'A Dictionary, Persian, Arabic, and English; with a Dissertation on the Languages, Literature, and Manners of Eastern Nations' [‎42r] (88/1826)

PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
Ixvii
milted, as^> go, (speak thou), raze, (go thou), fuzudan,
(to increase), &c. they being always written yj ba ba raw,
and afzudan. The softness of this language, in the opinion
of the Asiatics, may be learnt from a popular saying, reported
by Ibn Fakhru’d’dln Anju, author of the above Dictionary,
“ That the Dari and the Arabic idioms were the languages of
“ heaven ; God communicating to the angels his milder man-
“ dates in the delicate accents of the first, whilst his stern com-
“ mands were delivered in the rapid utterance of the other.”
Bahaman, or Ardeshlr Dirazdast, is generally supposed to be
Artaxerxes Macrocheir, or Longimanus. Ardeshlr Dirazdast
implies, the strong lion with the long hands; an epithet sup
posed to have been given him on account of the greatness of his
power and the extent of his empire. Bahram was contemporary
with Theodosius II. emperor of Greece, and is known in Europe
by the name of Varanes or Vararanes.
P.vi. 10 ArdeshTr Babegan having entertained some doubts
relative to the national religion, ordered the chief priests of the
Magi to attend, in order to have them explained ; when the king,
on proposing his doubts, delivered himself as follows:
J'ty. ^
Namuyand an baman td shuk zigayhdn
Kunam dur wa hddtram dini yazddn
IIaim kh'dham ki z'dn burhdn namdyand
Ilakikat bar hamah gayhdn namdyand.
Let them shew it to me, that doubt from the world
I may drive far off, and embrace the religion of God.
I wish that by this decision they would shew
The truth ; to all the world shew it.
N.B. hddiram in the second line is either an old word,
now obsolete, or an error ; if the last, it may be corrected by
substituting pazirxim or giram, or some such synoni-
mous word. See Hyde’s Religio Veterum Persarum, p. 18. It
may be proper to observe, that in the old Persian mode of
writing, every vowel, whether short or long, has a distinct cha
racter.
All the other passages scattered through the Religio, as Old
Persian, are, like the above, simply the modern language in
ancient characters.
P. vii. 11 It is astonishing to consider the number of mistakes
into which, in the various lines of literature, the best of our Euro
pean authors are led, by their inattention to the languages and
writings of the East. Mariana, the chief historian of Spain,
when introducing the Arabian conquest of that country, with an
account of the Muhammadan religion, says, “Fundador de
“ aquella malvada supersticion fue Mahoma Arabe de nacion :
“ el qual por la mucha prosperidad que tuvo en las guerras, y
“ por descuydo del emperador Ileraclio, se llamb y corond rey
“ de su nacion, en Damasco, nobilissima ciudad de la Syria, &c.”
Vid. Tomo primero, p. 311. “ The founder of this accursed su-
“ perstition was Muhammad, an Arabian by birth ; who, in con-
“ sequence of his great success in war, and the negligence of
“ the Emperor Heraclius, declared himself king of his nation,
“ and was crowned in Damascus, the most noble city of Syria.”
In an event of some importance to the history of Spain, a Spanish
historian should have been better informed : but Muhammad
never assumed the dignity of king, and never was at Damascus,
nor out of Arabia from the period of his appearance in his pro
phetic character, excepting in the ninth year of the Hijra (A.D.
630), when he advanced no farther than Tabuk, half way be
tween Madina and Damascus, and returned after a residence of
only three weeks. Dr. Hyde erroneously places the Persian con
quest under the reign of Othman, A.D. 646. See Religio Vet.
Pers. p. 23. See also Dictionary JLs sal.
P. vii. The ParsTs of Surat, in their Raavats, or collections
of traditions, have doomed Alexander to the infernal regions ;
not for ravaging the country of their ancestors, but for having
committed to the flames the Nusks or sections of the Zand avastd.
Arrian de Exped. lib. iii. and vii. Pliny, lib. xxviii. cap. 2 .
For the form of invocation, see Macrobius, in the Secret Things
of Sammonicus Serenus.
P. vii. See Kur’an, chap. ix. The number of manuscripts
supposed to have been burnt exceeded 500,000. They were
distributed as fuel to the keepers of 4,000 public baths. Some,
however, are supposed to have been privately saved.
P. viii. 14 See Hyde’s Religio Vet. Pers. p. 458. Porta xiv.
ra Sadder. Anquetil du Perron, Vol. I. P. 2 , p. 401. Vol, II.
117, 118.
The pretended Latin original of Milton’s Paradise Lost, and
the History of Formosa by the Jew PSalmanazar, amongst other
literary forgeries, are well known. Psalmanazar invented even
a language, sufficiently original, copious, and regular, to impose
upon men of very extensive learning.
P. viii. 15 See Dictionary Baghdad.
P. viii. 16 The Caliph A1 Taw! revived in favour of ylzat/M’r/’
dawla the title of sllJ-klA Shdhinshdh, which was borne by the
ancient kings of Persia. See Erpenius’s edition of Tdrikhu'l
muslimin, or Historia Saracenica, p. 237., See also Dictionary,
under j~*\ amir.
P. ix. 17 See Dictionary <uli Shdh-ndmah. Father
Angelo, author of the Gazophylacium Linguce Persarum, who
went a missionary to the East in 1663, says (p. 199), that the lan
guage of the Shdh-ndmah is considered, in Persia, as the idiom
of their ancient kings and heroes; and that it is still spoken in the
province of Shlrvan, near the Caspian Sea, by a people who liv#
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