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Rare and doubtful words in the poetry of Abū-l-‘Alā’
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 December 2009
Extract
In the course of a recent study (a thesis on Abū-l-‘Alā’ as a poet), I have come upon certain words in Luzūm mā la- Yalzam which, to the best of my knowledge, do not occur in Ibn Durayd's Jamharah, Al-Asās, al-Ṣiḥāḥ, al-Qāmūs, al-Mukhaṣṣaṣ, Täj al-'Arūs, Lisān al-'Arab, al-Jāsūs ‘ala-l-Qāmūs, Lane's Lexicon, or al-Munjid. It might be interesting, from the point of view of Arabic philology, to examine some of these rare words here, if only because they occur in the work of such a distinguished authority as Abū-l-‘Alā’. I have consulted the texts in which these words occur in the Cairo edition of the Luzūm, the Bombay edition, and the British Museum MS., Or. 3160.
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- Information
- Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Volume 14 , Issue 2 , June 1952 , pp. 244 - 250
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- Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies 1952
References
page 244 note 1 A poetical work by Aḥmad ibn ‘Abd Allah Al-Ma'arrī (Abū-l-‘Alā’).
page 244 note 2 Ed. by ‘Azīz Zand (Cairo, 1895). It will be referred to hereafter as L.
page 244 note 3 Bombay, A.h. 1303. Referred to hereafter as B.
page 244 note 4 Referred to hereafter as M.
page 244 note 5 Lisān, ll, 410Google Scholar; Tāj, 6, 356–7Google Scholar; Lane, , 1125–7.Google Scholar
page 244 note 6 Different descriptions of this game are to be found in the lexicons and other philological works. Cf. Al-Ḥayawān, by Al-Jāḥiẓ (Cairo, A.h. 1364), 6, 145Google Scholar, and Al-Qāmūs al-Muḥīt, by Fīrūzabādi, al, Cairo, 1938, 1, 376Google Scholar, and Lane, , 1002–7.Google Scholar Also see Al Jamharah, by Durayd, Ibn (Hayder Abād), 3, 452: 2.Google Scholar
page 245 note 1 Lisān, 5, 142Google Scholar; Tāj, 3, 55–6Google Scholar; Qāmūs, 1, 375.Google Scholar
page 245 note 2 Lisān, 2, 101Google Scholar; Tāj, 1, 387–8Google Scholar; Qāmūs, 1, 106Google Scholar, Al-Mukhaṣṣaṣ, 8, 175.Google Scholar
page 245 note 3 Lisān, 1, 326Google Scholar; Tāj, 1, 208Google Scholar; Qāmūs, 1, 56Google Scholar; and Al-Mukhaṣṣaṣ, 8, 175, and 4, 13.Google Scholar
page 246 note 1 In the marginal notes of B. we are told that 
means 
. Bùt this does not suit the sense of the line. 
is an epithet which can be applied to a vessel made of clay, but not to a vessel made of gold.
page 246 note 2 Lisān, 2, 28–9Google Scholar; Tāj, 1, 344.Google Scholar In these lexicons we find: 
.
page 246 note 3 Lane, 1763.
page 247 note 1 Called 
or 
, Mukhaṣṣaṣ, 8, 97–8.Google Scholar
page 247 note 2 It is also said that the hunter, by moving his hand about at the lizard's hole, tries to persuade it that he is a snake, The lizard has a taste for the flesh of snakes. See Ḥayawān, 6–44, 39, 121, 118, 114, 130, and 133.Google Scholar Also see Lisān, 2, 28Google Scholar, and Tāj, 1, 344.Google Scholar
page 247 note 3 Qāmūs, 1, 151Google Scholar; Lisān, 2, 355Google Scholar; Tāj, 1, 558–9Google Scholar; and Lane, 1594–5.
page 247 note 4 Lisān, 8, 313–4Google Scholar, and Tāj, 4, 403.Google Scholar
page 248 note 1 The same note occurs in the margin of B. But here we have 
.
page 248 note 2 Lisān, 1, 388Google Scholar; Tāj, 1, 261.Google Scholar
page 249 note 1 Lisān, 1, 390.Google Scholar
page 249 note 2 There appears to be a strong case for the reading 
as I have recently come upon the expression 
meaning “vultures”. Could the poet have meant:—
“I see that the wing of night is richer in plumage, and yet its crow which feeds on (our) corpses dies”?
That is possible. Furthermore the repetition of the rhyming word 
as such would not be regarded technically as īṭā.
page 249 note 3 Tāj, 1, 263.Google Scholar
page 249 note 4 Lisān, 1, 388Google Scholar; Tāj, 1, 264.Google Scholar
page 249 note 5 Lisān, 1, 388.Google Scholar
page 250 note 1 Lisān, 18, 114–6Google Scholar; Tāj, 9, 261Google Scholar; Qāmūs, 4, 242Google Scholar; and Lane, 1702–3.