The Word “Farz,” For Instance, Means, Radically “Cutting,”
Secondarily “Ordering,” Or “Paying A Debt,” After Which Come Numerous Meanings
Foreign To The Primal Sense, Such As A Shield, Part Of A Tinder-Box, An
Unfeathered Arrow, And A Particular Kind Of Date.
In theology it is
limited to a single signification, namely, a divine command revealed in
the Koran.
Under these circumstances the Arabic becomes, in grammar,
logic, rhetoric, and mathematics, as perfect and precise as Greek. I
have heard Europeans complain that it is unfit for mercantile
transactions.—Perhaps!
[FN#38] As a general rule there is a rhyme at the end of every second
line, and the unison is a mere fringe—a long a, for instance, throughout
the poem sufficing for the delicate ear of the Arab. In this they were
imitated by the old Spaniards, who, neglecting the consonants, merely
required the terminating vowels to be alike. We speak of the “sort of
harmonious simple flow which atones for the imperfect nature of the
rhyme.” But the fine organs of some races would be hurt by that ponderous
unison which a people of blunter senses find necessary to produce an
impression. The reader will feel this after perusing in “Percy’s Reliques”
Rio Verde! Rio Verde! and its translation.
[FN#39] In our knightly ages the mare was ridden only by jugglers and
charlatans. Did this custom arise from the hatred of, and contempt for,
the habits of the Arabs, imported into Europe by the Crusaders?
Certainly the popular Eastern idea of a Frank was formed in those days,
and survives to these.
[FN#40] Baron Von Hammer-Purgstall, in the “Falkner-Klee,” calls this bird
the “Saker-falke.” Hence the French and English names sacre and saker.
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