The second month
of the Arabian Calendar is
Safar,
from the Arabic term sifr (meaning
void or empty). It was named Safar
because,
in the
Old Arabian calendar (a"Luni-stellar" type), it fell at a
time when the granaries were empty, and many of the residents of Makkah
were forced to leave the town and travel far to seek out provisions. This
was a very dreary and difficult time for the people and often they resorted
to engaging in predatory "raids" in order to find food for themselves
and their animals.
In the previous Ancient
Arabian calendar the month of Safar
also coincided with the end of the summer season and the approach of the
autumnal
season
Muwsim al- Khariyf
.
From the rising of "Suhayl"
or
Canopus in Central Arabia to the rising of al-Sammak
(the
fourteenth Mansion of the Moon).
This was a time when
the grass, upon which the cattle grazed, dried out and turned yellow. This
"yellow"
grass
called "sufarah"
caused
the cattle's lips, arm pits and fur to also turn yellow. In
the Arabic culture, the color yellow (Asfar/safar)
is often associated with emptiness, hunger and misery, it also refers to
a cowardly behavior! (exactly like the English slang: Yellow)
The Arabic term "Sfr"
and some of its derivatives were introduced in Western European languages
with the advent of the Arabs in Europe from the beginning of the
8thc. A.D. The following are some of the borrowed terms:
Cipher
also Cypher: The mathematical symbol 0 denoting absence
of quantity; Zero. The Arabic system of numerals or figures; a number
in French, "Chiffre".
A cryptographic system, hence a message written or transmitted in such
a system. English cifer from
Old
French from Medieval Latin cifra
from
Arabic
"Sifr".
Ironically,
in turn, the
Modern Arabic"Shufrah"
or
cryptic code is from the French,
which
was originally from the Old Classical Arabic sifr!
Safflower:
A thistle-like plant known in Arabic as "Sufar"(Carthamus
Tinctorius) of the composite family, having heads of orange flowers
that yield a dyestuff and produce seeds containing an oil used in cooking,
cosmetics, paints, and medicine.
Sulfur
also
sulphur
[symbol five] from
Old
French "soufre" from ArabicSifr/Sufr
"brass" and also "Asfar
Kabriyt" a pale yellow non-metallic element occurring
widely in nature in several free and combined allotropic forms.
Ishinan
Next episode :
The month of Rabiy` al-‘Awwal
