54 Contributions to Persian Lexicography. [No. 1, 



referring to Astronomy. Thus u**^l £ft», the same as ut*#yfi 

 tarikli i munajjimdn, the era of the astrologers. 



«*| arshatl, superlative of t^j, often used by Indian waters as an 



epithet for a son. 



.80,1 artak. The form d& urtak also oecurs in MSS. A quilted 

 horse-cloth. The word which is often used by Indian . writers, is 

 explained in the AA„ p, 142, 1. 19, as a *-f«* ****, a piece of 

 chintz stuffed with cotton. 



^ ^Jj\ artak i kajim, or according to the Chagatai form, 

 J^sQji artak-i-Jcejam, the quilt upon which the coat of mail of the 

 elephant is placed. AA., p. 124, 1. 3. 



^t asp The form —I ash is the Iranian form. It occurs in 

 the Bostfin in rhyme with ^S kash, whilst no Persian poet 

 would rhyme hash with asp. The'Imnian Sururi quotes also several 

 verses, where it is rhymed with *-*%», which itself stands m the 

 (cjti cfL> £* «-ft J l cUi, not ^«;^. 



The'ludian Madar gives distinctly ^^U U. Mirza Ibrahim m his 

 grammar has everywhere asb. 



Jl-| astar, a mule, Hind, y^, which word is also used by Indian 

 writers Fir'aun was the first that bred mules. The belief in the 

 East is that the mnle is not sterile, but dies in foaling. Hence a 

 mule is compared to a man who is liberal beyond his means. Khusrau 

 (metre Muszari') 



iAf *<«<• ^ bO» WH >•' *"* «*" ***** **-»* ** ** 



«« If the liberality of a liberal man is unnatural, it is his death, just 

 as the female mule dies when she brings forth a foal."* Observe also 

 that the metre requires the omission of the Tashdid in the word Jcurah. 

 In accordance with this idea, farmers are said to place a *^ over 

 the vulva of the mule, in order to prevent gestation, a practice to 

 which Khaqani several times alludes. Thus in the Tuhfat ul 'Iraqain, 

 in speaking of the sun, through whose agency all metals and precious 

 stones are called into existence, he says (metre Hazaj) 



" Through thee (0 sun), the vulva of the mule is closed with a lock 

 * This corrects the reading in Vullers' Dictionary, II. p. 826. 



