Brains Confounded by the Ode of Abū Shādūf Expounded. Yūsuf al-Shirbīnī

في الرأسِ كُرْبَةٌ وغَلْيٌ وأكْلٌ في الثياب وفي الجسدْ

      ومصدره لحّس يلحّس تلحيسًا

      Some have added a fourth type of vermin and named it liḥḥīs (with i after the l and double ḥ), of the measure of baʿbīṣ or liqqīs, baʿbīṣ being taken from baʿbaṣah, which is “the insertion of a digit between the buttocks of another,” while liqqīs is from liqāsah (“licking”); one says, “The dog licked (laqisa) the dish,” meaning “it licked it clean (laḥisahu) with its tongue.”¹²² Thus there is a kind of resemblance to the liḥḥīs; or it may be that the word is formed according to the analogy of Fuṭays.¹²³ The words liḥāsah and najāsah are of the same pattern; one says, “So-and-so is laḥis,” that is, “one who has committed something resembling impurity (najāsah) or who talks a great deal to no effect.”¹²⁴ Thus liḥāsah and najāsah have the same underlying meaning. In The Blue Ocean and Piebald Canon it says, “There is no difference between liqāsah and liḥāsah, and undoubtedly najāsah enters into it too,” and this is the more correct formulation. One also says, “You are taʿīs laḥis,” that is, you resemble a dog licking a dish, or you lick shit with your tongue, or you talk raving nonsense (tatalaḥḥas bi-l-kalam) and cannot tell a thing from its name. Taʿīs has the same meaning, making all of them closely similar expressions, which is why the liḥḥīs are so harmful.¹²⁵ In The Blue Ocean and Piebald Canon it says:

      And I suffer torments from the harm the liḥḥīs do to my head,

      And a boiling and an itching in my clothes and in my body.

      The paradigm¹²⁶ is laḥḥasa, yulaḥḥisu, talḥīsan.

      ١٣،٢،١١

11.2.13

      (فإن قيل) إنّ هذا اللحيس الّذي زاده هذا البعض شيء تافه جدًا فكان وجوده كالعدم ولهذا تركه الناظم كغيره فما الجواب (قلنا) نعم وإن سلّمنا أنّه لا وجود له إلّا بعُسْر لدقته ففي الجملة له محض أذيّة وضرر فصار من أتباع القمل بل من أولاده كالصيبان والنمنم كما تقدّم * أو يكون هذا قياسًا على من زاد في الأقوال نوعًا رابعًا وسمّاه خالفة وعنى به اسم الفعل وهو صَهْ بمعنى اسكت فاتّضح الحال عن وجه هذا الهبال وقوله

      If it be said, “This liḥḥīs added by the people you refer is insignificant, almost to the point of nonexistence, and this is why the poet, like others, leaves it out, so why do you raise the issue at all?” we would reply, “True. However, even if we grant that it is so minute that it barely exists, nevertheless it becomes, in bulk, unmitigated harm and injury and on this basis is to be associated with lice, and indeed it should be counted among the latter’s offspring, just like the nits and the nimnim mentioned above. Alternatively, the issue is raised by analogy to those who add a fourth category to the parts of speech and name it ‘the residual,’ meaning by this the verbal substantive, namely, ṣah (‘Hush!’) in the sense of uskut (‘Be silent!’).”¹²⁷ Thus the situation now’s revealed, the silliness no more concealed.

      ١٤،٢،١١

11.2.14

      (في طوق جبتي) أي كائن أو مستقرّ في طوقها والطَوْق على وزن الجَوْق كما يقال جوق الطبّالة وجوق المغاني ونحو ذلك وهو اسم لما طُوِّقَ به العنق من ثوب أو غيره كالحديد والفضّة والذهب والنحاس ونحو ذلك قال الله تعالى {سَيُطَوَّقُونَ مَا بَخِلُوا بِهِ يَوْمَ ٱلْقِيَامَةِ} أي المال الّذي كنزوه في الدنيا ولم يؤدّوا زكاته ولم يصرفوه في وجوه الخير يُجْعَل في عنقهم كالطوق ويعذَّبون به في النار والطوق مشتقّ من الطاقة أو من الطواقي لتدويرهم أو من خان أبو طاقيّة بمصر ومصدره طوّق يطوّق تطويقًا ونساء الأرياف يجعلونه من فضّة ويسمّى عندهم ضامن أيضًا وهو أحسن الحُليّ عندهم وأمّا ما يوضع في أعناق الرجال في السجن فإنّه يسمّى ضامنة يقال فلان في الضامنة أي بمعنى أنّ هذه الآلة الحديد الّتي في عنقه ضامنة له لا يقدر أن ينفكّ عنها مثل الرجل الضامن للإنسان متى طُلِبَ منه أحضره وقوله

      fī ṭawqi jubbatī (“in the yoke of my jubbah”): that is, I speak of those lice and nits that are existing or well established in its yoke. Ṭawq (“yoke”) is of the pattern of jawq (“band of musicians”), as used in the expressions jawq al-ṭabbālah (“the band of drummers”) and jawq al-maghānī (“the singing band”) and so on. It is the name given to anything that encircles the neck, of a garment or of anything else, be it made of iron, silver, gold, brass, or the like.¹²⁸ The Almighty says, «That which they hoard will be their collar on the day of resurrection,»¹²⁹ meaning that the wealth that they store up in this world and on which they do not pay tithes and which they do not use for good works will be placed around their necks like a collar, and they will be tormented by it in the Fire. The word ṭawq is derived from ṭāqah (“aperture”) or from ṭawāqī (“skullcaps”), because of its roundness, or from the Khān of Abū Ṭaqiyyah in Cairo. The paradigm¹³⁰ is ṭawwaqa, yuṭawwiqu, taṭwīqan. The women of the countryside make their neck rings of silver, calling them also ḍāmin, and they regard them as the best of ornaments. The type of collar that is placed on the necks of men in prison is called a ḍāminah; one says, “So-and-so is in the ḍāminah,” meaning that this iron device that is on his neck is a guarantee (ḍāminah) for him that he will not be able to get away, just like the man who acts as a guarantor (ḍāmin) for another and produces him when he is summonsed.

      ١٥،٢،١١

11.2.15

      (جبتي) على وزن شخّتي ولحيتي هذا إذا نسبتها لنفسك وأمّا إذا كانت لغيرك فتقول جبّتك على وزن شخّتك ولحيتك