23. The Word " Scarlet/' 

 By General A. Hontum-Schindler, of Teheran 



[In connection with a snort note by Dr. Denison Ross which 



Hon 



tum-Schindler, the well-known authority on all that concerns 

 the Persian people and their language, has been good enough 

 to send us the following interesting paper for publication.] 



It seems to be generally accepted that the word scarlet is 

 derived from the Persian or Arabic, and dictionaries give many 

 forms of the etymon, but it is not certain that all the forms 

 given have the same etymology, neither that they mean the 

 same thing. Of all the forms given I consider sakirlat, or 

 better sagjtirlat, to be the original and fundamental one. The 

 various forms of the word and their meanings, as I find them 

 in the dictionaries which I possess, are as follows : 



Ferhang-i-Bashidi. 



Sakirlat 



(jamahisuf) 



in Europe. It is not known whether the word 

 is Persian or of another language, and some 

 say that the Persian has gjkain instead of 



kaf. 



Siklat — According to the Kamus a woollen cloth used for 



covering howdahs of women. 



Sikiatun — a town in Rum where siklat and other stuffs 



are woven, and as most pieces are woven 

 in black and blue (kebud), anything black and 

 blue was named after that town. Mulla 

 Sururi Kashl is of opinion that sikiatun was 

 originally siklat r gun meaning blue, because 

 in former times the colour of siklat was 



always blue. 



Ferhang-i-Sururi. 



Sakirlat, sakirtat, sakilat—My copy omits the mean- 



ings 



FerJiang-i-Jehangiri. 



My copy does not have the word at all. 



