GLOSSARYmi5g-mart (M.P.): a Magian, written with the Aramaic logogram GBRA.
The Arabic form, majus, is derived from Syriac mgi5shii, derived
in turn from Old Persian magush.
mu'adhdhin (Ar.): the person who gives the public Islamic call to
worship.
mu'allim (Ar.): teacher.
muqiisama (Ar.): "divided," land tax taken as a portion of the yield
of crops.
muqiitila (Ar. pl.): "killers," soldiers.
murtadd (Ar.): an apostate.
mu~~af (Ar., pi. ma~ii~if): a copy of a text, especially a copy of the
Qur'an.
nii~iya (Ar.): "neighborhood," sometimes used for an administrative
subdistrict equivalent to a tassuj or a rustiiq.
naq'fb (Ar.): a person responsible to the government for the group of
which he is a member, an official in charge of a military division
at Basra and Kufa in the time of Ziyad. See 'arif.
naqqus (Syr.): the wooden gong used by Christians in Iraq, a loanword
in Arabic from napi5shii (Syr.).
niisik (Ar., pi. nussiik): an ascetic, or person of great piety.
Nawruz (N.P.): the Magian spring festival at the vernal equinox, sup-
posed to be on the first of Farvardin. But in the late Sasanian
period the first of Farvardin fell in July, when it marked the
beginning of the secular year, so the religious Nawriiz was cele-
brated on the first of Adur to coincide with the equinox.
piidhghi5spiin (M.P.): the deputy or lieutenant of a ~piihbadh in late
Sasanian administration, a loanword in Arabic from piitki5spiin
(M.P.). See khal'ffa.
prosi5pon (Gr.): being or personage, a loanword in Syriac as parsi5pii.
qadar (Ar.): God's "power" to determine events, divine destiny.
qiiq,'f (Ar., pl. quq,iit): the Islamic religious judge.
qafiz (Ar.): a unit of volume (4.2 liters) equal to a sii'.
qalansuwwa (A.?): a tall, conical hat. This term is probably a loanword
in Arabic, but its linguistic origin is uncertain. None of the der-
ivations which have been offered from Latin, Persian, or Greek
through Aramaic are very convincing.
qam'fs (L.?): tunic, possibly a loanword in Arabic from camisa (1.).
qiirt' (Ar., pi. qurrii'): a "reciter" of the Qur'an.
qa~r (L.?): a fortified residence or citadel, possibly a loan word in
Arabic from castra (L.), used to translate dastkart (M.P.).