Ahmad al-Shidyaq - Leg over Leg - Volumes One and Two

2.14.8

“Where women are concerned, though, the self-denying ascetic becomes a lustful lecher, the reasonable man a slave to his passions, the clement ruler a tyrant, the well-guided person a lost soul, the wise man an idiot, the scholar an ignoramus, the eloquent a stutterer (and vice versa), the patient man a prey to his impulses (but not vice versa), the young man old (but not vice versa), the rich man a pauper (and vice versa), the lout a sophisticate (but not vice versa), the fat thin (and vice versa), the healthy an invalid (but not vice versa), the steady-going reckless (and vice versa), the miser generous (but not vice versa), the immobile mobile (and vice versa), and all things their opposites (and vice versa, and so on, and so forth). If a man finds a woman who hates him, how often will he fall in love with her, if one who ignores him devote himself to her, if one who avoids him throw himself in her path, if one who flatters him and offers him false hopes become infatuated by her, if one who throws him her bag, 551however heavy, go mad for her — unless he attend a gathering where there’s

a waḍīʾah ,

“a woman who is comely and clean”

or a hayyiʾah ,

“a female who is comely of form”

or a mukhbaʾah ,

“a secluded girl who has not yet married”

or a dhabʾah ,

“a thin, cute, jolly girl”

or a jarbāʾ ,

“a cute girl”

or a khidabbah ,

a female who is “huge”

or a khurʿūb ,

“a supple, shapely young woman or a fine-boned, fleshy, stout, soft, white young woman”

or a khanibah ,

“a coquettish girl of thrilling voice”

or a raṭbah ,

too well known to require definition 552

or a sarhabah ,

“a tall, stout woman”

2.14.9

or a shaṭbah ,

“a shapely girl”

or a shiṭbah ,

“a tall, blooming, shapely girl”

or a shanbāʾ ,

“having lustrous teeth” (of a female); mentioned under burquʿ 553

or a ṣaqbah ,

a female who is “tall and full-bodied”

or a ṣahbāʾ ,

[“a red-headed woman”] “ ṣahab is redness or blondness of the hair; synonyms ṣuhbah and ṣuhūbah ”

or a ʿajbāʾ ,

“a woman whose beauty is to be wondered at”

or a qabbāʾ ,

a female who is “slim-waisted and slender-bellied”

or a kabkābah ,

“a fat woman”

or a makdūbah ,

“a pure white woman”

or a kāʿib ,

a woman whose breasts stand up

2.14.10

or a laʿūb ,

a female “with a nice way of flirting”

or a waṭbāʾ ,

a female who is “large breasted”; a waṭb is “a large breast”

or a hadbāʾ ,

a female “having thick eyelashes”

or a dhāt ṣulūtah ,

[“having a clear, or prominent and straight, brow”] “ ṣalt means ‘a clear brow’; ṣaluta means ‘to develop such a brow’”

or a ṣamūt al-khulkhālayn ,

“having legs so thick that her anklets make no sound”

or a khawthāʾ ,

a female who is “young and smooth”

or a baljāʾ ,

buljah is having “a space between the eyebrows”; masculine adjective ablaj , feminine baljāʾ

or a mibhāj ,

a female who is “shapely”

or a jāʾiʿat al-wishāḥ ,

a female who is “slender-bellied”; synonym gharthāʾ al-wishāḥ

or a khadallajah ,

“a woman with plump arms and legs”

2.14.11

or a daʿjāʾ ,

[“a dark- and wide-eyed woman”] “ daʿaj is… blackness of the eye combined with wideness”

or a rajrājah ,

a woman whose flesh quivers upon her

or a zajjāʾ ,

“ zajaj is the delicate lengthening of the eyebrows, and the delineating [thereof]”; masculine adjective azajj , feminine zajjāʾ

or a muʿadhlajah ,

“a plump, smooth, shapely woman”

or a mufallajat al-asnān ,

[“a gap-toothed woman”] “ falaj is having a distance between the teeth”

or a baydaḥ ,

a female who is “corpulent”; similarly, baldaḥ

or a daḥūḥ ,

a female who is “large”

or a dhāt sajāḥah ,

[“a smooth-cheeked woman”] “ sajiḥa , of the cheek, means that it became smooth, soft, and moderately long”

or a dumluḥah ,

a female who is “huge and full-bodied”

or a ṣaldaḥah ,

a female who is “broad”; similarly, salṭaḥah and ṣalṭaḥah

2.14.12

or a fuqqāḥ ,

“a shapely woman”

or a waḍḍāḥah ,

a female who is “of a pleasing white color”

or a baydakhah ,

a female who is “full-bodied”

or a bulākhiyyah ,

a female who is “large or noble”

or a ṣamikhah ,

“a blooming woman”

or a ṭubākhiyyah ,

“a sturdily-built young woman”

or a fatkhāʾ al-akhlāf ,

[“a high-breasted woman”] “a she-camel whose akhlāf (‘teats’) are fatkhāʾ has them raised (toward the belly) (a blameworthy quality in she-camels, but praiseworthy in women and women’s udders)”

or a firḍākhah ,

a female who is “huge and broad” or “tall and with large breasts”

or a qufākh ,

“a fat woman of comely physique”

or a lubākhiyyah ,

“a female who is fleshy”

or a habayyakhah ,

a female who is “smooth and full-bodied”

2.14.13

or a bakhandāh ,

“a woman with a perfectly developed figure”; also bakhandā

or a burakhdāh ,

“a smooth, full-bodied girl”

or a mubarnadah ,

a female who is “well-fleshed”

or a thaʾdah ,

a sturdily-built “well-fleshed woman”

or a thawhadah ,

“a fat, shapely woman”; also thahwadah and fawhadah

or a thahmad ,

a female who is “fat and large”

or a jaddāʾ ,

a female who is “small-breasted”

or a jaydāʾ ,

a female “having a long, finely formed neck”

or a baḍḍat al-mujarrad ,

“revealing tender skin on undressing”

or a khabandāh ,

“a girl described as khabandāh has a perfectly formed figure, or is stoutly built, or has heavy haunches; a leg so described is rounded and full”

or a kharīd ,

“a kharīd is an untouched virgin, or a bashful woman who maintains long silences, speaks in a low voice and conceals herself from public view”; also, kharīdah and kharūd

(Note: women who are nanoid, endomorphic, adipose, fubsy, hebetudinous, impulchritudinous, chamaephytic, and troglodytic are more coquettish and sensual than any of the above.)

2.14.14

or a rikhwaddah ,

a female who is “soft-boned and fat”

or a riʿdīd ,

a female who is “soft to the touch”

or a rahīdah ,

“a smooth, soft, young woman”

or a ʿubrud ,

“a girl who is white and smooth and quivers with good living”