Chapter 12 - The Library of Iberian Resources Online

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(storehouse, deposit). (27) 5) almatzem, "divisor" (Gandia), Arabic al-miqsam. Not a common term in Spain but of wide diffusion in Islam, as far east as Persia. (28) 6) azumbre, a water measure (Novelda, Elche), Arabic al-thumn, "one-eighth." (29) 7) dula, "turn" (Gandia, Elche); also a water measure synonymous with hila (Alicante), Arabic daula. Another term found both in the Yemen and the Sahara. (30) 8) jarique, noun, or verb jaricar, "to unite various hilas of water" bought at auction in order to irrigate with a greater body of water and to transport it over a long distance with minimal loss (Lorca); Arabic sharîk, "a partner." An important reminiscence of communal irrigation practices among Muslim irrigators. (31) 9) jarro, a water measure (Lorca, Jumilla), Arabic jarra, "jug." In Lorca and Jumilla the jarro is equal to one-half hour of water. It takes its name from the clepsydra (water clock), a vessel with a hole in the bottom which was the standard time measure for irrigation in the North African oases and in southern Spain. The word is frequently found in thirteenth-century Romance texts, indicating its adoption after the conquest of Lorca and the Murcian region. (32) 10) martava, "turn" (Alicante, Novelda), Arabic martaba. (33) 11) merancho, "drainage ditch" (Murcia), Arabic marj. (34) The connection between drainage and marjals is clear. Drainage of marshland was an operation described largely in arabisms. 12) rafa, "canal check" (Murcia), Arabic raf', "raising up." (35) An interesting example of an arabism that describes a function different from that expressed by its common [223] Romance synonym, parada. The canal check (often simply a board placed across a canal) serves both to stop the flow (the meaning of parada, from panarse, to stop) in order to divert water and to raise the level (the meaning of rafa). 13) sistar, "divisor" (Vall de Segó). Corominas has suggested a derivation from the Latin sistere (to stop); (36) but this must be questioned because irrigation terms are usually precise as to function, and a sistar divides water (its more usual synonym is partidor) rather than stopping it. Since the Vall de Segó had a substantial Muslim population, it seems proper to seek a derivation from the Arabic root sh-t-r, "to divide into two equal parts." 14) tahulla, a measure of land (Murcia) but also a measure of water equivalent to one hour (Lorca), Arabic tahwila, "field." (37) The foregoing data permit several generalizations concerning the frequency and function of arabisms in the technical vocabulary of medieval irrigation: 1) The Arabic word and the arabism usually have the same meaning. (38) Agricultural terms especially are conservative by nature and tend to retain the original meaning so long as the use of the object is the same. 2) Romance synonyms are likely to be literal translations of the original Arabic meaning: thus resclosa is the equivalent of açut, from sadda, "to close"; partidor is the synonym of almatzem, from qasama, "to divide." 3) When all the synonyms describing a single phenomenon are arabisms, there is a strong presumption that the concept or technique was unknown or undeveloped outside of the Islamic orbit or, at any rate, was very intimately associated with the Islamic style of irrigating: for example, the words for turn (dula, ador, martava), for return ditch (almenara, azarbe, merancho), for cistern (safareig, aljup), and for water wheel (sinia, noria).
Arabism Meaning Major variants açut diversion dam albellon sewer, drain alcaduf bucket of a noria Table 22 Regional irrigation arabisms Medieval synonyms Medieval Toponyms Romance Arabism Arabic Meaning Root Castilian çut, azut azud, açuda Burjassot (Valencia) - albollon El Albellon (Elche) - alcaduz, arcaduz Calduf (Gandia) aljup cistern aljub algibe Aljupet (Elche), Port d'Aljup (Murcia) almenara return ditch çabacequie s an official, literally "master of the canals" cequia irrigation canal reclosa, presa - as-sudd dam to close vall - al-bâlû'a sewer, drain - fortera jarro al-qâds waterbucket , scoop - - safareig al-jubb cistern - - - - - - almanâhir çabacequia , çabacequie r marjal swamp almarjal, almargal noria hydraulic wheel sobrecequier o - acequia Guadassequies (river) - sobrecequie r ayguaduyt, fila - sâhib alsâqiya arroba sâqiya irrigation canal canals to flow, gush master of - the canal - - - - marj meadow - - annora La Nora (Murcia) safareig cistern - xafariz, zafariche sinia hydraulic wheel Zarahiche (Murcia) cenia aceña Cenia (river), Aceña, Aceñas (many), Azana (Toledo), etc. to irrigate - cenia nâ'ûra hydraulic wheel to grunt - aljup sahrîj cistern - - noria sâniya Persian wheel tanda turn - tanda - - ador, *tanzîm order to put dula, martava in order tarquim silt - tarquin Tarquin (Murcia) Table 23 Localized irrigation arabisms Arabism Meaning Place Common synonym açarb, azarbe drainage canal Murcia landrona, merancho fanch - *tarkîm piling up to pile up Arabic Meaning az-zarb canal, drain ador turn Gandia tanda, dula ad-daur rotation, turn albala water ticket Alicante - al-barâ'a license -
Page 1 and 2: THE LIBRARY OF IBERIAN RESOURCES ON
Page 3: 2) albellon, "sewer, drain," Arabic
Page 7 and 8: Outaïa a dâr is, similarly, twelv
Page 9 and 10: een standard in Mediterranean irrig
Page 11 and 12: "Irrigazione nel Yemen," pp. 352, 3
Page 13: 1959), pp. 18--19. 57. "Molinería

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