C68 Ibn QotaybaK s Adab al KdtW on Arabic Astronomy . [Dec. 



throat of the going. The first three days after the moon has become 

 visible she is called hilal, and the remaining days of the month the 

 moon is called qamar. The thirteenth night of the month is called 

 the night of equation, the fourteenth night is called the night of 

 haste (full moon), for she hurries to overtake the sun before he sets 

 and seems to drive him away. Some say that the word badr is to be 

 taken in the meaning of * completion or fulness' for the moon is then 

 full, you use the word in this sense in calling a purse of 10,000 

 dirhams badrah, and in calling a full large eye badrah. Every three 

 nights of the month had, with the Bedouins, a separate name. The 

 first three were called ghorar, plur. ghorah, which means the first of 

 any thing. The next three nights (4th, 5th, 6th) are called superero- 

 gations, the next three are called ninth, for the last of this three nights 

 is the ninth of the lunar month ; the next three are called tenth, from 

 the first night of the set; and the next three (14th, 15th, and 16th) 

 are called white on account of the silvery light of the moon, during 

 these three nights, and the next three nights (17th, 18th, and 19th) 

 dora' the regular form would be dor,' for the first half is dark and the 

 other half is moonlight ; you call a sheep dar'a if the head and neck is 

 black and the rest of the body white. The next three nights (20th, 

 21st, 22d) are called dark, the next three (23d, 24th, 25th) are called 

 black, dadiy, because they are a remmant, and the last three nights 

 are called destruction, for the moon perishes. 



The sun and moon have two orients and two Occidents. It is there- 

 fore said in the Koran " Grod is the Lord of the two easts, and of the 

 two wests." One is the place where the sun rises and sets in summer, 

 and the other where it rises and sets in winter. The exact place of the 

 east of winter is the point of the horizon where the sun rises in the 

 shortest day of the year, and the east of summer is the point of the 

 horizon where the sun rises in the longest day of the year. The other 

 risings and settings of the sun are between these two extremes ; the 

 words (orients and Occidents) are used in the plural in the Koran. 



A star is called najm because it rises. You say of a tooth najama, 

 i. e. it comes forth. You also say a star najama, i. e. it rises ; a star 

 is also called £ariq, for it lights at night. You say of a man who comes 

 to hue at night taraqa, in this sense, says the poetess, Hind b. (bint?) 

 'otbah : We are the daughters of a £ariq, we walk on carpets. She 



