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

2.14.70

the ṣilinbāḥ ,

“a species of long, slim fish”

or the ḥāffīrah ,

“a black fish”

or the jirrī ,

“a species of long, smooth fish not eaten by the Jews and having no scales”

or the ṣarṣarān ,

“a smooth species of fish”

or the ghārrah ,

“a long fish”

or the qayṣānah ,

“a round, yellow fish”

or the shabbūṭ ,

“a species of fish with a slim tail and broad middle, soft to the touch and with a small head, as though it were a lute”

or the jinnīs ,

“a fish halfway in color between white and yellow”

or the ḍilaʿah ,

“a small, green fish with short bones”

or the ḥaffah ,

“a bony white fish”

2.14.71

or the ʿuffah ,

“a white scale-less fish that tastes like rice when cooked”

or the khudhdhāq ,

“a fish with thread-like feces”

or the ḥāqūl ,

“a long, green fish”

or the qatan ,

“a fish as broad as the palm of the hand”

or the ghalāʾ ,

“a short fish”

or hiff ,

“small fry that flee”

or balam ,

“small fry”

or ṣaḥnāh ,

“a condiment made from small fry”

or ṣīr ,

“ ṣaḥnāh or something resembling it, or the salted fish from which ṣaḥnāh is made”

or ḥarīd ,

“sun-dried fish”

2.14.72

or qarīb ,

“salted fish when still moist”

or ṭirrīkh ,

“small fish treated with salt”

or ḥusās ,

“small fish that are dried”

or nashūṭ ,

“fish that are macerated in water and salt”

or the irbiyān ,

“a species of fish like worms”

or ṣuʿqur ,

“fish eggs”

or the sikl ,

“a huge, black fish”

or zajr ,

“large fish”

or the bāl ,

“the mighty whale”

or the aṭūm ,

“a thick sea fish”

2.14.73

or the jaydharah ,

“a fish like a huge black negro”

or the bunbuk ,

“a beast like a dolphin”

or the jamal ,

“a fish thirty cubits long”

or the liyyāʾ ,

“a fish from which high-quality shields are made; also something like chickpeas, extremely white, to which women are compared”

or tukhas ,

previously mentioned under “the wonders”

or of shellfish, such as

sulaj ,

“seashells containing something edible”

or the dullāʿ ,

“a kind of shell found in the sea”

or the qarthaʿ ,

“a small sea creature with a shell”

or jummaḥl ,

“flesh found in the interior of the shell”

or of the various kinds of bread, such as

2.14.74

ṭurmūth ,

“bread made in the ashes, similar to muftaʾad, muḍbāh, ṭurmūs, iṣṭakmah , and uṣṭukmah ” (an oddity here is that the author of the Qāmūs puts the form with i after the entry for the root ʾ-sh-m and that with u after ṣ-ṭ-m )

or zalaḥlaḥah ,

“a thin bread, synonym ṣarīqah ”

or luḥūḥ ,

“bread resembling qaṭāʾif (‘small triangular doughnuts fried in butter and served with honey’)”

or anbakhānī ,

“a huge puffed-up loaf of fermented dough”

or khubrah ,

“a huge mess of crumbled bread moistened with broth”

or mashṭūr ,

“bread wiped with sour condiments”

or sillajn ,

“cake”

or khanīz ,

“crumbled unleavened bread moistened with broth”

or rashrash ,

“floppy dry bread; synonym rashrāsh ”

or hashāsh ,

“soft floppy bread”

or murabbaqah ,

“a bread made with fat; murawwalah is similar”

or ruqāq ,

“flaky bread”

or ḍaghīghah ,

“layered rice bread”

or mullā ,

“a well-cooked bread”

or of the different kinds of milk, such as

2.14.75

samʿaj ,

“sweet, fatty milk; similar are samlaj, samhaj , and samhajīj ”

or quṭabiyyah ,

“goat and sheep milk mixed, or camel and sheep milk mixed”

or shamīṭ ,

“milk that is so tasty that it is impossible to tell if it is curdled or fresh milk mixed with curdled”

or julaʿṭīṭ ,

“thick buttermilk; other terms with the same meaning are ʿujaliṭ, ʿuthaliṭ, ʿudhaliṭ, ʿukaliṭ , and ʿulabiṭ ”;

once an insufferable grammarian, who insisted on speaking literary Arabic, went up to a milkman and said, “Milkman, hast thou any milk that is ʿuthaliṭ, ʿulabiṭ , or ʿujaliṭ ?” to which the milkman replied, “Be off before I give you a slap on the back of your neck!”

or kafkhah ,

“a white blended butter”

or liyākhah ,

“butter melted with milk”

or qishdah ,

“a runny butter”

or qildah ,

“ qishdah , dates, and parched barley meal made with pure clarified butter”

or nahīd ,

“runny butter”

or ʿakīs ,

“fresh milk onto which drippings have been poured”

or thamīrah ,

“milk whose butter has appeared”

or nakhīsah ,

“goat or ewe milk mixed together”

or imkhāḍ ,

“fresh milk while still in the churn”

or ḥālūm ,

“a kind of curds or milk thickened until it turns into something like moist cheese”

or of sweet things, such as

2.14.76

waṭīʾah ,

“pitted dates kneaded with milk, or curds with sugar and cake”

or ʿabībah ,

“a food and a drink made from mimosa (sweet)”

or burt ,

“sugar”

or ḍayḥ ,

“honey, or ripe doum fruit”

or malakh ,

“honey from wild pomegranate blossoms”

or yaʿqīd ,

“a dish thickened with honey”

or fārid ,

“the whitest, best sugar”

or qand ,

“sugar-cane molasses”

or fānīd ,

“a kind of sweetmeat”

or ṣaqr ,

“molasses of fresh moist dates, or inspissated fruit juice”

or ikbir ,

“something like dry khabīṣ (‘dates mixed with clarified butter’) that is not extremely sweet and is brought by bees”

or fālūdh ,

[“blancmange”] “too well known to require definition; also called riʿdīd, muzaʿzaʿ, zalīl, kamṣ , and muzaʿfar ”

or mādhī ,

“white, or new, honey, or the purest and best honey”

or muyassar ,

“a sweet dish”

or lawzinj ,

[dish made with almonds ( lawz )] “too well known to require definition; an Arabized word”

2.14.77

or wakhīz ,

“moistened crumbled bread made with honey”

or lawāṣ ,

“blancmange with honey”