374 On the Arabic Names of the Stars. 



Ad Navem. 

 « Sohell, a diminutive from Sahala, tenuis, facilis, ac planus 

 fuit ; Canopus ; in Ptolemy Kavw£oj. 



Ad Hydrum. 

 a- Mitichir Al Shugja, Nares Hydri. 

 a Unuk Al Shugjd, Collum Hydrae. 



Ad Corvum. 

 a MinJcdr Al Gordb, Rostrum Corvi. 

 y Gjendh Al Gordb Al Aiman, Ala dextra Gorvi. 



Ad Centaurum. 

 Rigjl Kentaurus, Pes Centauri. 



In some cases the name given on our globes to a single 

 star is the Arabic name of the whole Constellation, as a An- 

 dromedae, Alpherat, a corruption of Al Pharas, the Horse, 

 the name for the constellation Pegasus; a Ursas Majoris, 

 Dubbe, from Al Dub, the Bear. In other instances the names 

 are so much corrupted that it is difficult to trace their origin : 

 as a. Orionis, of which the Arabic name is Jed Al Gjauzd Al- 

 Jumna, the Right Hand of Orion, and which is called on our 

 globes Betelgeur, in the Alphonsine Tables Beldelgenze. 



Of some of the names on the globes we are unable to trace 

 the origin, as Mesartim, Albireo; and the meaning of some of 

 the interpretations given by Hyde, is not very clear. 



" The Arabic names of the stars are to be differently con- 

 sidered according as they are more or less ancient. The less 

 ancient are the names of signs, and parts of the same, such as 

 the limbs of the animals and the like, which have been trans- 

 planted into the Arabic from the Greek. But the more an- 

 cient are the names of some conspicuous stars occurring 

 here and there in many of the constellations, which have not 

 been received from the Greeks, but were devised and given 

 originally and in remote antiquity by the Arabs themselves. 

 Of this kind also are the names of the lesser constellations 

 which are found in the greater ones, as Awwd in the Virgin, 

 Benat Al Na'sh in the Great Bear, Al Himarein in Cancer, 

 and many others, which were altogether unknown to the 

 Greeks." Hyde, Comment, p. 5. Some of the names appear 

 to have reference to Astrology, as Sa'd Al Homdm, Fortuna 

 Herois, &c. 



The Arabic names of the constellations in Ulugh Beigh's 

 Catalogue are translations of the Greek names in Ptolemy: in 

 one instance, however, they appear to have fallen into error 

 by supposing Bootes to be cwro tou £o«j>, a clamando, wherein 

 they call this constellation Auwd } Vociferator. 



LVI. No* 



