GLOSSARYkura (Gr.): "rural," loanword in Arabic (pI. kuwar) from chOra (Gr.),
used for an administrative district.
kurst (Syr.?): judgment seat or throne, possibly a loanword in Arabic
from khorsiya (Syr.).
mal;alla (Ar.): neighborhood or district.
mahdt (Ar.): "guided" by God.
majlis (Ar.): an assembly or council for the discussion of matters of
interest or concern; by extension, the building where such an
assembly is held; an audience hall, a ruler's audience; a tribal
council.
mal (Ar.): "wealth."
mamluk (Ar.): "owned," a slave soldier.
maq$ura (Ar.): a protective chamber in the masjid for the Islamic ruler
or governor during public worship.
marzpan (M.P.), marzban (N.P.): the military governor of a late Sa-
sanian frontier district, a loanword in Syriac as marzbana and in
Arabic as marzuban.
masalil; (Ar. pl.): garrisoned frontier posts.
masjid (Ar., pI. masajid): an Islamic place of worship.
, mawla (Ar., pI. mawati): a client or protege, usually the former slave
of his patron. '
ma?alim (Ar. pl.): "injustices," especially the appellate court for the
redress of grievances.
medata (Syr.): land tax.
mihrab (Ar.): the niche in the qibla wall of a masjid.
Mihrajan (N.P.): the Magian fall festival at the autumnal equinox.
minbar (Ar.): the pulpit in a masjid from which the khutba is delivered.
minnim (Heb. pI.): Jewish sectarians or apostates from the Rabbinic
point of view.
mi$aha (Ar.): "measured," land tax levied per unit of area based on
a rate schedule that took the type of crop, amount of irrigation,
and productivity into account.
mi$r (Ar., pI. am$ar): a garrison city and administrative capital.
mithqal (Ar.): a unit of weight equal to 4.25 grams and supposed to
be 10/7 of the weight of a dirham.
mobadh (N.P.): a Magian priest. This is the form that occurs in Arabic
from mobad (N.P.), which comes from movpat or magopat (M.P.).
The latter occurs in Syriac as mohpata. Magokhwatai (M.P.) is
used on Sasanian seals.