjau^, ieaaxjjaâr, merzaaa&jmarânjUsb, st^cmfsaJjam, Lag.; tereI have not given page references for Lag. or word numbers for Scrap, since items are in both cases listed alphabetically and can be traced sttb vtrbis. 1 On g < k, b, q and gu < w in Spanish see Glos. pp. 13, 15, 21 and Steiger, pp. 203 &., 208 &., 225 ff., 291 S. 1 I am somewhat sceptical about this second possibility, but see Guigues in Serap. pp. 478
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ARABIC INTO MEDIEVAL LATIN Diabin/taraft/uHfj, vabotzlyabriib, iantum/ydA%r (for jtmtSt), iezemin/ jdsamin). k: k, kb, q (eg. alkekengi; kamirjjsbamr, Serap.; alkali). p : b (on bb as p in SpAr., see s.v. adrop), / (e.g. asep (s.v. aseb), almagrip; pistechjfustag, Lag.; paae[ffatva, Serap.). p h : / ( e g . asaphatum, alphesora, alphachinus). s: s, f, sb, z (often ss) (eg. berberis; seber/sabar, Lag.; assub, albesardi, alcassinum). sc: sb (e.g. scahar/jAa'r, sceb/sbabb, scobnm/tbubram, Serap.). t: A A tk> td' marbufa (fern, morpheme)1 (e.g. almustakim, albotim; hn&tfkurrdtb, chitira./Jkatbird, aitrnzdjitb/nid, Lag.; alchalaieth/ju/fc& d-bayyaif), alfass&at/al-fasfasaQ), Lag.; asaphatum, alefenkti, alkanet (see s.y. alcanna). th: /, /, tb, d (c.g. tuth//, tsuaathlfarjtbftb, Lag.; athel/<rf/, Serap.; zebeth albahar/^dW al-babr, Lag.; turbith//wrW/, zurumbeth/âniofei/, Scrap.; in isolated instances (athfer/aj}Sr, Scrap.). u/v: , (in words of Spanish provenance; see Gios., zo and below s.v. aJJotaj) (e.g. uaeg, Scrap., vage,*Lajg.\wajj%,vesmc/wAr^fa, vice/ wars, Serap.; alvederagi; Aven (and variants)/Ibn (in names)). x: sb (especially in words of Spanish provenance; cf. Glos. 17) (eg. xshactjsbafir, laictlsbajar, xetbinfsbarblrt, Scrap.); also for Jkbsb. kbs (altaraxacon; saxax/saraAbs for sarkbas). z: / ( < 9) (eg. akz, almnzahar, azimuth, azoara; in isolated instances J (by confusion of the latter with s (almizadir)). Additional notes (i) As all Arabists know, the definite article / (aJ) is written as such in standard Arabic, but assimilates in speech to /, tb, d, $, r, %, s, sb, ft 4* A Zf ' n> 1 certain dialects g,j, k, q, b, f, m2 fall into the same category. In ML some translators left the article as it stood in written Arabic, while others assimilated it to the letters requiring it by literary rules. In some ML words, however, the / is assimilated to other letters (eg. abarath, skctjaJ-qatt, agileuzlaJ-jiUaw^, Serap.), though under what influences or circumstances I am not yet prepared to say. (ii) The letter h representing b, p and' may be lacking in ML words (eg. gmKfa> alaste) because such words entered ML via European pronunciations or because in the course of time such pronunciations tended to fade the letter out Qii) Vowels are a matter which I have not yet studied in depth. It is with some trepidation, then, that I offer the following notes, which See above p. 35 n. 1. * C E. Ullendorfi; "The Form of the Definite Article in Arabic" in Arabic and Islamit Studies m Honor of Hamilton A. R. Gibb, ed. G. Makdisi (Harvard-Leiden, 1963), p. 633. In the dialect of Fez (Morocco) the article is assimilated to b, g, k, m. 38
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take no account of such important factors as positions in words, the influence of neighbouring consonants, etc: e frequently corresponds to a (Jathd) and d; ei and ai to the diphthong ay; eu and au to die diphthong aw; ie to / (but also -iy&-); o and sometimes oa to S; oc to -ci-. (iv) The ML terminations -inus and -ilis tend to be generated by the Arabic termination -I.1 (v) There seems to be a tendency both in the literal translation and in the transcription of an Arabic term of a compound nature to omit the qualifying element which is really essential to the correct understanding of the term (see, e.g., niaVipVit, alaz, alkiffil).
Abarath (SB 10: cerusa). White lead, ceruse. [Ar. al-bariiq* "the gleaming [white]", i.e. ceruse.] Not recorded in SuppL, but see MM no. 29 (on isfiddj, ceruse): "c'est al-bSrHq ('le brillant'), et son nom dans le peuple est aJ-bayda*('le blanc")". Cf. IB 1, 83: "In the city of Tunis and its Ifdqiyan provinces bSriq is a term for white lead (isfldk^ ar-rasds)." From SpAr. aJ-bayda1 (SuppL s.v.) we have Sp. aJbayaJde, ceruse. The Lat. wd., in which -th has been misread as -th, may have been infl, by dbar, lead (SuppL s.v.), calx of lead (Redhouse, Turkish and English Lexicon, 1921).4 Acaron (AJph. 198: zaitaron vel acaron, i. psillium). Fleabane (bot.), i.e. Plantago psyllium. [Pr. Ar. qafUnd fr. Syr. Cf. OSp. ârcatona whence app. "zaitaron" widi misreadings in Lat. of r as /, c as /, / as r) ad. SpAr. ha^raqafUnd (SuppL s.v., Glos. 36j, GVR no. 460), QAr. bh^-qafUnd "flea-seed".] The form aearon may well have been influenced by or confused with Gr. dbcopov (Ar. aqdrSn, GVR no. 221), sweet flag, or Gr. foopov, asarabacca, or Gr. cococpi, mite. In connexion with the latter we may note Ar. burgbHtbi^(adj. fr. hurgbHtb,flea),fl<*qKflTc (IB, 1, 90). See s.w. alcassinum, alphachinui, assassinas, bedainus, etc, and adQis. * I do not give all the loci supplied to me by Mr TatVtqmt bat only those which I have felt essential or usefoL Nor have I recorded all the ML variant forms of words which I have had at my disposal. Both types of omission arise from the need to keep this paper within reasonable bounds. In presenting this word-list I gratefully acknowledge advice and assistancefromProfessor J. A. Boyle (Persian), Mr R. E. Latham (ML), Mr Mervyn Richardson (Akkadian, Syriac, etc) and Professor P. J. Collard (medicine). In LK, 226 n. 417 bfrweq is erroneous; the form given in LKindl 229 no. 8 is correct 4 This lexicon often includes words and meanings drawn from Ar. but not registered in Arabic dictionaries. 39
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Acarud,-os {Alpb. 162: sarcoas, sarcocolla, acarud, interpretatur gliconum, glutinum; guma est). Sarcocolla, Persian gum, i.e. Astragalus
sarcocolla. [Ar. attâriUJSffansârilt f. Pers. anjarut\-%arut (MM no. 4 ;
M-S no. j7 in 1120 f.).] The Lat. wd. may derive from SpAr. or at least a Sp. form.1 On OSp. asprott, aâro, see Glos. 19 j s.v. andantes. Acelga, -as (ALF. ANGL. Plant. 1 12: quedam herbe ad duas extremitates declinant ut acelga). Beet. [OSp. aftlgp f. Ar. as-silq, beet, It. Beta vulgaris, and others (cf. ADW 43; SuppL s.v.).] Silq is said by Dozy to derive f. Gr. OIKEAOS, but the Gr. itself may well be of Semitic origin (cf. LK 204; LKindl, 284 f.). Dozy is mist-aW^n in supposing aftlga to stem from the n. of unity as-silqa (Glos. 33).* In the ML translation of the Ar. Calendrier de Cordoue (173) silq is rendered
sicla.
Achadteir {SB 10: centaurea). (?) Knapweed, i.e. Centaurea. [? Ar.

al-qanfuriyiinj-qinfdriyiin . Gr. TO KEvrocOpiov or al-qanfariya (Supply s.v.)
f. Gr. f\ KEvravplr|.] Suspension in ML or conversion of the less familiar Ar. botanical term into the common commercial term aJ-qinfdr (quintal) could account for the loss of -iyibij-iya. Given a poor Maghribi hand and displacement of diacritical points and vowel signs, aqaqifdr for aJ-qinfdr is perfectly plausible. Adilis (J. GAD. i n v. 2: herba adilis est herba lupi interficiens cum, et est satirion). 1. Wolf's-bane, aconite. [Pr. Ar. ad-dibi colloq. form of adb-dM'bi (adj. f. adb^bTb, wolf) for qStil adb-dTb "wolfs slayer'V Le. Aconitum napellus (IBLc no. 734/EB n, 44, where the plant is said to be synonymous with kbdniq adb-d^b "wolf's strangler").4] For Siggel {ADW 31), however, the latter is Aconitum napellus and the former Doronicum pardalianches.5 On adil as a corruption of adib {adbr&fb) see Suppl. 1,48 3. 2. Satyrion. [Pr. Ar. qdtilakhib " its brother's skyer", Le. Orchis (IBLc no. 1733/IB rv, 4; ADW 57).] Here adilis would be a corruption of abMs\acbilis, Lat adj. f. abi{B)facbi{b), incorrectly formed from aJpb by false analogy. Admiralltu, -ins (also: admirabilis, -aldus, -andus, -atus, amiraldus, -alius, -allus, amiras (earliest ref.), amiralius, mirabilis) (M. PAR. Maj. 1 272: 5622 Machometus.. .in regno Saracenorum quatuor pretores statuit, quos admiralios vocavit; ibid, n 410: admiralium The loss of n, on the other hand, may be a ML pakeographic error. * Qsite unaccountably, Dozy often fails to perceive that the final -a in Sp. wds. of Ar. origin does not invariably reflect or correspond to the fern, termination a {td' marbSfa; see n. 13). See, eg., adargama, almadraba, atakya {Glos. s.w.) where the etymologies are incorrectly given as Ar. fern, forms. 4 * Cf. CMV 163: interfector adib. Cf. ibid. 505: strangolator adib. 5 An instance of the confusion to which some botanical terms are readily exposed.
4O
1
Murmelin; RISHANGER 69: quidam admiralius nacdonis Sarracenice, que dignitas apud nos consulatus vocatur, etc. etc). 1. Emir, Muslim commander or governor; 1. (with Murmelin or the like) Commander of the Faithful (ancient title of the caliphs); 3. Italian governor, podesta; 4. admiral, naval commander (Sicily, 11J7; Fr. and Gasc; EngL and Scot) [Ar. amir, commander, governor, prince]. The Lat. wd., infl. by admirari, has an important bearing on EngL "admiral" the etymology of which is often given as amtr+the definite article aJ- belonging to some following term in genitival annexation (see, e.g., SOED). This most curious fusion was questioned at some length by Dozy as long ago as 1869 (Glos. 164 f.). There can be no doubt that the terminations -alms, etc, are Lat. and have no connexion with Ar. Admiiavittu, -ins (ORD. VJLT. DC 16: s 1099: Babylonicus admiravisus Ascalone est ct ibi.. .ingens bellum preparat; M. PAR. Mitt. 1 1)4: S1099 dux Normannorum..., admiravisii standardum a longe considerans...). Commander-in-Chief. [Pr. Ar. amir aj-juyHsb (for amir al-jvy&sb,1 the first j infl. by colloq. and assimilated to the second), "commander of the armies".] For the form admir- see s.v. admiraUus. In the second part of the wd. misreading of minims accounts for -vi(instead of -ith). Adrop (ROB. ANGL. Akh. 518b:.. .plumbum, quod alio nomine adrop interpretatur). Lead (alch.) [Ar. usrubb f. Pers. usrup\-b (now surb)]. The d in the Lat. wd. in all probability arises from s > f with subsequent misreading of / (o*) as 4 (u*) which, with such a commonplace root as aYb, would almost be instinctive.2 In SpAr. bb for p is common in twhnirql works' (cf. even SpAr. spelling of Lope as Lttbb). Because of the difficulty of the Pers. p, usrup is also found in the form usruf(c. Suppl. s.v.). On the form %trupb see Ruska, TS 189. Adol (ALF. ANGL. Plant. 1 16: insitio artemisie in adul silvestre). (?) Plane tree, i.e. Platanus orientalis or sycamore, i.e. Acer pseudoplatanus.
[Ar. ad-duJb.]* Ahoho (SB 9: lac acetosum de quo extractum est butirum). Buttermilk. [Ar. ad-digt f* Pers. du&.] Cf. CanV 5)3: Adohoc, L lac acetosum de quo extractum est butyrum...; And. s.v. aldog (similarly defined, but with lac acetosum qualified as coagulatum). Cf. MM no. 104. 1 On this title see Cambridg) History of Islam, n, 189 , 19;. It might alao have arisen from a colloq. pronunciation tqr- for tur-. 1 See Steiger, pp. 104 ff.; c L. P. Harvey in AUAndaltu, xxm (1958), 57. 4 The loss of the final consonant may stem from pronunciation. With certain pairs of consonants juxtaposed in the final position with no intervening vowel (eg. -tr, -dr, -^d) the second of the pair may be barely audible and in colloq. even disappear.
2
41
Alahacab (Ps.-RIG Anat. 5: quedam [ligamcnta] sunt quibus approptiatur nomen quod est akhacab). Sinews. [Ar. al-a'qab, sing, (and pr. collect) aJ-'aqab.] Cf. And. s.v. albacab: sunt ligamenta seu corde, que nascuntux ex extremitatibus ossium, etc Alaharih (SB 10: cordeon). (?) Hartwort (based on the possibility that this strange Lat wd. is to be equated with cordilion (Alpb. 46) for
Top&iAiov (Diosc.)). [Pass. Ar. ai-aqrifiiot as-sasdliyis aJ-iqrifi "Cretan
Seseli", Le. Tordylium maximum (or ? of&cinale).] As the Arabs were acquainted with several kinds of sasdJiyus (Dubler, Diosc. 1, xlviii) "Cretan" may well have been regarded as the operative word and the Ar. adj. passed into ML as alcbaritb\-(tf or the like, (Cf. IB m 113.) Alahehi (SB 10: ceterac). Ceterach, Scale-fern. [Pr. ad. Ar. as-sarkbas adb-dbababi "golden fern", Le. Ceterach officinarum (MM no. 266), which is analogous to Sp. doradilla, common ceterach, f. Ar. adjidbababiyya (GVK no. 197).] The Lat. wd. is apparently a corruption
of adababi (. adb-dbababi "golden").
Alapsa (Alpb. 4: quandoque est galla, quandoque est alluta). Oak-gall or leather tanned. [At. aJ-'aff, gallnut. Cf. Syr. 'off3.] Alaste (SB 10: ysopus ortolanus). Thyme, pr. Garden-thyme, Le. Thymus vulgaris [Ar. al-bdsbd ult f. Akkad. baJu]. The Lat. wd. is a corruption dalbasce given in CanV j 54 zsysopus ortularms (cf. ibid. s.v. basce, 5 57: est ysopus qui nascitur in hortis). Cf. And. s.v. basce: Hasce apud Arabes est thymus super quern inheret epithymum. For Ar. wd. see IS 1, 314. Alastogia (BRADW. CD 13 B: Pythagoras duas akstogias, systichias, coelementationes seu coordinationes.. .dicitur posuisse.. .sicut breviter tangitur in 12 Metaph., 37 ubi in nona [L nova] translatione habetur "coelementatio", in translatione vero quam Averroes eônit "alastogia"). Co-ordinates. [Ar. ad. Gr. OVOTOIXICC] An analogous formation is Ar. al-ustuquss, element, fr. Gr. oroixetov. Alaz (ALF. ANGL. Plant. 113: quedam [plante habent] spinas, ut alaz). Knee holly, i.e. Ruscus aculeatus, otherwise known as Butcher's broom. (?) Also, holly. [Ar. aJ-ds aJ-barri "wild myrtle", Le. knee holly (IBLc no. 70/EB130; cf. ADW 13).] The adj. - essential in Ar. - has been dropped in Lat. Albacalay (BACON nc 4: dicit [Avicenna].. .quod si 3. j draganti rubei albacalay potetur potentissime depilat canos et loco eorum facit nigros renasci; cf. ibid. 137: dragagantum albikki [v.l. albalaki]. Red vitriol of Balkh. [Ar. aJ-Balkbf adj. f. Balkh (now a small village in N. Afghanistan).] See CanV 488V/IS m, 272. Red vitriol is an oxide of iron (LK 243 n. 546). 43.
Albaras (J. GAD. 85 v. i: morphea.. .differt ab albaras quia morphea solum est in cute.. .sed albaras est in came et cute usque ad o s . . . ; SB 10: albaras est morfea alba ut lac). 1. Leprosy; 2. vitiligo, "white leprosy". [Ar. al-baras, vitiligo or (loosely) leprosy.] Cf. CanV 553: Albaras est morphea alba ut lac vel nimia cutis albificatio. The layman should note that leprosy, a bacillary disease, is quite different from vitiligo, a skin condition. Depigmentation, however, occurs in both with resultant imprecision in terminology. Medically qualified Arabic scholars (eg. M. Meyerhof, H. P. J. Renaud) define boras as vitiligo (M-S n, 362; Hespiris xn (1931), p. 221), and the term "albaras" has survived into modem times, being defined as "a skin disease characterized by the formation of white, shining^ anaesthetic patches".1 Leprosy is al-judbam. Albezardi {Alpb. 5: [v.l. albesardi], i. galbanum; LJC: albetud est galbanum). Galbanum, i.e. the resin of several species of Ferula, esp. Ferula galbaniflua (MM no. 339). [Ar. a/+Pers. barâd.] AJbetud probably stems from a Lat form such as albefadfj > t > t). Albotim (J. GAD. 65 v. 2: terbentina; Alpb. 5: albocyn, id est terebentina; LJC: albotim vel albotai, albotra helcalibat, est terebinthina). Terebinth, i.e. Pistacia terebinthus. [Ar. al-bufm {ADW 20 s.v.).] Helcalibat is evidently 'ilk al-anbdf "gum of the Nabathaeans", i.e. the resin of die terebinth {ADW 5 3 s.v.; LKindi, 306). Alcaldas, -ii (also: alcadus, escaldus (escabinus, erroneously)). Civic magistrate. [Sp. alcalde f. Ar. al-qddJ, judge.] Alcanna {Alpb. 182: tapsia nos inflat, sed nos alcanna colorat; TURNER Herb. B ii v: ligustrum Grece diedtur cyprus; officdnae vocant ligustrum alcannam aut henne; PP: alkenet, berbe, alcanea; WW: alcanna, A. alkenet). 1. Henna, Le. Lawsonia inermis. [QAr. al-binna* or vulgar Ar. al-batvtait), henna.] 2. Alkanet, i.e. Anchusa/Alkanna tdnctoria. [Pr. vulgar Ar. al-bama(t), henna.] Alcanna in SOED s.v. is said to be an adaptation of Sp. alcana, but in the light of Gerard of Cremona's alcbanna (Corominas, s.v. alberta) and alcbanajalcanna of the med Lat version of the Calendrier de Cordoue (pp. 77, 145), this view seems to me untenable. Even more questionable is the notion that alkanet {SOED s.v.) is possibly Sp. alcaneta, Hirnin. of alcana, especially as it seems not to occur in Sp. Is it not rather a transliteration of al-bama^t)1 (2l*JI for QAr. al-piwid* li*)l) as alcbamet, or the like? This vulgar form, which certainly existed in SpAr. in the mid-thirteenth century (Steiger, 2)6), can be found in many of the modem colloquials. On bemta (benmt in the construct state) see W. Marcais and A. Guiga, Textts arabes de Takrotina, n {Glossabre, Paris, 1958-61), ii, 960. Cf. L. Brunot, Textts arabes de Rabat, n {Glossaire, Paris, 1952), 195; fiT* m, 461. 1 Cf. G. M. Gould, Pocket Medical Dictionary (nth ed), 1945, s.v. 1 See above p. 35 and n. 1.
43
ARABIC INTO MEDIEVAL LATIN (SB 10: lupinus). Lupin, csp. Lupinus ttrmig (MM no. 379; ADW 23 s.v.; LK 225). [Ar. al-tumus, pr. via SpAr. d-tarmus (GVR nos. 229, 715), whence Sp. altramus^\ For a comparable corruption through mistwiding o f minims in ML see Lag. 163 s.v. Tarimu. Alcatse (SB 10: bdellium). Bdellium (bot.) [Pr. Ar. al-kSr, blue bdellium (ADW 64, IBLc no. 1987, MM no. 230, p. 114).] The Lat wd. would have had its origin in a transliteration olaJ-ktq^ jug, which is an obvious httio facilior and in Ar. differentiated from al-k&r only by a single diacritical point on the last letter. Cf. ka%ak for karak (ADW 86), kb&z for marmdMbxr (LK 228), etc (Process. Sal. 184: xl albas: harum . . . sunt . . . tres de alcassino...). Coarse silk. [Ar. aJ-^ba^f " that which is made of kha^ ", Le. properly speaking, a mixture of silk and wool pr, more loosely, silk alone (SuppL s.v., EP, s.v. barir).] In die ML translation of die Ar.
CaJendrier de Cordoue kbasR *& rendered seta crossa (" vestdmenta.. .facta
ex seta crossa", p. 159). Cf. OGalician altba^, silk (Steiger, 228). Alchemer (SB 10: sene). Senna. [Pr. Ar. a/-biydrslkmbar, Cassia fistula (ADW 33: "Sennesblitter"), f. Pers. kbrfdr-i ebambar.] The Lat. wd. would correspond to the first element of this compound (aJ-kbiy3r > alebeier), which if unqualified by die second simply means "cucumber". Alcbimia (also: alchymia, alckimia, alkomia, alkemonia, alkimia). Alchemy [Ar. al-klmiyS' f. Gk. xnôc]. Note also PP: akanamye, mctalle, alcanamia, alloy resembling gold. Alchitram, -an (SB 9: pix; LC: oleum juniperi, pix liquida). Cedar or juniper gum. [Ar. aJ-qifrdn, pitch, resin obtained from cedar, pine, cypress, etc. (LK 208 n. 284).] Alchobugi (J. GAD. in v. 2: recipe fellis galli aut perdicis aut fasiani qui vocatur alchubugi a Messfue]). Partridge. [Ar. al-qabaj f. Pers. kabk.] Cf. And. s.v.: Alchabegi seu alchubugi1 sunt cotumices habentes rostra et pedes rubeos et sunt similes perdicibus in magnitudine. Alcohol (also: alcofol, alcol) (SB 10: pulvis ad oculos; LC: antimonium sive stibium; ibid.: alcol vini est aqua ardens rectificata). 1. Powder used as eye-salve, kohl. 2. Antimony. 3. Spirit, alcohol. [Ar. aJ-kubl, collyrium,] On the nature of kn^l and the meanings of die wd. in Ar. see Glos. 92 s.v. Alcollum* (SB 10: alcolla, L pustule parve que fiunt in ore). Ulcers in the mouth, thrush, ulcerative stomatitis. [Ar. al-quL? (IS n, 181/ QmV 229).] Cf. alcola, And. s.v. The term is correctly given by J. GAD. as sing. * Strictly (peaking, akolUum is incorrect; aholla has been thought a neater pL 44
1
Alcoran, -anas (also: Alchoram, -an, Alkeron). The Koran. [Ar.

al-qur'dn.]
Alcotar (M. SCOT Lumen 250: deice super ipsum parum ydragor resolutum in aqua et coagula, vel parum lapidis alcotar preparati). (?) Crystallized copper sulphate. [Pr. Ar. qalqafdr, qulqufdr, qalqanfdr, vitriol, crystallized ferrous sulphate, f. Gx. yakn!xvfa\ (Suppl. s.v. qulqufdr; cf. ADW 86 s.v. qalqanfdr) or xaAKOKpfirov MM no. 140 s.v. jtfj'. " Ce sont [certain sulphates] des masses cristallines noires qui se forment dans les eaux des minr de cuivre".).] Cf. Sp. colcotar. The Lat form can be explained by the loss of the initial letter as a result of its being an ornamental capital or by contraction or by haplography if we assume the original to have been a transliteration of al-qulqufdr. Haplography is perhaps the most likely explanation. Alcoto, -onus (also: acoto, -unus, acto, -ona, akedonus, aketo, -ona, -onus, -unus, alcato, alketho, aquitona, auketonus, -unus, hacketonus, haketo). Acton, padded jacket. [SpAr. al-qufm (see Hsspiris xvi (1933), 174) for ClAr. al-qufnj-quftm, cotton.] Dozy notes the etymology (G/os. 127 s.v. algxtin), but the Ar. term seems not to have had the same sense as the med. Lat wd. Alcubd? (L/C: acubd, alumbair, est butyrum crudum; SB 9: acub, L butirum). Butter. [Ar. al-%ubd(a)la%-%...] Alcnfar (SB 10: capparis). Caper (bot), i.c Capparis spinosa. [Ar. al-kabarj-kabbdr f. Gr. Kdmropis.]1 Cf. Sp. alcaparra. In Occidental Ar. palaeography medial b and/are confusibilia (see above, p. 34). Aldea (Foed. n 210 (Lat. reps Aragm):.. .cum omnibus villis, aldeis, pechis). Village, hamlet. [Sp. aldea f. Ar. al-day'a.] Alefeniati (J. GAD. 50. 2: Avicenna.. .vocat ibi aromatica "alefcniati" sicut cassialignea, costum, 9gfrflnnmJ amomum). Aromatic plants. [Ar. aJ-afivijafj) (a solecism), spices, odoriferous substances or things (cf. ADW 15 s.v.: "Spezereien, aromatische Krauter").] To an Arabist the solecism is understandable. The correct form is afawJb (notional sing. [fSb]), on which see W. Schmucker, Materia Medita (Bonn, 1969), no. 53. In ML there are variants. See CanV 553V: AJfegin dicuntur omnes species boni sapons que cibariis admiscentur ut piper et zinziber. Alefeniati idem. Cf. ibid. J42V: Trocisci alfengmati corresponding to Ar. aqrdf al-afawJb (IS m, 436); And. s.v. akfimati: idest in qua decocta sunt plurima aromata. D o z / s conjecture that OSp. alefangnas is " . . .peut-fitre.. .une alteration de fsj^Vl (alefJbvib), qui en arabe signifift aromates" (Glos. 98) is demonstrably correct 1 See Htspfris xn (1931), 1 j and n. 4. 45
Alembicum (also: alambicam). Alembic (upper part of vessel used for distillery). [Ar. aJ-anbiq f. Gr. &tipi.] Alembrottnm (also: albcry, albri, alebrodium, alebrot, alembroth, alibrot, allebrot) (M. SCOT. Lumen 248: iste [sal agrum] a quibusdam philosopbis alibrot appellatur; LC: alembroth est sal mercurii vel sal philosophorum). Chloride of mercury and ammonium. [Poss. Ar. d-^Tbaq, corrosive sublimate, mercuric chloride (Lag. 164 s.w. ycdbatb, %aibar).] The m i n i n g supplied by Lag. presumably stems either from Z' naqtiU "killed mercury" or turab al-%. "dust of mercury" (Suppl. s.v. sfbaq; Avicenna speaks of mercury being "subdued" in Kitdb al-sbiftf: The Latin and Arabic Texts, ed. E. J. Holmyard and D. C. Mandeville (Paris, 1927), pp. 38 and n. 2, 84). My suggestion must seem, at first sight, improbable, but we have perhaps a complex error of which the starting-point is %Tbaq vulgar tfbaq > qrnbaq (see Suppl. s.v.) > âmbaq. The process in Lat would then develop somewhat as follows: alcemboc > aJcbembocj-t > albembocj-t > albembrocf-t > allembrot. The process is not without parallel: see Lag., 159 where we have bebel for %tbl (I suggest Ar. sjbl > Lat. ftbel > cbebel > bebel).1 The possibility that ahmbntb may be connected with aJ-bdrHdJaJ-milb ai-bariit (Ruska, TS 217) seems a little remote since there appears to be nowhere any evidence to connect these terms with chloride of mercury, etc On the meanings of bSrHd see EP s.v. Aletafur (ALF. ANGL. Plant, n 15: quod guttatim manat remanet in forma sua et erit ut arbor que dicitur aletafur). (?) Camphor tree. [Ar. al-k3fHr f. Malay JkJpOr ult. f. Sanscrit karpura.] In OSp. edfora occurs f.ijoo (Corominas s.v. akanfor). Alfkgi (SB 10: agnus castus). Chaste-tree, Agnus castus. [Ar. al-faqdj -faqad, Vitex agnus castus.] Cf. CanV j j6v: Fag. i. agnus castus; And. s.v. Gratia alfagd: [G. alf.] sunt semina agni casti.. .The loss of the final d in SB and the Lat. of And. suggests that our Lat. wd. derives from the form al-faqd rather than al-faqad, and grana aljagdi in CanV 297V tends to confirm this view. The final / is to be explained either by misreading of a definition such as that given in CanV or by the tact that ff (usually for EngL jjAi.jtm) is a commoner termination than g. Alfarrangi (SB 10: speragus). Asparagus. [Ar. aJ-isfdranj, on which see Suppl. s.v. isfSraj ult f. Gr. dtrmipayos.] The Lat. wd. may reflect a colloq. Ar. pronunciation (? sferanj). Alfefe (SB 10: egritudo lingue). Stammer, stutter. [Ar. aJ-fa'fa'.] Cf. CanV 553V: Alfese [sic] vel alteten sunt egntudines lingue quando aliquis non potest proferre nisi se se vel te ten. See also IS n, 177. 1 Dubler believes it to be merely a misprint. For cbtbel > b*b*l cf. aUbama
> Sp. albeMa.
46
Alferiz. Standard-bearer. [OSp. atfere^ f. Ar. d-fSris "cavalryman".]' On this wd., which occurs in Portuguese in 1112, see Corominas, s.v.: " . . . s c explica porque en la caballerfa era costumbre confiar el estandarte real al jinete mas diestro o valiente..." Alfintu (also: alficus, alphicus, alphinus). Alfin, bishop (chess). [Ar. al-fil (pr. through Sp. dpi) uk. f. Pers. pfl, "elephant'*, which form this piece had in the East.] In SpAr. and Maghribl dialects / and tt were, and still are, often interchangeable (see Glos. 21). Algarab (J. GAD. 114.1: Valet ad ulcera oculorum et ad algarab, i. ad fistulam ibidem). Lachrymal abscess and fistula. [Ar. d-gbar(a)b.] The etymology is proved by reference to sources, viz. CanV J37V/ IS in, 420. Cf. And. s.v.: Algarabe est.. .fistula lachrimalis in angulo oculi. Algare (RGasc n 445: 1289 cum.. .landis, nemonbus, algaribus, aquis et pascuis). (?) Cave, hollow. [Pr. Sp. algar f. Ar. aJ-gbdr, cave, cavemi hollow, lowland.] AlgasaHtu (Dip. Corr. Ric. H no. 209: 1394 [scribitur] alcadis et algasuUis civitatis Ispalensis). Magistrate. [OSp. algiunpl, agtacil (Steiger, 293), governor of a locality having authority over the administration of civil and criminal law (Corominas, s.v. dfftaeH) f. Ar. d-wa^r (see following remarks).] Wasgr is the Ar. wd. from which vhyer derives. In the Muslim East the viaerate was a high office. In Muslim Spain, however, the term vasgr did not necessarily denote a high-ranking official. From about the eleventh century the governor of a town or district was so styled, and between the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the sense in Sp. is that of "judge in a court of thefirstinstance" (Glos. 129 f. where the question is discussed in some detail). Algebra (SB 10: restauracio camis; CatbA: a restoratyve). Restoration (of anything missing, lost, out of place, wanting), restorative. [Ar. d-jabr.] Cf. And. s.v. dgiebar: Algiebar id est restaurationis [sic]. The Ar. wd. is more familiar in its mathematical sense, Le. the theory of equations, in which the idea is that of "restoring" or "filling up" a quantity that is larking. From the notion "restoring" someone or something to a former condition is derived the sense "bone-setting". On the various senses of the vb. see Suppl. s.v.jbr. Algorismos (also: alchorismus, algarismus, algSrismus, augorismus). Augrim, Arabic [decimal] notation. [Ar.-Pers. hybridd-Klrdrryiti. "of Kh^Srazm (modem Khiva)", adj. denoting place of origin (tdsba) of the mathematician Muhammad b. Musi (d. c. A.D. 863).] In most EngL There is no satisfactory equivalent for firis in Knglinh. The nearest would be "knight" - a term which I avoid because of its connotations. 47
1
dictionaries this msba is transliterated al-Kiuvarhynf.1 aJ-KJxwara^mi, etc, thus leaving the impression that a first syllable has disappeared from the T^t wd. In Pers., however, initial kbw is pronounced kh. for Klfara^m reflects an Ar. morphological influence. Alhel (SB 10: fructus juniperi). Savin, dried tops of the shrub Juniperus sabina. [Ar. abbul(MM no. 22; M-S no. 5, LK 208), abbal(ADW 11).] Cf. G w K s . w . abhtl, albtbel. XXU\AuA* (also: *W\AnA*M hallidada). Alidad(e), sighting-index [Ar. ai-<i4dda, direction (of a road), jamb (of a door), flat "ruler" turning on the pivot of an astrolabe (Suppl. s.v.)]. Cf. Corominas s.v. alidada (dating OSp. aBndada to 1256-76). See also El* s.v. as fur lab. Alhigera (also: Aljigera). Hijra, Hegira, i.e. the Muslim era (dating from the emigration of the Prophet Muhammad from Mecca to Medina A.D. 622. [Ar. aJ-bijra, emigration (connoting the severance of kinship ties, etc See El* s.v. biajra).] Alkali (also: alchaloi, alkal, alkali).2 Alkali. [Vulgar Ar. al-qaU(OAr. al-qaly\-qilj\ calcined ashes of Salsola kali and other kinds of plant producing caustic potash (see ADW 14 s.v. ushndn).] The information in SOED s.v. alkali, viz. "aLqaliy f. qaiay", is misleading in that (a) aJ-qaRj suggests ifa't/ form, whereas the attested literary forms are fa*I, yf/and fi'al (aJ-qi/J), and (b) qaiay is neither the vb. (gaJd, to fry, bake) nor its root qly. And. s.v. alkali supplies a detailed definition, part of which is worth quoting:.. .pars cdneris istius herbe [usnen vel asnen (usbndn)] combuste, que.. .est residentia reliquarum partium rinp.tis predicti est verum qllrnii, et relique vero partes improprie apud vulgares appellantor ailraii^ et Itali appellant huiusmodi cinerem alume ex. quo cinere fiunt vasa vitrea, et sapones. gi (also: alcakenge, alkakengi) (SB 10: species soktri). Winter cherry, i e . Physalis alkekengL [Ar. <x/+Pers. kdkanj.] See MM no. 201. Alkibrit(also: albubit, alcabrick, algibich, alkibric, allzebric). Sulphur. [Ar. aUkabrit. Cf. Hebr. g>pbritb\ Allden (DASTYN, Rat. 7: alkien terra, id est quedam generacio secreta in terra; et est sicut alkien in homine...). Natural process, active nature, natural power. [Ar. al-ktydn . Syr. kfydn. Sec Suppl. s.v.] Alldffil (SB 10: ros marinus). Rosemary. [Ar. al-ikUl al-jabaU (M-S pp. 107 f.), more commonly ikJJlaJ-jabaJ" crown of the mountain", Le. Rosmarinus officinalis. Cf. OSp. aJecrim f. al-iklil, rosemary (Glos. 97).] In the Lat wd. //would seem to have been misread as ss, thcnsszsff. Correctly according to strict transliteration from Ar. In alkydi we have misreading of k as / j . See also below aU^tbrie s.v. alhbrit.
1 1
48
Aflehbat (S. SIM. I tin. 30: primum ingtcssis vescendum proponitur jccur pisds allehbut, dbus ultra quam mirari possis delectabilis). (?) The roe of a rrftiin kind of fish specially treated and highly prized as a delicacy. [Pr. Ar. lubb al-bit "choice part of the fish".] My colleague, Dr M. A. A. El Kafrawy, to whom I am indebted for assistance on this point, informs that in this expression and in the context1 al-bitt connotes a particular species of fish which he is, however, not competent to identify. He nevertheless assures me that in Egypt even today its roe is as highly prized and expensive as caviare in the West, but much more delectable. ADileti (BACON v 10: halo sive allilet qui est circulus coloratus circa solem et lunam et Stellas). Nimbus, halo. [Pr. Ar. al-bdla(t) ad. Gr. fiXcoj.] The original ML form was probably albikt,poss. f. SpAr. AHotay (GELB. vn 341 v. z: sale armo[niaco]). Sal ammoniac [Ar. al-uqdb "eagle": Sttppl. s.v.: Les alchimistes donnaient le nom de cet oiscau au stl ammoniac, "propter levitatem in sublimationibus"; cf. Lat. aqtdla, sal ammoniac (MLW s.v.).] The original form of the Lat. wd. was probably albocau, the last letter no doubt representing a labiodental pronunciation of b (see below Akcderag and cf. waqtakora < [t/a%taUora] < basf al-htra found in Sp. ML MSS in EP 1, 721 s.v. asfurldb). An alternative Lat. adaptation of cd-'uqdb is alotop (Ruska, Almacenut ( P J . - R I G Aiut. 26: quorum [musculorum] unus movet oculum sursum, alius deorsum, alii ad duos almacenos...). Comer of the eye, canthus. [Ar. aJ-ma'qdttf-ayn (nom. and oblique dual of al-ma'q).] Cf. And. s.v.: Almachein idest anguli larhritTmics oculorum et derivatum est ab almach quod interpretatur angulus lachrimalis oculi; CanV j 54: almfikcni L duo anguli oculorum. Abnagesti (also: Almajesti, Almogesta) (R, BURY, Pin/. 1. 21: teste Ptolomeo in prologo Almagesti). Ptolemy's Almagest. [Ar. al-majisti f. Gr. Almagra (ROB. ANGL. Alch. 518b: almagra quoque est laton, licet superius cam esse terram rubeam diceremus; L/C: est bolum, cuprum, lato net lapis ipse, vel terra rubea, lotum vel lotio). Red earth, red clay, red ochre and (?) bronze. [Ar. aJ-magbraj-fnugbra, on which see Suppl. s.v. and ADW 88.] "Bronze" does not seem to have been one of the meanings of the Ar. wd., but ADW records the sense "red and yellow" from which the Lat could conceivably have developed. Almagrip ((WALCHER MALVERN. Tab. Ltm.) EHR xxx 5 7: [speaking of an astrolabe].. .primam partem Tauri eidem altitudini superposui in parts almagrip). West point on an astrolabe. [Ar. al-magbrib, west.] 1 It is a question of foods served in Paradise. 4 49
Aitimlwr (SB: litargirium). Lead oxide. [Poss. At. aJ-martak (ADW 88) f. P a s . mttrda-satg(murda < Pahkvi mxrdaA), dross of lead, litharge, or At. al-marddr for Pen. murdSr-sang (> Ar. mttrddsattj) with the same meaning. If the first of the two possibilities is correct, the original form of almabar may have been almadac. Almanac, -ch Almanar. [SpAr. al-mandkb, almanac] On the uncertainty surrounding the ultimate origin of this trrm see Corominas
s.v. almanaque. Cf. Glos. 154.
(JJC: almarraiMat argyritis cst lithargyrium argcQtd). gy g g Pyrites with silver lustre. [Ar. d^marqastitd\-ta\-^d, "marcasite pyrites. Cf. Pers. marqasbisba, Syr. makkaiita (Suppl. s.v.), Akkad. marfraJi.] Cf. OSp. marcaxita (Glos. 301). In Ar. writings "marcasites" or pyrites are said to be of gold, silver, copper or iron. Hence the NED'S observation: "The 'marcasites' of gold and silver were app. specimens of copper and iron pyrites with the lustre of gold and silver" (SOED s.v. marcasite). Cf. IB rv, 152: "In lustre, each kind [of marcasite] resembles the mineral from which it takes its name." Almizadar (LJCI aimi^qrlar^ almisadar, amigaHir . .cst sal armoniacus praeparatus). Sal ammoniac [Ar. al-nHsbsSr\-ituib3dir\-nilskddir (ADW 89), pr. f. Pers., but etymology uncertain.] Almncabola (ROB. ANGL. Alg. 66: liber algebre et almucabola). Almachabel, equation. [Ar. al-muqdbala "confrontation" of one quantity with another to examine differences or likenesses or "comparison" of positive and negative terms in a compound quantity.] See EP art. "al-Djabr wa 'l-mukdbala". Almuc(h)antaradi (also: almucanterath, almicanterath). Almacantars, circles of the sphere parallel to the horkon (astron.). [Ar. al-muqanfardt.] The Ar. wd. is a verbal adj. used in the fern. pL as a substantive to avoid the more cumbersome aUdawS'ir al-muqtmpara (sing, aldd'ira al-muq (see El* s.v. asptrldb) "circle presenting the form of a bridge, arch (ganfara)".1 Almuharran Name of the first month of the Muslim year. [Ar.
aJ-muparram.]
Almori (also: almeri). Almury, pointer on astrolabe and similar instruments. [Ar. al-mur'i (vulgar Ar. aL/imrf), "that which shows", indicator.] Surprisingly, the etymology is not given in SOED s.v. almury. These Hrr1i -when viewed as bisected by the plane of the observer's meridian would present the appearance of semicircular loops rrmininr^t of bridges. I am indebted to Mr W. C Brice for assistance on this point.
1
Almortaldm (D. quorum [circulorum] primus Arabice ( MORLEY 3 5: 5q [ ] p i k i d i i l i did l k i b ^L Latdne equinoccialis nuncupatur...dicdtur almustakim ab Arabibus, id est rectus...). Equinoctial circle. [Ar. al-mustaqfm, straight, that which is straight, rectilinear.] Almnthemen (also: almuhen, almute, almuthemon) (ROB. ANGL. Alg. 120, 2411.: Tertius almuthemen, id est ignotus). Total amount to be expended (in commercial transactions). [Ar. al-mutbamman, "that of which the total cost is to be determined"; see s.v. altbemen.] My pointing and definition of the Ar. wd. conflict with those given by M. Souissi, La langue des matbimatiquts (Tunis U.P., 1968), no. 178: "mutman: denree dont on donne le prix". Souissi does, however, correctly give the meaning of tbaman as "prix total" (no. 177) and it is difficult to understand why the context docs not make the sense dear to him. Equally, the pointing can be deduced from the word with which it is paired, vis. al-musa"ar (see below s.v. alrmcâbar). He possibly discards al-mutbamman because this is the normal word for octagon in Ar. On the whole mathematical problem I concur with Karpinski in his note to ROB. ANGL. Alg. 121 n. 4 (though his Arabic transliterations are not all correct). The fact that the total cost is the item to be determined is clear from the fact that it is "ignotus" (Ar. majbul, notrnaqtUas in Karpinski's note; cf. Ar. text in The Algebra of Mohammed ben Musa, ed. F. Rosen (London, 1831), 48 f.). Almozahar (also: almusarar, almnMa^ almnwa^ almuzarar) (ROB. ANGL. Alg. 120, 22 n.: Horum.. .numerorum primus juxta Arabes, Almuzahar, qui et primus propositus nominator). Commodity of which the price per unit is fixed (in commercial transactions) (cf. Souissi, op. cat. (s.v. almutbemtn), no. 809), unit of measure (Karpinski in ROB. ANGL. Alg. i z i n . 4). [Ar. al~musa"ar "that of which the price per unit is fixed or to be fixed"; see s.v. alsârar.] Alphachintu (Expug. Terrae Sanctae 16b: alphachini et ragging ministri scilicet nefandi erroris episcopi et presbyteri secundum opinionem Saracenorum; cf. ibid. ijb). Alfaqui, one versed in Islamic jurisprudence. [Ar. al-faqib.]1 Alphesora (Alpb. 5: amphelion, prassion, vitis albe, brionia idem, G. navet, A. wildnep; SB 9: alfefur, i. radix vitis albe). White bryony, root of white bryony, wild turnip. [Ar. al-fishird, white bryony, Le. Bryonia alba, f. Syr. (MM no. 312).] Cf. And. s.v.: Alfesera, idest vitis alba; CanV 553 V: Alfesire idest radix vitis albe. The latter definition is understandable; it was the root of the plant that was most commonly used in medieval Muslim pharmacy (see M. Shah, General Principles of Avieenna's Canon (Karachi, 1966), p. 430). According to The mated b in-Jb has obviously given rise to the notion that this wd. is in the -7 > -inns cks (see p. 39). Note also [aJ]casspti (sing, -us) < al-qdfi (the // representing a\ 3; or 4 ""'""^ as /). JI 4-a
1
Siggd,fdsbird was Bryonia dioica (ADW 5 j), but this meaning would appear to be exceptional. Alszarar (also: alasfe^ o1sa'irJ alzazar) (ROB. ANGL. Alg. 120, 23 n.: Alter [numerus], id est secundus. per primum dinotus appellatur). Price per unit (in commercial transactions). [Ar. al-sTr "price" per unit] The etymology of this very distorted wd. is certain since we have the corresponding Ar. in al-KbTarizml, The Algebra of Mohammed bets Musa, ed. F. Rosen (London, 1831), p. 48 (text). For confirmation of the meaning see M. Souissi, op. cit (s.v. almutbemen), no. 803: "prix (fixe"), surtout prix unitaire.. .Le prix total est dit Toman". Altataxacon (J. GAD. 73 v. 1: rostrum porcinum vel cicorea; ibid. 71.1: r. pore vel endivia silvestris quod idem est; Alph. 155: r. pore . . .A. sowetbistel.. .vocatur ataraxacon secundum Gaddesden). Chicory, sowthistlc or similar plants. [Ar. al-tarakbsbaqibt for -Hq, dandelion, wild chicory, f. Pers. talkb-tbakik "bitter purslane".] In Ar. there are different forms and spellings, e.g. falaqsbaquqj-un, etc (Suppl. and MM no. 175). Cf. And. s.v.: Altaraxacon est endivia silvestris; CanV 554V: L troxumia agrestis. As in med. Lat., the name seems to have been borne by several different plants, especially that called bindibd* (ADW 50, 72), chicory, endive. For details see M-S no. 263 (1, iv, 544 ff.). Altersandarei (SB 10: virga pastoris). Knot-grass, i.c Polygonum aviculare, or (?) teasel (bot) [Ar. <*/-+Pers. barstyanddrH, Polygonum aviculare, which the Arabs termed 'asd al-rS'l"staff of the shepherd".] On the various synonyms see ADW 20 s.v. bafbdf. The original Lat, was pr. aJbersiandaru. Because the literal Lat trans, of the Ar. term for knot-grass is virga pastoris, it is tempting to assign to the latter the same m i n i n g as it had in Europe, viz. teasel (Dipsacus fullonum). (Cf. Eng. "shepherd's rod, staff" (Dipsacus pilosus).) However, in CanV i6ov virg.past. translates the Ar. tas3al-raiiQS> 1, 395 f.).1 The confusion into which European scholars have been thrown is reflected in the different opinions quoted by P. Guigues in Scrap, pp. 491 f. Alteterera (SB 10: armoniacum). Horehound, i.e. Marrubium vulgare (see SB 11 s.v. armoniacum; cf. MLW 574). [(?) Ar. al-sbinar\-Acmnar\ -stumor (MM no. 235; ADW 47), horehound.] Appearances suggest that the Lat wd. may well be of Sp. provenance. If we suppose the process of corruption to have begun, as is quite possible, with the reading of the single letter sb as two, or even three, separate letters, viz. nt(y) or tn(j),x Occidental Ar. palaeography may reasonably be 1 In thia wA we have a very good example of one of the ways in which European scholars could confuse two entirely different botanical species. 1 In certain circumstances some scribes would place the three diacritical points of\f, not triangularly above the letter as is usual, but along it horizontally, and the two points of t vertically above the letter instead of horizontally. I myself have sometime* been misled by this practice in Ar. MSS. 5*
postulated as the source of the next error, which would consist in the misreading of n as q. If the hypothesis is correct, the history of the Lat. wd. may be presented somewhat as follows: altttertra < alteteter{a) < alcattcar(a) < aJ-q.t.ifay.qSr < al-n .t .j{j\ay) .nar < al-sb.ndr. Althemen (also: alchemon, altemon, althemon) (ROB. ANGL. Alg. izo, 24 n.: Quartus [numerus] althemen, id est per primum ct secundum dinotus). Total amount to be expended (in commercial transactions). [Ar. al-tbaman, total "cost".] See Souissi, op. cit. (s.v. almutbemtii), nos. 177, 803. Alndel (also: aludellum, alutel). Aludel, vessel used for sublimation (alch.). [Ar. ai-utbdJ.] Alvederagi (Alpb. 6: L basiliconis vel columbine secundum Gaddesden Q. GAD. 9.1]). Basil, columbine. [Ar. aJ-badbariij f. Pers. bddruj, sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum) and its varieties (M-S no. 144 in rr, 307 ft)] Amalgama(IX7: impastatio.. .metalli. . .cumargento vivo). Amalgam (alch.) [Ar. al-tttulgbam "that which has been mixed with mercury", vbL adj. (of denominative vb. f. Gr. ii&Accypct inn. by Ar. root Igb m ?).] Ambra,-am. 1. Ambergris; 2. storax(EHR LXVH 173: 1307 pro uno emplastro pro collo regis cum ladano et ambra orientali), Le. Liquidambar orientaHs; 3. amber. [Ar. 'tmbar, ambergris, amber and, qualified, 'an. sd'il "fluid amber", Le. gum-resin obtained from species of Styrax. See Suppl. s.v. 'anbar.] On "apothecaries' ambergris" used in a preparation eflfective for a sore throat see LKindi, 307 (but read af-faydaJ&tJ for Levey's erroneous af-fandalanf).1 Ambrachion (ALF. ANGL. Plant. 1, 12: plantarum quedam sunt arbores, quedam inter arbores et herbas, nominanturque ille ambrachion ; BACON xv 218: olus et ambrathion que sunt media inter arborem ct herbas). (?) Hypericum. [Poss. Ar. abariqm (> abraqipm) f. Gr. CnTEpuciv or Ar. bamra(t)(> bambra(t)), hypericum (Suppl. s.v.).] There are several more common Ar. adaptations of irmp\Kiv, viz. bif&iqim, bayafSrJqim, biyiifdrfqiln, efMqSn (Dubler, Diosc. 1, 93). The Ar. n. bamra(t) presumably derives from the root bmr, normally connoting redness. In SpAr. the phenomenon mrfml > ntbrfmbl was not unusual (Glos. 23; cf. Alhambra < al-bamrdr). Amigdalm. TonsiL [Caique of sing, of Ar. aMaw?atan (dual), the tonsils f. lau>z "almonds" (colL).] Anacoccos (Alpb. 10: anacochi, L bacce laurQ. Laurel berry. [(?) Ar. atb-tbdrfqa, Laurel, Le. Laurus nobilis.] Without diacritical points this 1 This is an excellent example of a diacritical point incorrectly supplied by a modem reader faced with a consonantal ductus devoid of diacritics. 53
rather uncommon word (see Suppl. s.v.) could easily be misread as

an-nfr.quqa(> anarcocca > atuuoccus, infl. by cocais).
Anagodan (also: anogodan, antigodam) (GILB. v 225 v. 1: sumac; Alph. 10: sumach). Sumach (bot). [Ar. f. Pers. anguddn, the Utwes of Ferula asafoetida (as opposed to the root or gum, for which there are different names).] Unless the wd. anguddn had a local meaning different from that in general use, it would appear that our informants have confounded the leaves of one plant with another. Andena (BACON, Mia. 383: tertium [genus ferri] est quod vocatur nndeng, cuius rarior est usus apud Latinos; UC:... est calybs ex regionibus orientalibus advecta). High-grade steeL [Ar. adj. bunduwanl "pertaining to Indian (swords, etc)", i.e. the best] The original form of the T-at wd. was probably andotn (or andeon (> ML andeo)).1 In Sp. hunduwan had the meaning "sword" {Suppl. s.v.). The "Indian" blade in the sense of the "best" is a very familiar convention even in Ar. poetry. See D o z / s article on OSp. alindt, albinde, alfindt (Glos.
142 f.)
Andra [? cf. antora] (SB 10: bishopeswort). (?) Betony, i.e. Stachys betonica. [Poss. SpAr. f. Romance al-qarra, stachys (GVR no. 704; cf. Suppl. s.v.).] My suggestion is: andra < antora < ancara < Ar. anqSra resulting from misreading of a short / as n in al-qarra. Antale (SB 11: lapis quidam; cf. AJpb. 11). A kind of stone (or (?) shell). [Poss. Ar. al-falq, talc.] I suggest antale < antale with same Ijn error as in preceding entry. Araseth (SB 11: nasturtium; AJpb. 5: alrafed.. .est narstucium). Cress, water-cress. [Ar. ar-fal-rasbdd, cress (Lepidium sativum), also (loosely) water-cress (Nasturtium officinale). Serap. no. 403.] Cf. And.: Alrased seu alrasad idest nasturtium quod arabice diedtur etiam g1hgi*f
[aJ-burf].
Argelzarus (Alpb. 16: viride es idem). Verdigris. [Ar. al-jitt%3r (QAr. al-spnjSr), verdigris (ADW 79; Suppl. s.v. jimyir) f. Pers. %antfr).'\ For scientific details see Serap. no. 539. Ariibot (J. GAD. 124 v. 1: in tali tempore incipit arisbot, i. poms, generari et in^nrari secundum Avicennam). Osseous growth at the junction of a bone fracture. [Ar. ad-dasbbadb, callus, f. Pers. dusbbil\ dusbpil. See IS m, 20j, where the subject is dealt with, and CmV 465V, where the wd. in question is rendered alnsbotb. Cf. And.: Aldesbod seu aldesket.. .nominator a larinis rosbot] Dozy (Suppl. s.v. dasbbadb) has misunderstood the Arabic gloss on which his definition is based. His etymology (Pers. dasbbad) also seems unsound despite
' C MLWB.V. andena.
54
Steingass's dusbbud "an ill-shaped and crooked bone". 1 The most likely explanation of die process miming ting in die Lat. wd. is as follows. An Arab scribe unfamiliar widi Pers. first misread die final consonant Idm asdd/ot dbdJ. At die same timr, or perhaps subsequently, me word was incorrectly vocalized. A later scribe, confronted with an unusual word, misread die initial ddl as rd', thus producing die consonantal ductus r.sb.b.dj^b, whence die Lat. forms. Cf. And. s.v. alebefsir: rasbot idest caro callosa; CattV 5J4v: Alrosbodi i. porus qui post ossis fracturam creatur. Arraizm Foed. vn 521 (DipDot E 309): 1586 inveniet.. .x galeas... regis Portugalie sumptibus.. .bene armatas, viz. de uno patrono, tribus alcaldibus, sex arraizis). Naval officer [Port arrtds or Sp. SpAr. arrae% f. ar-rd'is, captain of a vessel, owner of a ship,
admiral (G/os. 199; Suppl. s.v. rd*is).]
Arrianus (BACON vm 65: [Haly] dicitquod potest sumi.. .cum 303 vini arriani; et Avicenna dicit "cum vino rubeo"; sed vinum nrrignnm est rubeum; alii dixerunt quod vinum girignnm est vinum forte). Pure and of exquisite fragrance (a wine). [Ar. ar-ribdtd (OAr. -rcybdm), adj. applied to a special wine of great purity and fine bouquet {Suppl. s.v.;
Glos. 331. Cf. IS, n , 170 (asb-sbardb ar-raybdnt)JCattV 225V {vinum
odoriftrum).] The n. from which die adj. derives means "basil" or "myrtle" (according to area) or, more loosely, any odoriferous plant. Asa (GILB. vn 293 v. 1: galbano, serapino, asafe[tida]; ibid. 0119 galbani, ase, serapini). Gum mastic, asafoetida. [Allegedly Pers. a^d, but it appears to be known only to European authorities (see A. A. Dehkhoda, iM^batndmab (Teheran, A.H. 1325), 80). According to J. A. Vullers (Lexicon Persito-Latimmt, 2 vols., Bonn, 185 5-64) s.v., it is synonymous with drab. Since die Ar. letters z a n d r are confusibilia, a%d and ctrdb could well be die same word, but which of the two, if eidier, is correct I cannot yet say. Atit- ( P J . - R I C Anat. 27:.. .asaniat auris, id est foramen). External auditory meatus. [Ar. af-fimdkbj-simdkb.] In the Lat. m has been misread as id, and t as /. Cf. CanV 554V: Alsamach est foramen auris; And.: Alsamach seu alsemach... See IS n, 149. Asaphatam(J. GAD. 130 v. 2: [tinea] dicitur. ..aMesueasafati;J!5ii: rubor et pustule que apparent in fade juxta nasum; LC: serpigo vel impetigo aut intercutanea scabies in poris generata). Tinea, psoriasis and other skin eruptions. [Ar. as-sa'fa(t),* nam r of various skin diseases about the head and face, notably tinea and psoriasis.] Cf. CanV 559: 1 Ptrsiat-E/fgtisb Dictionary (3rd impression, London, 1947). Stdngasa is not a reliable authority, and it is very likely that die Ar. corruption of Pen. has returned to Pets, in its corrupt form. 1 See above p. 3; and n. 1.
55
Sahafar sunt macule rubee que fiunt cum pustulis parvis; ibid. 5 59V: Sahafati, i. bothor humida que emittit virus; ibid. 494: De sahafati. Asar (AJpb. 15: virga pastoris). Knot-grass, (?) teaseL [SpAr. 'asd(f) for 'asd al-rd*?, knot-grass {Suppl. s.v.).] Asar could conceivably be a suspended form of asaragi (CanV $ J4v: id est virga pastoris) which is itself an obvious contraction of basialrabagi, i.e. 'asd al-rtfi (Lag. 155 s.v. BasiaJrabagf). On the confusion over the mining of virga
pastoris see above s.v. altersandarei.
Aseb, asep (SB 4: asep, i. alumen; LJC, aseb, asep, est alumen). Alum. [Ar. asb-sbabb.] Cf. ROB. ANGL. Akb. 514b: assos Arabice alumen interpretatur Latine. Assos must be corrupt. tins (also: Accinus, Arsatida, Ascisinus, Asisinus, Assisinus, Axasessus, Hassasisus, Hausassinus). 1. Assassin, follower of the "Old Man (Shaykh) of die Mountain"; 2. assassin, murderer. [Ar. Hasbtsbi, colloq. pL basbisbgiyin,1 a user of Indian hemp.] The view that the term derives from basbsbdsbin (cf. SOED s.v. assassin) is untenable (sec EP m, 268) as is. also the legend associating the Assassins with the use of hashish. Their name seems to be local to Syria where it was possibly a term of contempt for the Tsmailis implying criticism of their behaviour (ibid.). Assos See aseb. Assab (BACON Ma/', n 102: impressiones, ingeminate in aere ex vaporibus ignitis in similitudinem stellarum, que vocantur Arabice assub ascendens et descendens sunt corpora parve quantitatis; PP: sttrre slymi). 1. Falling star(s); 2. star-slough, nostoc [Ar. asb-sbubub (pi. of sbibdb),fallingstars, bright meteors.] Cf. CanV 559: Suhub. i. radius qui est ut ignis fians in aere (sit). Astir (SB 11: crocus orientalis). Safflower, Le. Carthamus tinctorius. [SpAr. ? 'asfUr (ClAr. 'uffitr).] That 'asfur was SpAr., or at least a SpAr. form, is suggested by (a) a v.l. in H. P. J. Renaud, Le Calendrier tPIbn al-Bamta* de Marrakeeb (Paris, 1948), p. 57 n. 2, and (b) the Sp. ala^pr. Cf. CanV 553: Afur vel assur idest crocus ortensis; ibid. 554 V. Atharafe (ALP. ANGL. Plant. 113: plantarum.. .quedam in humido loco et quedam in arido et quedam vivunt in utroque ut salix et athara1). Tamarisk. [Ar. af-farfi', af-farfa (ADW 50).] Attrenom (AJpb. 17: artrenum vel atrena [v.L athenum vel attrana] vas alembico valde simile; BACON rx 157: ponitur in fatuum vel fegem, que sunt vasa distillationis in operibus alkimie). Vessel strongly resembling an alembic [Poss. SpAr. al-qaffSra "distiller" (n. instru1 An alternative pL form is
56
menti), alembic, vessel for distillation {Suppl. s.v.).] Simple metathesis could produce af-farrdqa, hammer - a familiar word (cf. OSp. atarraga, Steiger, 149, 214; Glas. 212 f.). Since n and q are palaeographic amfusibilia in the Muslim West, the corruption af-farrdna (Lat attrana, etc) raises no problem. My suggestion, however, is purely speculative. Attria ( P J . - G R O S . 626: marcasita, cujus tot sunt species quot metalla, et ab illis denominantur: attria, electrum, tuchia...). Iron or copper pyrites. Kifhw from (a) Ar. al-badid, iron, grossly corrupted and/or misread in the original (Ib being seen as k, the first das r, die final das b for fern, morpheme minus diacritics, thus giving rise to okriya > atbria > attria) or (b)~Lat.ferreaor trea. See CanV 134 v: [marchasita] alia.. .aurea & alia argentea; & ali/0 erea: & ah/a terrea.1 In IS I 366 erea and terrea correspond to nubdrf, copper (adj.) and badidi, iron (adj.) respectively. Aux, angis (GROS. 22: punctus [in circulo solis] maîmr elevatus a terra vocatur aux; SACROB. Spb. 113: punctus in eccentrico qui miTimf. acccdit ad firmamentum appellatur aux sive augis...). Acme, apogee. [Ar. auj, highest point, peak, acme, apogee.] Cf. Eng. eatgt {SOED s.v.). Azabar (Ps.-GROS. 552: effigies scorpionis terreslris in ascensu Scorpionis celestis lapidis azabar, qui et de genere onycharum videtur, insculptus contra venenum scorpii terrestris teste Haly valere probatur, sicut et herba que eodem nomine censetur juxta Avicennam contra hujusmodi venenum valet). 1. (?) Chrysoprase, beryl, or other stone of a similar nature and/or hue. [Ar. a%-%abarjadi. Pers. Cf. Gr. opdpocySos.] The disappearance of -jad may have resulted either from faulty reading of the Ar. or from suspension in Lat. 2. (?) Aristolochia, esp. A. longa. [Ar. a^-ârSwand . Pers.] This wd. may, being of Pers. provenance, have been written a^-ârdband or have been confused with %armbdd which occurs in close proximity to it in the passage in which Avicenna strongly recommends ârawand for scorpion stings (IS 1, 512/GwrK 92V). It needs no great imagination to understand, firstly, how a European could confound all die above-mentioned words and, secondly, how a suspension a\arab could be confused with asâbar. On ârawand see ADW 39 s.v. and s.v. âbubadb, a synonym. Azananata {Alpb. 18: auripigmentum). Orpiment. [Ar. as^ân^^ i. Gr. dpoEviwSv2 {Suppl. s.v.; cf. ADW 81 s.v.: Auripigment oder Realgar).] In GLAr. the wd. is vocalized %trttik&. The Lat form is accounted for by dittography and the misreading of cb as tb, whence /. Azarod See acarud. The italics and word divisions are mine. (N.B. ttrrta for ftma.) * C Ruska, TS 53. 57
1
Azige (ADEL. Alcb. 17: de quibus omnibus [celestium corporum motibus, etc] a Ptolemeo in Azige compendiose scribitur). Name of a work on astonomy attributed to Ptolemy. [At. a^rgj, astronomical tobies.] Azimuth (WALLINGF. Rut. 345:1326 azimuth proprie est longitudo stelle a meridie...). Azimuth, nricsn'al longitude. [Ar. as-samt, vertical "path, track", azimuth.] Most dictionaries, including SOED (s.v. azimuth) derive from the pL as-sumitt. The Ar. wd. for azimuth, however, is sing. (Suppl. s.v. and other Ar. dictionaries; cf. Wehr s.v.) and is the very same w i from which "zenith" derives. In the latter the interpolation of the anaptyctic vowel / suggests a similar interpolation in as-samt, giving ML aspmitb, in which misreading of the minims seems the most likely explanation of azimuth, a form strikingly close to the pL The presence of an initial a in one form of the wd. and its absence in the other is easily explained: "zenith" derives from samt ar-ra's in which the annexation oisamt to a following noun in genitival relationship precludes the use of the definite article al~. Azoara (also: azophara: in Alkorano suo azophara sua capitulo tercio Machometus ita scribit WYCL. Ver. 1 254). Sura, chapter of the Koran.
[Ar. as-stlra.] Azoc (also: LC azoth: est argentum vivum ex quovis corpore metallico tractatum). Mercury. [SpAr. at^^Sq (ClAr. a^-^Hq, a%-zdwtiq). See Glos. 228 s.v. Sp. a%pj>ue.] This word is found in different forms in alchemical writings, viz. avpcb, asotb, a^ptt, aspot (ibid.). For the pronunciation in the Muslim West see MM no. 139. Azttrum, -a, -ium (also: afurum, adzurium, asorium, asura, -e, -um, azure, -eum). (BACON xiv 7J: dicunt aliqui quod color laculus est color actiri...; SB 2 j : yris purpureum florem in modum azuri gerit; CatbA: sylke . . .sericum. . .: quadruplicis generis sunt senca dicta Latinis: est album bissus velut est asura jacinctus; Pat 317 m. 16: 1384 anna.. .de auro cum uno leone de azureo rampante). 1. Lapis laznli, azure (esp. as blue pigment); 2. blue silk; 3. azure (heraldry). [SpAr. ? la%prd (Steiger, 147; < Iberian Romance forms <j^/(Sp., Port), a%vr (OAragon.) QAr. la\award, lapis lazuli, f. Pers. Id^bward, Id/ward.] The letter / has disappeared, presumably because it has been thought at some stage to be the def. article.1 Baldeldnos, -um (also: V>alHflrViinmri< baldequinus, balkenus, baudeWinnm, baudcquinus) (M. PAR. Meg. rv 644: s 1247 rex veste deaurata facto de preciocissimo baldf.kino.. .sedens;Gww.m638b: 1494 fit unum In SpAr. and certain Moroccan dialects the agglutinated article is found (eg. UJSra "a brick" for SjSra, lingfoa for ingSsa (OAr. ijjis Aram.) "a pear"; t W. Marcflia, Ttxtes arabes d$ Tangsr (Paris, 1911), 45J, 459). I suspect that in a^tmm, etc., the loss of / may be due to hyper-correction. 58
1
baldachinum pro papa.. . latitudinis unius et altitudinis duarum cannarum, habens pendalia.:.). i. Baldachin, brocade; 2. canopy. [Ult. Ar. adj. Baghdad! "of, from Baghdad".] From the Middle Ages down to the seventeenth century Baghdad was commonly known in the West as BaJdac (OSp.; see Steiger, 135), BaJdaeb, Ital. Baldacco, etc (EP n, 895 coL 1). The history of the term is not as straightforward as has been thought by some scholars. Dozy evidently believes OSp. baJdaqtd to derive directly from the Ar. adj. (G/os. 234; cf. also Steiger, 135, on baUaqtdtw). Corominas, however, may well be right in his observation that it is Catalan that accounts for the termination -1 for -in (which also occurs in OSp., Glos. 234). In this case the implication, if I am not mistqlrfn> is that it was through trans-Mediterranean trade that the word entered rhristian Spain. This may be so, since I know of no other wd. in OSp. in which the Ar. letter fb has emerged as / (see Steiger, 237 ff.), a point which is seemingly overlooked by Steiger (p. 135). On the view that Baldac and variants derive from a Chinese pronunciation of "Baghdad" see EP loc cit. and reft. Barbacana, -am, -as (also: barbatana, barbecana, -us, barbicana, -akana, -ekena, -ukana) (Pipe 188: 117) pro barbakana et porta una facienda; RSeae. Norm. 1 90: 1180 in barbacana ante castrum et in porta et turella ejusdem barbacanae reparanda; Liberate 19 m. 8: barbatariam ante portam castri; RGasc. 1 suppl. p. 50: 1255 barbacanas que sunt extra muros ville; IMisc 10/20: janua barbecani dcbilis est). Barbican, outwork. [Etymology obscure, but thought to derive ult. f. Ar. or Pers.] In the various European languages in which this wd., in whatever form it occurs, has survived, it denotes some kind of outer defensive work to a castle or city. The form taken by such an outwork varies; it may be a screen-wall serving as a first tier of defence (see AJ-Atulalus xvi (1951), 454 ff.), a gatehouse, a double tower over a gate, a detached fortification, and so on. Accordingly a number of etymologies, arbitrarily tailored to suit several different conceptions of a barbican, have been proposed, viz. Ar.-Pers. bdb-kbdttab "gatehouse" (Whitney, Century Diet., 1889), Pers. barbSr kbanab "house on a wall" [sic] (Funk and Wagnall, New "Standard" Diet., 1946), Pers. bdidMbanab("\ippct chamber, gallery on top of a building ")(MLW, 1362), Ar.-Pers. barbakb-kbdnab "conduit-building" (cf. GrandLarousse eneyclopidique, 1960-8, 1, 899: "galerie servant de rempart devant une porte"; E. Gamillscheg, Etymol. W6rterb. d. frames. Spraebe, 1969, p. 82: " . . .aus persisch-arabisch barbab-bdni 'Wall*.. .nicht persisch bdlakbanab 'Erkcr'"), Ar. b(db) al-baqara "cows' [sic] gate" (Corominas s.v. barbacana). In support of this last Corominas explains that the "puerta de las vacas" was so called "porque la barbacana protegia un recinto intermedio entre esta fortdficaci6n y la muralla principal en el cual los sitiados guardaban el ganado destinado a proveerlos de came". The loss of -db in bdb is explained by haplology, and the resulting
59
balbaeara is thought to have been influenced by albarrana, Le. a tower detached from and in front of the curtain wall but connected with the latter by a walled passage. Despite the Real Academia's acceptance of Corominas' explanation (Die. dt la lengua tspaHola, i9thed., 1970), I personally, for several reasons which I need not go into here, remain wholly unconvinced. To take only one point, die "torre albarrana" seems to have been a thirteenthcentury invention of Muslim Spain (EP nr, 500). Our Lat wd., however, was known in Italy in 1156 and in southern France in 1163 (Corominas, loc tit; cf. Gamillscheg, op. tit, loc tit) whereas its earliest known occurrence in the Iberian Peninsula goes back no further than the thirteenth century (Corominas). As regards the other suggestions, they are all open to objections, not least of which is the lack of any real evidence that they ever formed part of the technical vocabulary of military architecture in the Near and Middle East. In other words, they are purely speculative and must remain so until we know from systematic historical and archaeological studies what the original barbican was. If these show it to have been some kind of buttress tower projecting in front of the curtain (and here I bear in mind the definition "an outer fortification to a castle or fortress; less properly, any outwork, as a bridge-tower" (Funk and Wagnall, loc. tit)), one possibility worth investigating would be bury barranJ "outer tower, bastion" (not necessarily denoting the same kind of outwork as the Hispano-Arab torre albarrana). In this case one might think of barbacana < barcbarana < borcbbaran' < borgbarran' < burg barran(i). Although
the type of defensive structure denoted by the expression torre albarrana may have been peculiar to Muslim Spain, the terminology need not have been so. On the bur/ (cf. Gr. -nOpyos, Lat burgus) see EP 1, 1315 ff. On barranforbarrdnJ see Glos. 69. Bargia, -ium (also: barga, baric') (Cl. 1 103b: 1208 in sella summariorum et in baric' et in alio minuto harnesio; ibid. 128b: 1213 bargia ad sellam; ibid.: pro iiij collariis et ij avalariis et ij bargiis et v capistris). 1. Saddle-pad. 2. (?) collar-pad. [Ar. bardba'a (colloq. bardta) cloth placed under pack-saddle.] The phenomenon -dia > -gia presents no difficulty; cf. Lat bodie > ItaL oggi. On the form barda sec MLW i$~j4; cf. Sp. albarda (Corominas s.v.). Baro (also: nepo) (J. GAD. 131 v. 1: sunt aliquando vermes in naso et cum nasus comprimitur exeunt, qui vocantur barones vel nepones). Worm infesting the nose. [Pats. Ar. dud, worms (collect)] This Ar. w i is that used by Avicenna for worms infesting the teeth (IS n, 192/ CanV 233), ears, ulcers, etc (ibid, m 174/454v). The co-existence of baro and tupo suggests a poor Oriental hand as the source of error: d will have.merged with w (it) > r (thereby being put in need of at least one diacritical point either above or below it to give either n or b respectively), and the final d will have been mistaken for w (it), the resulting 60
brv being vocalized as barU. In the case of itepo, all three Arabic letters will have merged or not been very clearly separated. The first letter will then have been read as ft, the second (now in need of a diacritical point) as/(/>), and the last as w {it), thereby giving nafU (> nepbo). Barras (BACON, Sen. r x : . . .ex infirmitate cutis ut in morphea et barras). This is aJbaras (q.v.) without the Ar. article. Barriom (RGase. n 354: 1289 potent habere.. .fumum i n . . .bastida et barrio.. .bastide). Suburb, extra-mural quarter. [Sp. barrio f. Ar. barr, outer quarter (of a town), suburb (on which see Suppl. s.v.), pass. (though I am not entirely convinced) through a colloq. SpAr. form barri (cf. Corominas s.v. barrio).] Basantxm, -a (also: basantus, -um, basaynum, bascennus, -um, baszenus, -um, bazan, bazen, bazannus, -um) (Manners 10: 1265 pro vj pellibus baszeni). Basan, sheep's leather. [OF basane < Sp. badana < Ar. bifdnd, dressed sheepskin.] Mispronunciation of the Sp. d almost certainly accounts for the %}s in Lat. and OF. On Ar. / > Sp. d see GIos. 19, and on f > d, d > f in modem Moroccan see Brunot, op. tit (s.v. aleamta), 449 (Jarrab for OAr. darrab), G. Marcais, Textts arabes de Tanger, 473 (mdfa* for ClAr. mawaT), J. D. T^ttham in JSS v (i960), 140 and n. 6. Corominas doubts the etymology, but see Glos. 231 f. and Die. de la lengua espaBola (see above s.v. barbacand), 170. RpiHm [Sc tabula] (Oxf. Hist. Soc Lxxvm, 370: ai35o in cujus base est tabula quadrata.. .que tabula basilica didtur; et hec tabula basilica tabule equinoctiali conjungitur...). Part of a turquet (astron.). [Ar. bdsiUqi] Bantanra (B. COTTON, Hist. 218 (Lit. Soldam adrtgim Armettu): 1291 iste litere nostre magno forti regi Haytoni Bautaura). Honorific title. [Pers. babddur f. Altaic "courageous", "hero", used both as surname and honorific title.] On the history of the term see EP 1 913 and G.Doerfer, THrk. u. mottgal. Elements im Neupersiscben n, 366 f. Bedegar (J. GAD. 120. 2: cum decoctione bedegar, i. eglentie, colluatur os; Alpb. 22: est quedam tub[e]rositas crescens juxta radicem vepris qui vocatur egkntitr). 1. Eglantine; 2. rose-galL [Ar. f. Pers. bSdavard "fetched-by-the-wind", name of a number of thorny plants or shrubs, especially and primarily various genera of thistle characterized in some respect by whiteness and including safflower (Blachere, Choufeu and Denizeau, Diet, arabe-franfais-angkds (Paris, 1964- ) s.v. bddaward), doubtless because of the litter's resemblance to a variety of thistle (cf. M-S n 307).] Initially die Arabs identified the bJdfedward(an Ar. spelling) with Gr. &<av6a Aaflrfi, Lat Sputa alba (M-S no. 143 in n 304 &.) and subsequently it was confused with all sorts of thorny plants (Dubler, Diose. 1 89 coL 1) and - though I say this with some diffidence -possibly with the wild rose because the last four letters 61
mean "rose(s)" in Ar. (ward). Could the maze of confusion extend even further? CouldfiiaxvOa7wKf\ in its Arabicized fbtm aqantdliup (-Jawqi by hyper-correction in Dubler, loc cdt.) be the etymology of "eglantine" rather tha" acukntus (SOED s.v. eglantine)? Since n and q are eonfusibilia in Occidental Ar., and as an Ar. scribe would find -Sm a more probable termination than -Oql,1 we may perhaps have a process of corruption beginning with aqantdJOm > aqalantimi and ending in eglantine. Cf. the Lat. albedeguart (Calenarier de Cordoue, 133), bedeoard (CattV 97), bedecar (ibid. 5 5 5), etc Bedmmu, -ewinns, -nwinns. 1. Bedouin [Ar. badawi (an Arab) "of the desert" (baaw), not f. pL badawin (as in SOED s.v. Bedouin); on Ar. adj. termination -/ > -inus in Lat. see above p. 39); 2. an adj. denoting a kind of stone or perhaps a gem, in which case "Arabian " ( ?) (Pat 147b: 121 j unum lapidem bedewinum). Could it be that we have to do with the so-called bajar a'rdbi (Af8os 'Apo@\x6sllapis Arabicus) which Siggel is tempted to identify with white marble ("weiBer Marmor (?)", ADW 76) ? Bedewinus would be a more accurate translation of a'rdbi than Arabicus ('arabf). Cf. Dubler, Diose. n 435 1, brvii). Been (J. GAD. 6j v. 2: oleum de been, de pipere albo et aliis piperibus). Ben-nut. [Ar. ban, ben tree LKindi 241; cf. ADW 19.] Cf. CanV 97 (ben), 162v (been). Beja (DASTYN, Ras. 7: est ergo solutio nostra ut tradas Gabricum Beje in conjugium). (?) Silver. [Pr. Ar. Idjm, lujayn, pure silver (ADW 87).] If the EngL meaning is correct, the Lat wd. probably stems from the suspension leja' (representing an incorrect form Idjaynt). Belenum 1. Persea (bot). 2. Henbane. Whatever the etymology, it is hardly that suggested in ML.W s.v., viz. Ar. labakb > baiakb > balan. Bellirictu (also: belbricus, bellericus) (Alpb. 117: mirabolanorum species sunt quinque bonorumctttinus, ebulus, bellericus...). Belleric, bastard myrobalan, i.e. Terminalia bellirica [Ar. batilaj f. Pers. baJt/a (< Pahlavi baJtlag)]. Belota (ALF. ANGL. Plant. 1 i 4 : . . . u t belotae [gloss.: glandes]). Acom [Ar. balltif, oak, acom.] Dozy incorrectly believes the Sp. bellota to be the nomen unitatis, viz. ballOfa (Glos. 239); see my comments above, p. 40 n. 2. Bengi (SB 12: jusquiamius albus). Henbane. [Ar. ban/.] On this plant see ADW 21 and LKindi, 246. Berberis. Barberry, Le. Berberis vulgaris. [Ar. ambarbdrls; cf. MM no. 17.] Of this term, which is clearly not of Ar. origin, we encounter variants such as anbarbdrts, amir bdris (whence amerbaris of Lag. 154),
1
For Sq> SncL the case of altataxacon (q.v.). 62
amir farts ("Persian emir "I) (see Hespfris sn (1931), 219). The usual Ar. form is barbdris or barbarii (M-S no. 1 j ; ADW 19). I attribute the loss of am- to the fact of its being felt to be the definite article. Cf. Moroccan Ar. bdsbadiir{< Sp. embajador) "ambassador" {Suppl. s.v.). Berile (J. GAD. 64 v. 2: pisds qui vocatur tarcon [L narcon]; et dicitur piscdsistemcrguri;ctsecundumAviceanam.. .vocaturberile). Electric ray, Le. a flat fish of the genus Torpedo. [Ar. narqS f. Gr. vAptcrv] Comparison of the Lat. trans, with the Ar. text (see IS n \01\CanV 202) confirmed my immediate suspicion that b had been pointed as n, ^ read and pointed / (j), and a final Maghrib! alif (/) with marked downstroke and tail had been mistaken for /. A queried ndrqd is recorded in Suppl. s.v. and is defined as "sea-/water-soorpion". This may well have been another name for the torpedo. Bezona [? -is] (GILB. VT 237 v. 1: digeratur materia.. .cum dyantos commune vel bezonis). Sort of electuary. [Pass. Ar. banfanusb f. Pers. panj-nSsb "five draughts", an electuary containing iron-filings, wine, almond oil and other simples (L-K, 189 n. 13;).] On the loss of n (in nj, ng, n%) cf. acarud (above s.v.), banjakusbt (LKindl, 247, etc Alternatively, a ML abbreviation may have been responsible. Bocasero Bocassine (cotton fabric). [Turk, bogast, now denoting a thin twill used for linings.] Borago (Alpb. 24: buglossa.. .acuta habet folia ad modum boraginis). Borage. [Vulgar Ar. bU burcsb "father of (Le. characterized by) roughness" (of the leaves); cf. Fr. bourrachc.] I base my conclusion on the fact that (a) abU buraysb and obi kburdsk (Dozy: ? kbrecb) are recorded in Suppl. s.w. with the meanings "buglosse" and "bourrache" respectively; (b) lisd/t al-tbawr "bull's tongue" was a term applied to Borrago officinalis (GVR ho. 295); (c) lisdn al-tbawr was confused with lisdn "tongue", Le. Echium plantagineum, which in Le (Here's MS of Ibn al-BaytSr was glossed as bi kb.rysb (Le Oerc's "Bou kberisb") (IBLc no. 2024). From these facts we may be sure that Doxy's bU buraysb and the gloss bU kb.rysb are one and the same term and that the word, in Europe, came to denote borage alone. The form buraysb is to be explained either as a SpAr. dialectal pronunciation of burdsb with imdla (palatalisation of i) or by the fact of its being felt to be a diminutive of the pattern fu'ayl. 1$ > kt may have arisen in the written language since there is only one diacritical point difference between the two, or in the European pronunciation of the letter b (see s.v. alcamtd). The g in the Lat borage is not hard to explain once die shift b > b is accepted. (On kb. > g in OSp. see Glos. 13 f.) Borax (also: borbax, borteza, baurac, -ch, -th) (LC 226: baurac est sal gemmae saphirhim lithargyrum albificatum; est etiam sal vitri [? L n i t r i ] . . . ; etiam est attinchar, quodlibet genus salsuginis). Borax and
63
other types of chemical salt. [Vulgar Ar. bSraq (OAr. bawrdq, -aq) f. Pers. bSra (< Pahlavi bSrak); sec M-S no. 183 in n 372 ff.; LKindl, 248; Glos. 241, etc Botfaor (SB 13: pustule parve qui fiunt in puctis; ibid.: bothor Mariae, L panis portinus idem). 1. Rash, acne. [Ar. butbQr (sing, batbr), pimples, pustules; cf. And. s.v. botbor: idest variole, and CanV 555V: est eminentia in cute. s. apostema parvum sive pustula.] 2. (w. Mariae) Cyclamen. [Ar. bakbSr (vulgar buMhar) Matyam "Mary's incense", i.e. Cyclamen Europaeum; cf. And. baebur mortem. Brasfllum, -a, -tun (GILB. n 79 v. 2: distemperentur cum decoctione brasilii). Brazil, brazilwood (dye). This word is problematical, and many believe it to be of European origin (e.g. OFr., OSp., etc; see Corominas s.v.). In MLW s.v. the etymology given is Ar. wars, and indeed And., defining brazilwood [albacbam; see below), writes: Albacham idest verzi & est lignum rubeum, quo tinctores utuntur ad colorem rubeum faciendum. But is versp the Ar. wars? I am sceptical. Wdris as an adj. qualifying clothing does signify "red", but wars, as far as I know, has no mining other than (a) Memecylon tinctorium and (b) Flemmingia rhodocarpa, both of which seem to be used in the production of dyes that are basically yellow (ADW 73). One line of investigation I think worth following has as its point of departure the regular Ar. iwm for brazilwood (Cacflaipina sappan), viz. baqqam (albacham). In CanV we read (a) Albacal [al-baqqam] idest bresilum (553); (b) Bresilis idest corallus (555V); (e) Lapis bresil est corallus (557V). Moreover, in And. s.v. lapis we find: Lapis taselis vel baselis secundum aliquos Arabes est lapis besd idest corallus. From And. it is clear that besd (< Ar. basad f. Pers. bussad), red coral (cf. Dubler, Diosc. 1 98; M-S no. 182 in n 371 f.) generated the adj. baselis (< Ar. basadt) and that lapis baselis is pa/ar basadi. Now it is interesting to note that (a) a synonym of basad is /wor/V&r/vulgar murjan (Dubler, M-S, loc at.), from which noun the adj. marjatd derives; (b) a species of baqqam, brazilwood, is qualified as marfdni (Suppl. s.v. baqqam). Theoretically, if basad and marjdn are interchangeable there seems no reason why basadJ and marjdm should not also be. Could it be that we have to do with (a) basadi for baqqam basadl; (b) Ar. basadl > ML ver%t\bresiBs\basilis'} The consonantal variants in the ML wds. are not hard to explain: accepting basadi > basari as straightforward (the noun basar does in fact occur and is registered in M-S loc cit.), we may perhaps postulate (a) penp < bar si < basari (by metathesis); (jb) bresilis (barasitis) < barasi (on Ar. -/ > Lat. -ilis, see above p. 39) < basari, etc
64
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ABBREVIATIONS
[N.B. I have not thought it necessary to include all ML items, especially as a knowledge of the source is not always essential or relevant to my present purpose. All frequent or really important items are listed as well as all Arabic works of reference.] ADEL. Alcb. [Attrib.] Adelard oJhxh,LJbriysagogarumalcborismii-} in Abbandl. %ur Gescb. des Matbtmatik vm, 3-27. Ed. E. L. W. M. Curtze, Leipzig, 1892. ADW A. Siggel, Arabiscb-deutsches WSrterbucb der Stoffe, Akad.Verlagi Berlin, 19J0. ALF. ANGL. Alfredus Anglicus de ShareshulL ALF. ANGL. Plant. Nicolai Damasctm de planiis libri duo.. .Ex Isaac Ben Honain versions arabica latine vertit Alfrtdus. Ed. E. H. F. Meyer, Leipzig, 1841. AJpb. Alpbita: a medico-botanical glossary from the Bodleian manuscript Seldm B JJ. Ed. J. L. G. Mowat (Anecdota Oxoniensia), Oxford, 1887. And. Andreae de Alpago Bellunensis de arabicorum nominum significant compendium in Principis Avic. Libri Canoni (tr. Gerard of Cremona), Venice, 1527 (no pagination). BACON R. Bacon, Opera bottoms inedita. Ed. R. Steele, Oxford, 1909- . Vols. i-xvi published. The first is a re-issue of London ed. of 1905. BACON, Maj. Id. Opus Mafus. Ed. J. H. Bridges, 2 vols., Oxford, 1897 (suppL voL with corrections 1900). BACON, Min. Id. Opus Minus in Opera quatdam bactenus inedita, 1. Ed. J. S. Brewer, London, 1859, pp. 313-89. BRADW. CD Thomas Bradwardinus, De Causa Dei. Ed. H. Savile, London, 1618. Calendrier de Cordoue. Le Calendrier de Cordout [de PamUe g6i] pubL R. Dozy. New ed. of Ar. and Latl text with French tr., etc, by Ch. Pellat, Leiden, 1961. CanV Liber Canords Avicentu revisus &.. .purgatus, Venice, 1507 (repr. Hildeshdm, 1964). CatbA Catbolicon Anglkum, an English-Latin wordbook.. .148}. Ed. v S. J. H. Herrtage, London, 1882. Corominas. J. Corominas, Diccionario critico etimoUgico de la lengua castellana, 4 vols., Madrid, 1954-7. DASTYN, Ros. J. Dastin, Rosarium seeretissimum pbilosopborum arcanum comprebendens in J. J. Manget, Cbemica Curiosa n, Colon. Allobrogum, 1702. Dubler, Diosc. C E. Dubler, La "Materia Midiea" de Dioscorides. Transmision medieval y renaeenrista, 2 vols. (vol. 2 with E. Terds), Barcelona-Tetuan, 1952-7. EHR EngHsb Historical Review. 5 65 si 17!
ARABIC INTO MEDIEVAL LATIN El* Tbe Encyclopaedia of Islam. Ed. H. A. R. Gibb and others, LeidenLondon, i 9 6 0 - . Expug. Terrae Sanctae. Radulpbi de CoggesbaU Cbromcon AngHcanum. Ed. J. Stevenson, London, 1875, pp. 209-62. Foed. T. Rymer, Foedera, conventiones, littrat et cufuscunque generis Ada publica inter Regis Angtiae, etc 20 vols. 2nd ed., London, 1704-32. GILB. Gilbertus Anglicus, Compendium Medidnae. Ed. M. de Capella, Lyons, 1510. Glos. R. P. A. Dozy and W. H. Engelmann, Glosscart des mots espagnols et portugais dirivis de Parabe. 2nd ed., Leiden, 1869 (repr. Amsterdam, 196)). GVR M. Asin Palados, Glosario de voces romances.. .{sigh Xt-xnt), Madrid-Granada, 1943. IB Ibn al-Bayir, al-Jdmi* li-mufraddt al-adwiya wa-l-agbdiya, z vols. [4 parts], Cairo, 1874 (repr. recently Baghdad, n.d.). IBLc French tr. of the above by L. Leclerc as "Traits' des Simples par ibn Beithar" in Notices et extraits des mamucrits de la Btbliotbiqttt Nationale, x x m , xxv, xxvi, Paris, 1877-83. IS Ibn Slni (Avicenna), al-Qantin (Ar. text of the Canon), 3 vols., Bukq, 1877-8 (repr. Baghdad c. 1969). . J. GAD. John of Gadesden, Rosa Anglica seu Rosa Medicinae. Ed. W. Wiolfi^ London, 1929. Lag. C E. Dubler, "Los nombres arabes de matrria mddica en la obra del doctor Laguna" (translator of Dioscorides in sixteenth cent.) in AI-Andahs xvi (19J1), 141-64. LC W. Johnson, Lexicon Cbymicum, 2 p t , London, 1652. LK Al-Samarqandl, The Medical Formulary. Ar. text, tr., etc by M. Levey and N. al-Khaledy, Pennsylvania U.P., 1967. LKindi Al-Kindi, The Medical Formulary or Aqrdbddbin. Ar. text, tr., etc, by M. Levey, Wisconsin U.P., 1966. MLW MitttUatemscbes WBrterbucb. Hrsg. v. d. Bayerischen Akad. der Wissenschaften xa Berlin, Munich, 1959- . MM Maimonides, Sorb asmd* al-'uqqdr. . .Un glossaire de matiire midicale. Ed. and tr. by M. Meyerhof, Cairo, 1940. M.PAR. Ma/. Matthew Paris, Cbronica Mafora. Ed. H. R. Luard, 7 vols., London, 1872-83. M. PAR. Mm. Id., Historia Anglorum sm.. .Historia Minor. Ed. F. Madden, 3 vols., London, 1866-9. M-S Al-Ghafiqi, Tbe Abridged Version of "The Book of Simple Drugs" by.. .Barbebraeus. Ar. text, tr., e t c , by M. Meyerhof and G. P. Sobhy, 4 fascs. (all published), Cairo, 1932-40. M. SCOT, Lumen. Lumen Luminum. Ed. J. Wood Brown in Enquiry into tbe Life and Legend of Michael Scot, Appendix 3, pp. 240-68, Edinburgh, 1897. ORD. VIT. Ordericu8 Vitalis, Historiae Ecclesiasticae. Ed. Augustus Lc Prevost, j vols., Paris, 1838-5 j .
66
ARABIC INTO MEDIEVAL LATIN PP Promptorium Parpulorum sm Ckritorum Lexicon Anglo-Latham Princeps autore.. .Galfredo Grammatico ditto. Ed. A. Way, 3 vols.,
PJ.-RIC
London, 1843-65. Anat. Pseudo-Ricardus, Anatomia. Ed. R. Toply, Vienna,

1902.
RGasc. Roles gascons (1242-1307). 3 vols. in 4 (Minist. dc linstrucrion Publique, Docs, inid.), Paris, 1885-1906. RISHANGER William de Rishangcr, Chronica et Amahs. Hettr. JHEdw. I (i2j9-i}of). Ed. H. T. Riley, London, 1865.
ROB. ANGL. AJcb. Robertas Anglicus, LJber de Composition* AJcbemioe [tr. f. Arabic], Ed. J. J. Manget in Bibliotbeca Cbtmica Curiosa 1, Colon. AUobrogum, 1702. ROB. ANGL. Alg. Liber Restaurationis et Oppositionis Ntmeri: Robert of Chester's Latin Translation of the Algebra of AJ-KAovari^m. Ed.
L. C Karpinski (Univ. of Michigan Studies), Ann Arbor-New York, 1915.

RScat. Norm. Magni Rotuli ScatcarU Normanniae. Ed. Thomas Staple-
ton, 2 vols., London, 1840-4. Roska, TS J. Ruska, Tabula Smaragdhta, Heidelberg, 1926.
SACROB. Spb. The Sphere of Sacroboseo and its Commentators by Lynn
Thomdike, Chicago U.P., 1949. SB Sinonoma Bartbolomei [A fourteenth-century glossary]. Ed. J. L. G. Mowat (Anecdota Oxoniensia), Oxford, 1887. Scrap. P. Guigues," Les noms arabes dans S&apion,' liber de Simplici Medicina'** in. Journal Asiatique io* set. v (1905), May-June, 473-546, July-August, 49-115.
SOED The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary. 3rd ed., revised with Itinerarium Symonis Semeoms ab Hybernia ad Terram
addenda, Oxford, 1956 (repr. 1970).

S.SIM. Itin.
Sanctam. Ed. M. Esposito, Dublin, i960.

Steiger A. Steiger, Contributtin a la fonitita del bispano-drabe j de los arabismos en el ibero-romdnicoj elsiciliano, Madrid, 1932. Suppl. R. P. A. Dozy, Supplement aux dutionnaires arabes, 1 vols.,
Leiden, 1927. TURNER, Herb. W. Turner, Iibellus de Re Herbaria Novus [1583], repr. in facsimile with notes... by D. B. Jackson, London, 1877. WAT.T.INGF. Rect. Richard of Wallingford, Reetangulus. Ed. R. T. Gunther in Early Science in Oxford n (Oxf. Hist. Soc ucvm), Oxford,
1922. WW T. Wright, Anglo-Saxon and Old English Vocabularus. Ed. and
collated by R. P. Wulcker. 2nd ed., 2 vols., London, 1884.
67

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