Zorag

From Simon Online
Jump to: navigation, search

Zorag arabice alauda avis liber de doctrina arabica.


Apparatus:

Zorag ABC f | Zoragh ms. e

alauda ef | alanda B {'u' misread as 'n'} | lauda AC


Translation:

Zorag is Arabic, which corresponds in Latin to the bird named alauda {"lark"} according to the liber de doctrina arabica.


Commentary:

Simon's often quoted source, the liber de doctrina arabica, has so far not been identified, but cf. what must be a similar glossary/dictionary- Vocabulista - ed. Schiaparelli (1871: 111): ﺯﺭﺍﻋﺔ {/zurrāʕa/} Alauda [[1]].

Corriente (1989: 136): *ZRc …> zurrācah< alondra {i.e. "lark"}, cf. √zrʕ "to sow, cultivate, grow". He lists i.a. also a derivative noun meaning trigo {i.e. "wheat"}.

Dozy (1877-81: I.586): ﺯﺭﺍﻋﺔ /zurrāʕa/, pl. ﺯﺭﺍﻉ /zurrāʕ/ alouette {i.e. "lark"} naming Vocabulista and Pedro de Alcalá as his source; The latter defines it as triguera ave {lit. "wheat bird"}, which Dozy translates "certain petit oiseau, qui se tient dans les blés" {i.a. "a certain small bird, that haunts the wheatfields"} and he points out that Arabic ﺯﺭﻉ {/zrʕ/} and Spanish trigo are both derived from bases meaning 'blé' {i.e. "wheat, corn"}.

Obviously the Arabic sound spelt with ﻉ, ﻋﻴﻦ /ʕain/, here transliterated with /ʕ/ is difficult to represent in the Latin alphabet. In the word-final combination /-āʕ/ this sound is often ignored, e.g. Dulla, cf. Siggel: ﺩﻼﻉ /dullāʕ/ ind. Melone {i.e. "Indian melon"}. Perhaps witness e comes closer by transcribing it with "gh".

Simon's form Zorag is what Dozy calls the plural form ﺯﺭﺍﻉ /zurrāʕ/, whereas Vocabulista lists the ﺍﺳﻢﺍﻟﻮﺤﺪﺓ /ismu l-waḥda/, i.e. nomen unitatis form: ﺯﺭﺍﻋﺔ /zurrāʕa/ i.e. "one lark"

This in another lemma that clearly belongs to the Iberian variety of Arabic like e.g. Benniegi, Berigil, Bertal, Kakenus, Nakre and burache {s.v. Teilule}.

WilfGunther 11:14, 12 August 2014 (BST)

See also: Galerica

Next entry