Two recensions

A man described as ‘abāmā’ is a doltish simpleton. Jamīl said (meter: ṭawīl):

           This dolt has never joined a fight, or knelt a camel
               for its saddle as it strains against a tether.
           Herds are what he's busy at, pasture
               his eternal quest. His thoughts are of his nanny goats
           sired by a dusky buck, with horns that poke up
               from their skulls like pods of carob.
           His gut is big, and though his mind's a muddle,
               his eye is ever on the smallest kid, and long his rod.

       

Al-Aṣma‘ī said: A man who is ṭabāqā’ is without insight into what concerns him, as in the verse by Jamīl:

           This dullard's never joined a fight, or knelt a camel
               for its saddle as it strains against a tether.

This is the Basran recension of the verse as al-Aṣma‘ī recited it, and Abū ‘Ubayd reported that he said: "‘Ayāyā’ has the same meaning as ṭabāqā’, and is said of the male camel that won't mount a female." In his Book of Uncommon Words, Abū ‘Ubayd says: "A ṭabāqā’ is an impotent dullard."

From The Curtailed and the Prolonged by Abū ‘Alī al-Qālī

Nights come in threes

I was informed by Tha‘lab on the authority of Salama that al-Farrā’ said:

The first three nights [of the lunar month] are called al-Ghurar or al-Ghurr "The Blazes." The moon rises in the forepart (ghurra) of the night, and is likened to the blaze (ghurra) on a horse's forehead because it is brighter in one area than the rest. By some these nights are called al-‘Urj "The Limpers." The first of them is called al-Naḥīra "The Affrontant" [because it "faces" the last night of the month before it]. The last night of the month, when the crescent moon disappears from view, is another Naḥīra.

The next three nights are called al-Nufal "The Superogatory," because they give more light than the first three. A gift that is not incumbent on the giver is an act of tanfīl, and superogatory prayer is called nāfila, because it is not obligatory. By some, these nights are called al-Shuhb "The Greys," because the whiteness of the moon mixes with the black of night. Horses with grey coats are called the same.

[Three nights omitted here are called by some al-Zuhar "The Brights," or defensibly "The Cythereans" after the planet Venus which is al-Zuhara.] There follow three Buhar "The Outshiners," so called because their moon outshines the darkness of the night.

Night thirteen is the night of al-Siwā’ "The [Full Moon's] Equivalent," also called al-‘Afrā’ "The Dusty." Night fourteen is the night of al-Badr "The Full Moon," so called for its uncanny resemblance (mubādara) to the sun. These are al-Bīḍ "The White Nights."

Then come three Dura‘ [an epithet of sheep that are] "Black with a White Head" or "White With a Black Head," because the last of them gets dark. Then there are three Bīḍ. There follow three Ẓulam "The Darks," then three Ḥanādis "The Pitch Blacks," and then the three Da’ādi’  "Hasteners [of the Occultation of the Moon]," singular Daydā’a or Da’dā’a. On al-Muḥāq "The Total Wipeout," the moon's occultation is total, and that is the last night of the month.

From The Book of Day and Night in [the Arabic] Language
by Ghulām Tha‘lab (Ibid.) (cf.)

Deviation and aversion

Abū Zayd: Māla [means "to incline"]; its verbal noun is mayl. Ibn al-Sikkīt: Mamāl and mamīl [are also its verbal nouns], and amāla and mayyala [mean "to cause something to lean"]. Abū Ḥātim [CORRECTED AGAINST LISĀN AL-‘ARAB]: Mayl is for leaning that is contingent, while mayal [the verbal noun of mayila] is for leaning that is congenital or structural.
      Abū ‘Ubayd: The verb jāḍa yajīḍu means "to deviate from the path," as does ḥāḍa yaḥīḍu [discussed ahead]. Abū Zayd [attests that ḥāṣa yaḥīṣu is said for the same meaning, and that its verbal nouns are]: ḥayṣ and ḥayaṣān. Ibn al-‘Arābī adds: ḥuyūṣ. The author of Kitāb al-‘Ayn: Ḥāṣa ‘anhu ["He turned away from it" is said with verbal nouns] maḥīṣ and maḥāṣ, and [the same meaning is communicated by] taḥāyaṣa and ḥāyaṣa. Abū ‘Ubayd says in more than one place: Ḥāṣa means "to turn away in flight" from something, and jāḍa means "to deviate." Ibn Durayd: Jayadān is jāḍa's verbal noun.
      Abū ‘Ubayd: Nāṣa yanūṣu, verbal nouns manāṣ and manīṣ, is similar. In more than one place, he says it means "to get moving and go away." Ibn Durayd: Nāṣa yanūṣu, verbal noun nawṣ [can be used transitively, to mean] "to pursue something to the point of overtaking it." [Ibn Sīdah:] Nawṣ was discussed earlier with the meaning "to depart."
      Abū ‘Ubayd: The verbal noun of nakaba yankubu ["to be oblique"] is nakib. Abū Ḥātim: Nakb and nukūb are [two more] verbal nouns of nakaba, and nakab is the verbal noun of nakiba [which means the same]. The author of Kitāb al-‘Ayn: Tanakkaba means "to deviate from the path." Nakaba has this meaning, and also "to cause someone else to deviate."
      Abū ‘Ubayd: ‘Adala is similar to this. Someone else: ‘Adala ya‘dilu, with verbal nouns ‘adl and ‘udūl [means "to turn away from something"], as does in‘adala. ‘Adala is also [used transitively, with two contrary meanings:] "to cause someone to incline" and "to set someone straight and correct their inclination," as when you set something upright that was sagging low, and correct the imbalance in it. Ta‘dīl is [a verbal noun meaning] "rectification." ‘Umar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb said: "God be praised for surrounding me with people who set me straight when I go akilter (idhā miltu ‘addalūnī), as if straightening an arrow." ‘Ādala and in‘adala [mean "to waver"], as in the verse [by Dhu 'l-Rumma, meter: ṭawīl]:

      I fix my eyes on anyone but her,
          from modesty. Otherwise, my gaze would never waver.

[Contrarily,] ‘adala can mean "to return" to something.
      Abū ‘Ubayd: Kanafa means "to be averse," as in the verse [by al-Quṭāmī, meter: ṭawīl]:

      [The winesellers feared a cheat, and got into it with us]
          to make sure none of us were averse to paying.

[Ibn Sīdah:] Where this verse is attested with kātif ["holding back one's hands"] in place of kānif "averse," I think it is in error.
      Ibn Durayd: Khāma means "to refrain" from something; its verbal noun is khayamān. The verb zākha ["to be at a remove"] means the same.
      The author of Kitāb al-‘Ayn: Ḥāda [means "to hang back" from something]; its verbal nouns are ḥayd, ḥayadān, maḥīd, and ḥaydūda. Abū ‘Ubayd: Al-ḥayadā is someone who shies away, as in the verse [by Umayya ibn Abī ‘Ā’idh al-Hudhalī, meter: mutaqārib]:

      I recall the dusky onager guarding its bulk [from bowhunters],
          the one [I spied] hanging back from a pool of fresh water.

      The author of Kitāb al-‘Ayn: Ṣadafa means "to turn and go away"; its verbal nouns are ṣadf and ṣudūf, and aṣdafa means to cause someone else to do this.
      Abū Zayd: Kafa’a, verbal noun kaf’, means "to go wide of the mark," and so does akfa’a. Abū ‘Ubayd: Akfa’a is said of an archer who lets the bow's upper limb lean to one side, missing the target.
      Abū ‘Ubayd: Ṣadagha means "to decline"; its verbal nouns are ṣadgh and ṣudūgh. Abū Zayd: One says: "I will straighten out your ṣadgh," that is, your deviation from rectitude and uprightness.

From the Mukhaṣṣaṣ of Ibn Sīdah

Just visiting

√Zwr is a root of [Arabic words for] inclination and deviation. Zūr is "falsehood," because it deviates from the way of truth. Zawwara means "to conjure something in the mind," by way of shaping it and changing its tack to make it more agreeable to the hearer. When an idol is called zūr [as in the verse by al-Aghlab al-‘Ijlī, meter: rajaz], it is based soundly on this meaning [of "fabrication"]:

     They came with their zūrs, and we came with al-Aṣamm,
     [our shaykh who is like a lion of Iram's remnant.]

Zawar is "inclination." Izwarra means "to incline away" from something. A similar idea is expressed by [active participle] zā’ir "visitor," because when someone visits you they have inclined away from other people. The chieftain who commands a group is called al-zuwayr because his followers turn away from all others in deference to him only, as in the verse (meter: ṭawīl):

     At the hands of men with no leadership among them,
         the tyrannical zuwayr is driven to his death.

When they say, "There is no zawr to this man," they mean he lacks any judgment worth seeking out.
      Generosity shown to visitors is tazwīr. A zawr is a visiting group of any number of men or women, and for a single visitor the same word is used. A poet said (meter: rajaz):

     There's a sway in their walk at al-Khubayb
     that's like the swaying gait of visiting maidens (al-fatayātu 'z-zawru)

When a strong and hardy [camel] is called ziwarr, it is derived anomalously from zawr which is the upper part of its chest.

From Analogical Templates of Language by Ibn Fāris

The Bend in Arabic

[The verbs] i‘wajja, awida, māla, ḍali‘a, zawira, zāgha, ṣa‘ira, and ṣawira all mean the same. Ta’awwada is said of a thing that has a bend in it. And you say there is mayal in a bent thing, in addition to mayl, both verbal nouns of māla. [The nouns] ‘awaj, mayal, awad, ḍala‘, badan, zawar, zaygh, and ṣa‘ar are said especially for [affections of] the side of the face. God, be He Exalted and Magnified, says: Wa-lā tuṣa‘‘ir khaddaka li-n-nāsi "Twist not your cheek at people." Ṣawar and ṣayad are [upward bendings of a person's neck] from hauteur and pride, and [of a camel's neck] from the tugging of the rein upon the nose-ring.

From ‘Abd al-Raḥmān ibn ‘Īsā al-Hamadhānī's Book of Words for Secretarial Use in Arabic Language Science, the recension of
Ibn Khalawayh

    

[The nouns] ‘awaj, awad, ḍala‘, mayal, zawar, zaygh, ḥinw, and ṣa‘ar are said especially for [affections of] the side of the face. Ṣawar and ṣayad are [upward bendings of the neck] from hauteur and pride. Mayal is for a bend in the formation of a thing, as is ḍala‘, and its affiliated verb is mayila yamyalu; mayl is for when you incline towards another, and its affiliated verb is māla yamīlu. One uses the verb ta’awwada of a thing, and i‘wajja, in‘āja, and in’āda when it bends. And while the "contortion" of an abstract matter is called ‘iwaj, the "bend" in a stick is called ‘awaj.

From ‘Abd al-Raḥmān ibn ‘Īsā al-Hamadhānī's Book of Words for Identical and Similar Things, the recension of Abū 'l-Barakāt ‘Abd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Anbārī

Fabrics

If a robe is woven on a loom of two beams, it is called munayyar. If it has little quadrangular shapes on it resembling a wild ass's eyes, it is called mu‘ayyan. If it has stripes, it is called mu‘aḍḍad and mushaṭṭab. If it has long trailing forms on it, then it is musayyar. If it has white stripes, or other designs in white, it is mufawwaf. If it has a chevroned pattern it is called musahham. If it has columnar forms, it is called mu‘ammad. If it has a zigzag pattern, it is called mu‘arraj. If it has crescent-shaped figures, it is called muhallal. If it is embroidered with cubical forms, it is called muka‘‘ab. According to Abu ‘Amr, if it flashes [with metal coins?] it is called mufallas, if it has birdlike forms, it is called muṭayyar, and if it has horse designs it is called mukhayyal.
     Abu 'l-Ḥasan al-Salami gave an excellent description of a battlefield (meter: kāmil):

      The sky was a patterned robe, muṭayyar with its vultures.
          The earth was a patterned bed spread, mukhayyal with fine horses.

From The Statutes of Lexicography by Abu Mansur al-Tha‘alibi

Ever green

Ibn Khālawayh said: In the speech of the Arabs, khaḍir / khaḍira is used for just five things. (1) Al-Khaḍir is the name of a prophet, God's blessings and peace be upon him. He was called that because when he sat on a patch of ground, it sprang into greenness beneath him.

(2) Khaḍira is an epithet of the world here below. The Prophet of God, God's blessings and peace be upon him and his family, said: Al-dunyā ḥulwatun khaḍiratun ("This world is sweet and green").

(3) Whatever is said to be yours khaḍiran naḍiran ("green and flourishing") is free for you to take it. [The dual noun] al-khaḍiratān is heard in the expression for "Two things that are ever green: sakhbar and raiding"—[as if they were] two bushes, their freshness surpassing all other green things. In other words, one is impelled toward them both.

(4) Khaḍir is any green herbage that the earth puts forth, whether trees or panic grass or lush greenery [The IX^th form verb] ikhḍarra is used for this, and for a tree whose greenery is plentiful.
     The Prophet, God's prayers be upon him, said: "Refrain from those plants in your diet (khaḍirātikum) that have a strong smell," meaning garlic, onion, and leeks.
     Palm trees too are called khaḍir. And khaḍir can refer to a dish of tender greens. Ukhtuḍira, [a passive VIII^th form verb meaning "to be cut off in a state of greenness"] is said of someone who dies in their youth, leaving nothing finished. 

(5) And Khaḍir is the name of a tribal group.

From volume 5 of
The Book of "Not in the Speech of the Arabs"
by Ibn Khalawayh (Süleymaniye MS Shahid ‘Ali Pasha 2143, fol. 20v-21r)

Names of the Sun II

We are informed by Tha‘lab that Ibn al-A‘rābī said: "Shams, Ashmus, and Shumūs are all said for the sun, as in the rajaz verse:

        It was a day of solar oppression by Shumūs.

A similar instance [of the sun's name without the definite article] is in the verse by Abu 'l-Shīṣ (meter: ramal):

        Just when the night's shadow is most pleasant,
            Shams comes up and shade dissolves."

We are informed by Tha‘lab, on the authority of Salama ibn ‘Āṣim, that al-Farrā’ said: "The sun is called Dhukā’ ('Flammifera') and Bint Dhukā’ ('Daughter of Flammifera'). This name is indeclinable. It comes from dhakā yadhkū, a verb used of flames that burn high. And Ibn Dhukā’ ('Son of Flammifera') is a byname of the dawn." And he quoted the verse (meter: kāmil):

        [The ostriches'] thoughts return to their their egg-deposit
            when Dhukā’ stretches out her hand for the [night's] covers."

[....] We are informed by Tha‘lab that Ibn al-A‘rābī said: "The sun is called al-Jawna ('The Glowing Disk'), as in the rajaz verses:

        Serve no milk, neither sour nor fresh,
        that was not given in abundance,
        [enough] to spread a pool for the clay to drink.
        Even where al-Jawna hastens evaporation,
        traces of the milk should last til nightfall.

Or the half-verse (meter: sarī‘):

         ...like a crafty [wolf] watching al-Jawna [go down].

"Jawn is white and black," he went on to say. "In the dialect of Quḍā‘a it is white, but for neighboring tribes it's black. Jawn can also be red."
     [....] Tha‘lab said: "Al-Ulāha ('The Mighty Goddess') is the hot sun." And he reported that Ibn al-A‘rābī said: "Al-Ulāha, al-Ilāha  and al-Alāha are names of the sun, and so is al-Hāla ('The Corona'), as in the verse (meter: ṭawīl):

        Quick to startle [is my stallion! Head held high], like a child of Hāla,
            [my horse] lives not by steady equanimity of mind.

"Al-Ḑiḥḥ ('The Glare') also is the sun," he went on to say. "Sahām are filaments of 'devil's mucus' [cobwebs encrusted with dust] that catch the sun. The iyāh of the sun is its brilliance, as are its iya’ and ayā’. And the iya’ of herbage is its lushness." And he recited the half-verse (meter: basīṭ):

        The iya’ [of lush grass] met the iya’ of the sun, and together
        the two were shining.

We are informed by Tha‘lab, on the authority of the son of Abū ‘Āmir al-Shaybānī, that Abū ‘Āmir said: "The 'tapering' [taṭarruf] of the sun comes just before it sinks below the horizon, as in the rajaz verse:

       At the tapering of al-Shams's horn, he said his prayer."

Someone other than Tha‘lab points out that the sun is called al-Ghazāla ('The Gazelle') [perhaps explaining why the sun is said to have "horns"]. Others say that the sun's brightness and its spreading rays are called ‘ab’ or ‘ab. "The sun is pounding with its ṣalā’a," is said by another [to mean "The sun shines brightly"]: the ṣalā’a is a chemist's grindstone, used in the preparation of perfumes.
      We are informed by Tha‘lab, on the authority of Salama ibn ‘Āṣim, that al-Farrā’ said: "A hot day is said to be shāmis and mashmūs ('sunny' and 'besunned'). The sun's uwār is its heat. The verbs zabba, zabbaba and azabba ('to hide beneath hair') are said of the sun's setting, as are ḍarra‘a and aḍra‘a ('to inch along') and karaba ('to succumb to fatigue')."
      We are informed by Tha‘lab, on the authority of ‘Alī the son of Ṣāliḥ whose office it was to preserve the Prophet's prayer-mat, that al-Kisā’ī said: "Al-Ghazāla is said for the bright disk of the sun. 'Al-Ghazāla's horn is coming up,' one says [at sunrise]." And we are informed by Tha‘lab, on the authority of Ibn Najda, that Abū Zayd al-Anṣārī said: "The 'gazelles of forenoon' is an expression for the day's rising," and that he recited the rajaz verses:

       "Who loves night travel in the frigid season?"
        asks the tribe. "Is there a young hero we can call on,
        one whose strength is neither faint nor ragged,
        to set the tribe moving with the gazelles of forenoon?"

      We are informed by Tha‘lab on the authority of Ibn al-A‘rābī that the circle that sometimes forms around the sun is called al-ihrāt. As for al-falak, it is an 'orbit' around the heavens' axis. God, be He exalted, says [in Sūrat al-Anbiyā’ 21:33]: 'All are in a falak swimming.'" According to another authority cited by Tha‘lab, where sunlight strikes trees and the ground it is called maḍḥāh and ḍāḥiya, and where it does not strike them it is called maqnāh and maqnuwa. And he recited the verse (meter: ṭawīl):

        We came upon him in the sunless maqnuwa, where
            a teak-grove cast its decorous veil over al-Shams.

Another authority attests the verse (meter: ṭawīl):

        Herbage grows thin on one side of the mountain. On the other side,
            it is lush. The overcast light of day lands on both sides.

From The Book of Day and Night in [the Arabic] Language by Abū ‘Umar
Muḥammad ibn ‘Abd al-Wāḥid al-Muṭarriz al-Zāhid, better known as Ghulām Tha‘lab

Horse and water

As an abundant quantity of water is called ghamr ("ample"), so is a horse devoted to running. As a swift-running watercourse is called ya‘būb ("rushing"), so is a swift-running horse. As a well that won't run dry is called jamūm ("replenished"), so is a horse whose every burst of running is followed by another. As an uninterrupted series of cloudbursts is called al-saḥḥ ("the flow") of rain, a horse is called misaḥḥ ("effluent") if it runs uninterruptedly. If lightness and swiftness are combined in a horse's gait, then it is called fayḍ ("overflowing") and sakb ("outpouring") after the overflowing and outpouring of water.

As the sea's water is inexhaustible, a horse that never tires of running is called a baḥr ("sea"). The Prophet, God's blessings and peace be upon him, was the first to use this expression when he said of his mount: "I find [this horse] to be a baḥr." And so the name Baḥr was given to that horse.

"On descriptors of the horse deriving from descriptors of water":
Section 17.30 of The Statutes of Lexicography by Abu Mansur al-Tha‘alibi

Dennis Wilson, "Pacific Ocean Blues" (1977)

al-Damiri on the owl

Al-Būm ("The Owl") is said for the male bird, and
al-Būma ("The Owless") for the female.
Al-Ṣadā ("The Night Cry") and
al-Fayyād ("The Strutter") are said for the male only.

The female is called by the filionyms:
Umm al-Kharāb ("Mother of Ruins") and
Umm al-Ṣibyān ("Mother of Boys"), and is also called
Ghurāb al-layl ("Crow of the Night").

Al-Jahiz says that along with al-ṣadā, ghurāb al-layl and al-būma,
al-Hāma ("The Vengeful Head")
al-Ḍuwa‘ ("The Night Terror") and
al-Khaffāsh, ("The Bat") are all of a type, i.e. nocturnal flying creatures that leave their homes at night. He goes on to say that some of them feed on mice, sparrows, geckoes and small reptiles, and that others live on tiny insects.

It is in the owl's nature to break into the nests of all other birds, kick them out, and feed on their eggs and chicks. Its powers are greatest by night, when it remains awake. At night, no bird is capable of defending against it. If it is spotted by other birds in the daytime, they will kill it and pluck out its feathers, so great is the enmity between them and the owl. For this reason, hunters will bait their nets with [the carcass of] the owl, as a trap for other birds to fall into.

[In a now-inextant work, perhaps his Book of Problems and Experiences,] al-Mas‘udi says that al-Jahiz said that the owl imagines itself to be the most handsome of the animals, and that its high opinion of its own beauty is the reason it is only seen by night: for fear of the evil eye, it refuses to go out by day.

Among the falsehoods spread by the early Arabs is that after the soul of a slain or otherwise deceased person is separated from its body, it takes the form of a bird and screeches from atop that person's grave. The form it takes is that of the owl called the ṣadā, mentioned by the poet Tawba ibn al-Humayyir, one of the great lovers among the Arabs (meter: ṭawīl):

   Though stone and a slab of wood be my covering,
      when I am greeted by Laylā al-Akhyaliyya,
   joyfully I will return her greetings, and if not
      a screeching ṣadā will greet her on my behalf beside my grave.

The story is told that when Laylā passed by Tawba's grave and recited these verses, something like a bird rose from from the earth and startled her camel, which threw her to her death, and that she was buried there by Tawba's side.

There is more than one kind of owl, but they all love privacy and solitude, and are by nature enemies of the crow. In Ibn al-Najjār's History, it is told that Chosroes ordered his servant: "Hunt down for me the worst of birds, roast it over the worst of firewood, and serve it to the worst of men." So the servant killed an owl, roasted it over a fire of oleander-wood, and fed it to a slanderer.

In chapter 47 of The Lamp of Kings, the imam Abū Bakr al-Turtūshi tells that one night when the caliph ‘Abd al-Malik ibn Marwān was unable to sleep, he called for a courtier to help him pass the time in nocturnal conversation. It was in the course of this that the courtier said: "There is a she-owl in Mosul, O Commander of the Faithful, and in Basra there is another. On behalf of her son, the Mosuli owl asked the Basran owl for her daughter's hand in marriage. 'Not unless you pay me a bride-price of one hundred ruined estates,' said the owl of Basra. 'I can't offer you that right now,' the owl of Mosul responded, 'but if our present governor - God save him! - remains in his post for one more year, I will fulfill it.' " At this, ‘Abd al-Malik was brought to his senses, and took a role in hearing criminal cases and rendering justice to the people, and pursued inquiries into his governors' affairs.

I have seen it in written in the hand of a major scholar in a certain codex that al-Ma'mūn once looked down from his palace and saw a man standing at the foot of the wall, and writing on it with a piece of coal. He said to one of his servants, "Go see what that man is writing, and bring him to me." The servant sped down to the man and, seizing him, took in what he had written. It was this (meter: basīṭ):

   O castle, repository of badness and blame,
      when will the owl build its nest in your corners?
   The day when that happens will be my delight:
      among dry-eyed mourners, I will take first place.

"You'll answer to the Commander of the Faithful for this," said the servant. "I beg of you, by God, do not take me to him," said the man. "There is no other way," said the servant, and escorted him off.
      When the man was brought before the king, the servant made known what he had written. "Woe betide you!" said al-Ma'mūn. "What inspired you to write this?" The man said:
      "O Commander of the Faithful, you are well aware of all the wealth your castle's treasurehouses contain, and the clothes and jewelry, the food and drink, the beds and furniture and fine vessels, the slave-girls and eunuchs, and other goods surpassing my powers of description and comprehension. Passing by it in the furthest extreme of hunger and poverty, I fell to contemplating my own state, and asked myself, 'What good is there for me in this lofty castle's prosperity while I starve?' If it lay in ruins, I would not lack for stone and lumber, and firewood and nails that I might sell and have enough to live on by the revenue. Or does the Commander of the Faithful not know the words of the poet (meter: ṭawīl):

   If a man has no stake in another mans's rule, nor shares
      in its benefits, his thoughts will turn to its fall.
   It's not out of hate, only desire for something else,
      that he longs for the the state's overthrow.

Al-Ma'mūn told his servant, "Give him a thousand dinars," then said to the man, "Every year, as long as this castle prospers its tenants, this sum is yours." Here is another pair of verses on the same theme (meter: ṭawīl):

   If you are in government, do a good job of it.
      Soon enough you will pass away and leave it behind.
   How many lords of state have the days swept away
      whose fiefdoms were double your own?

Legal rulings. It is forbidden to eat every sort of owl. Al-Rāfi‘ī said that Abū ‘Āṣim al-‘Abbādī compared owls to vultures in this regard - the ḍuwa‘ [= the curlew?] as well as the būm. Al-Shāfi‘ī, God have mercy on him, said that the flesh of the ḍuwa‘ was not forbidden. The affirmation that ḍuwa‘ and būm are separate species is contravened by [al-Jawharī's dictionary, entitled] the Ṣaḥāḥ (Correct Usage), according to which al-ḍuwa‘ is said for all nocturnal birds, but belongs to the genus of the owl. And al-Mufaḍḍal says al-ḍuwa‘ is a male owl. So whatever one says about the ḍuwa‘ must be true for the būm also. Male and female are of one species, and the same dietary code applies to both, as [al-Nawawī says] in Garden of the Seekers: "The prevailing opinion is that al-ḍuwa‘ belongs to the genus of the owl. We rule that it is forbidden to eat it."

Useful information. Ibn al-Sunnī says [in The Work of Day and Night, no. 623] that al-Hasan ibn ‘Alī ibn Abī Talib (may God exalted be pleased with him) narrated: "The Prophet, God's blessings and peace be upon him, said: 'If a man recites the call to prayer in the right ear of his newborn child, and the iqāma into the left ear, the child will not be afflicted by Umm al-Ṣibyān.'" This was the practice of ‘Umar ibn ‘Abd al-‘Azīz, may God have mercy on him. Opinion is divided on the meaning of Umm al-Ṣibyān here. Some say it is the owl, while others say it is the effect of demonic possession.

Magical properties. When an owl is killed, one of its eyes remains open while the other closes. If the ball of the open eye is placed beneath the gemstone of a ring, anyone who wears the ring will remain awake as long as it is on their finger. And the other eye has the inverse property. "If you cannot tell the eyes apart," al-Tabari says, "put them in water. The wakeful eye will float, and the sleep-inducing eye will sink to the bottom."
      Hermes said that if you take the heart of an owl and put it in the left hand of a sleeping woman, she will begin to speak about everything she did that day. And if the heart is removed from a large owl, wrapped in a piece of wolfskin, and bound to the upper arm, its wearer will be protected from thieves and night-crawlers and will not fear anyone.
      If the bile of an owl is smeared around the eyes, it improves vision. And if the fat of an owl is rendered and smeared around the eyes, night scenes will be viewable as if by day.
      The owl lays two eggs, one fertile and one barren. To tell them apart, prick them with a feather. The fertile egg will be shown by [the movement of?] the feather.

Dream interpretation. The owl seen in a dream indicates a crafty thief, and some say it indicates a fearsome king so dreaded by his subjects that they suffer liver damage. It symbolizes heroism and the cessation of fear, because it is one of the birds of the night. And God knows best.

From The Greater Life of Animals by Kamal al-Din al-Damiri

Names of the Undershirt

Ibn Khālawayh said: There are no names for the undershirt besides al-ṣudra, al-mijwal, al-baqīr, al-‘ilqa, al-shawdhar, al-ṣidār, al-qid‘a, al-itb, al-khay‘al and al-uṣda. All mean the same thing, which is "undershirt." And al-maḥjana (?) in Hebrew scripture is an undershirt which Moses wore, God’s blessings and peace be upon him and our Prophet.

[Qid‘a is related to the verbs qada‘a "to restrain a horse" and qadi‘a "to assume a fixed position." The latter is heard in the expression] Qadi‘at nafsī minka mudh zamān ("My soul has long been haltered, concerning you"). This means "My soul was deceived about you" and "My opinion of you was invalid," and "I did not form a judgment of your intelligence or stupidity, nor of your good and harmful qualities."

Al-mimashsh is a towelette, and so is al-mashūsh. [These words derive from the verb mashsha, meaning "to wipe the hands," as in the verse by Imru’ al-Qays, meter: ṭawīl]:

   Namushshu bi-a‘rāfi 'l-jiyādi akuffanā
       idhā naḥnu qumnā ‘an shiwā’in muḍahhabi

   Arising from a meal of roasted kid,
       we wipe our hands on the manes of fast horses.

From volume 5 of
The Book of "Not in the Speech of the Arabs"
by Ibn Khalawayh (Süleymaniye MS Shahid ‘Ali Pasha 2143, fol. 95r)

Names of the Hyena

Al-Ḍabu‘ is the female; the male is called al-ḍib‘ān and al-dhaykh. Among its other names are:

Haḍājir   "Whose Gut Is Huge"
Jay’al      "The Female Hulk"
Ja‘āri       "Craps-a-Lot"
Qasāmi   "Divider-up [of Carcasses]"
Naqāthi  "Bone-Sucker," from its [habit of] extracting marrow from
     bones, as in the anonymous rajaz verse:

     Jā’at Naqāthi taḥmilu 'l-birdhawnā
    "Along came Bone-sucker, carrying [part of?] an old horse..."

al-‘Arfā’, for the length of its ‘urf [which is its mane]
al-‘Athwā’  "The Bearded Lady," for the denseness of its hair
al-‘Arjā’  "Whose Gait is Limping"
al-Khāmi‘a  "Whose Gait is Loping"
Umm Hinbir  "Mother of the Flesh-Tearer"
Umm Khannūr  "Mother of the Anus," also Umm Khunnūr

The hyena pup is called fur‘ul. The hyena's den is a wijār.

The offspring of hyena and the wolf is called al-Sim‘ "The Sharp-Eared" (?) and Abū Sabara "Father to the Wound-Prober." Dissenting opinion holds that the sim‘ is a cross between wolf and dog, and that the offspring of wolf and hyena is called al-‘Usbūr.

From The Rudiments of Lexicography by al-Khaṭīb al-Iskāfī

Names of the Rain

Al-dayima is "continuous" rain without thunder or lightning, lasting no less than one third of a day or night. Most rains do not last this long. Similar to al-dayima is al-tahtān ["The Trickle"]. A poet said:

   My beloved, the weeping of your nostrils
      is like the tahtān of a rainy day.

Two varieties of al-dayima are al-hadb ["The Hard Rain"] and al-hatl ["The Spattering"]. A poet said:

   At Dhu ’l-Radm the tended fires were overshadowed
      by summer rains hadb-down-coming.

Al-dhihāb are both weak and strong rains. Cloud cover that darkens the sky and brings no rain is called al-dujunna ["The Overshadow"]; such a cloud is called dājina or mudjina. Days and nights so affected are described as dajn and dujunna, both adjectivally ["the day was dujn"] and in the genitive ["a day of dujn"]. Al-dājina is also said for a raincloud that covers the sky, delivering rain continuously, and al-dajn is a plentiful rain. Another kind of continuous rain is al-rihma ["The Discharge"]. Of all the dayima rains, al-rihma falls hardest and is first to pass away. Al-hafā' ["The Flutters"] are similar to al-rihma and are called by al-'Anbarī al-afā'. Yet another kind of dayima is the light rain called al-daththa ["The Scotch Mist"], which is a light rain, and similar to it is al-hadma ["The Nebulous"]. Al-watfā' ["The Beetle-Brow"] is a cloud of rapid-flowing rain that is counted among the dayima rains whether it is of long or short shedding. Al-qatr ["The Drip"] is said for all rain, weak and strong, as is al-dhihab. A diffuse fall of light droplets is called al-rashsh ["The Spray"]. The most abundant rain with the biggest droplets is called al-wābil [“The Downpour"]. Al-jawd ["The Profusion"] is said generally for abundant rain falling at any time of year. A poet said:

   I am Jawād son of Jawād, and the grandson of Sabal:
      When we rain, we're a jawd; when we pour we're a wābil

Al-'Anbarī recited this verse with a slight variation.
      When part after part of something comes in succession, the whole is called al-midrār and al-dirra ["The Torrent"]. This may be said of all rains. Al-rikk ["The Lean"] is a weak rain of no benefit unless it is followed by al-tabi'a ["The Consequent"] which is one rain after another.       Al-sāhiya ["The Inundation"] is an epithet of al-wābil, and vice versa: both wābilun sāhiyatun and sāhiyatun wābilun are heard. It is an expression for the rain that scours all it touches and sweeps it away. When profuse rains grip the earth to the point that its depths are uprooted, its topsoil becomes its bottom, and its hidden and visible shares are inverted, it is said to be mashūra ["Ensorced"]. The rain called jārr al-dabu' ["The Hyena Driver"] never falls without setting the earth aflow, and is so called because it penetrates the hyena’s den and sends it fleeing.
      Al-muhtafal ["The Hugger-Mugger"] is a fast-falling, uninterrupted rain. Similar to it is al-sahh ["The Flow"], with the difference that in al-sahh individual droplets may not be observable. Al-munhamir ["The Fluent"] is like al-sahh, as is al-wadq ["The Bout"]. Al-darb ["The Stroke"] is used for light rain, as is al-qatr, and al-dihhān ["The Gentle Strokes"] are much the same. Al-murawwiya ["The Water-Bringer"] is a rain that quenches the earth, while al-mulabbid ["The Damper"] wets its surface and causes its dust to settle. Al-hayā ["The Life-Giver"] is abundant rain. Al-ahādīb (plural of the plural of al-hadb, q.v.) are hard rains consequent upon other rains. Al-halal ["The Incipient"] are the beginnings of rain. Al-muth'anjir ["The Plenishing"] and al-mushanfir ["The Fleet"] are plentiful in their flow. Al-waliyy ["The Boon Companion"] is said for rain that follows rain in any season. Al-'ahd ["The Pledge"] is a first rain; a land in which the rain is widespread is said to be ma'hūda ["fulfilled"], and when it is touched by a nufda of rain it is said to be mu'ahhada ["empledged."]. Al-nufda ["The Shiver"] is said of rain that falls on one region and passes over another, as are al-shu'būb ["The Cloudburst"] and al-najw ["The Wind-Breaker"]. And land that is mansūha ["satisfied"] has been blessed with abundant rain.
      Al-ghayth is a name for rain in general. Al-sabal ["The Trailing Garment"] is rain that hangs between cloud and earth, from the point of its leaving the cloud to its landing on the ground.

From Abū Zayd al-Ansārī's Book of Rain

Names of the Sun

Among the names of the sun are al-Ilāha and al-Alāha ("The Goddess"). Ibn ‘Abbās recited [Sūrat al-A‘rāf 7:127 with the words] wa-ilāhataka ["your goddess," in place of the dominant reading wa-ālihataka "your gods" in the question to Pharaoh: "Will you allow Moses and his people to spread corruption in the land, and leave you and your gods behind?"]. And a poet said (meter: kāmil):

    We spent the afternoon fanning ourselves at al-La‘bā’,
        speeding along al-Ilāha in her setting.

The "orbit" around the heavens' axis is called al-falak. God, be He exalted and magified, says [in Sūrat al-Anbiyā’ 21:33]: "All are in a falak swimming."
        The phenomenon called "devil's snot" [mukhāṭ al-shayṭān], which occurs when dust and cobwebs come together [and float in the air], is also called "sun snot" [mukhāṭ al-shams].
        The ‘ab or ‘abb of the sun is its illumination and its beauty. ‘Abba Shams, however, is a metathesis of the name ‘Abd Shams ("Servant of the Sun"). As a group name [for the Banū ‘Abd Shams, a clan of Quraysh], it is shortened to ‘Aba Shams, and is altogether undeclined, as in the verse:

    When ‘Aba Shams saw the sun in its brisk rise
        over their people, with al-Julhimī at their head...

Al-Dihh ("The Glare") is the sun. Dhu 'l-Rumma said:

    You see its hills blaze in the glare of al-Dihh,
        abetted by winds hot like sparks on dry tinder.

Al-ayā is the illumination and beauty of the sun, and is also applied to the beauty of plants in bloom. Al-iyā’ is heard with the same meaning, as in the verse:

    Two colors - red and dusty black - are in competition
        in the iyā’ of the sun whose going down you see.

Also said for the sun's brilliance is al-iyāh, as in the verse by Ṭarafa:

    [So bright were her teeth, it was as if] she had sipped the sun's iyāh,
                except for her gums
        which were painted with kohl she took pains not to smudge
                with the work of her teeth.

[...] After the sun has set, it is called Barāḥi ("The Departer"). Birāḥi too is heard. A poet said (meter: rajaz):

    Here stood the two feet of Rabāḥ
    who journeyed until the setting of Barāḥi."

"O you," they say when the sun has ceased shining, "Barāḥi has gone down."

From The Book of Seasons and Invocation in the Time before Islam

    by Abū ‘Alī Muḥammad al-Mustanīr, known as Quṭrub