[87] _Kah-ruba_ means literally «attracting straws»; hence «amber,» the ἢλεκτρον of the Greeks. Here it is used in the descriptive sense to mean «yellow.» [88] _Wuzu_, the ceremonial Ablution enjoined upon Muhammadans to put them into a state of grace before prayer. [89] _Wakt-i-gul_ = the season of roses, a common synonym for Spring. [90] Literally «has become Dai,» the first winter-month; translated «December,» _sub_ quatrain No. 9. [91] _Lit._: «Or from the invisible world increase my daily provision.» [92] C. reads «this heart full of melancholy (or passion).» [93] It will be observed that this quatrain in the first edition came a good deal closer to the original than this. [94] _Maghanah_ means anything connected with the Maghs or Magians (_i.e._, the Guebres or Fire-worshippers), and came to be a synonym for age, superiority, excellence, in which sense it is used here. S. Rousseau has a very interesting note upon the history of this word at p. 176 of his «Flowers of Persian Literature» (London, 1801). [95] Meaning FitzGerald's Introduction. See Page 1. [96] Prof. Cowell says: «I am not sure, but I fancy this hard verse really is: ‹O thou who art burned (in sorrow) for one burnt (in hell)--thyself being doomed to be burnt.› If this is correct (which is most probable) the accuracy of FitzGerald's translation is remarkable.» [97] The phrase _gauhar suftan_ = «to thread pearls» is used in Persian to mean «to write verses» or «to tell a story.» Omar uses it here referring to the generally antinomian tendency of his ruba'iyat. [98] In this line Omar claims consideration on the ground that he has never questioned the Unity of God. _Tawhid kerdan_ = to acknowledge One God. Muhammadanism is essentially Unitarian. FitzGerald appears to have missed the meaning here, reversing the doctrine, unless he means «I never misread One _as_ Two.» [99] L. 1. _lit._ «rubbed its side with heaven.» This is the quatrain that R.B.M. Binning found written upon a stone in the ruins of Persepolis (A Journal of Two Years' Travel in Persia, Ceylon, etc., London, 1857, Vol. ii. p. 20). FitzGerald quotes it in a letter to Prof. Cowell, under date 13th January, 1859. (Letters and Literary Remains of Edward FitzGerald, London, 1889. Macmillan, 3 vols., and 1894, 2 vols.) The word _ku_ in Persian signifies «Where?» [100] The fifth edition is identical with the fourth. [101] See Defrémery, «_Recherches sur le règne de Barkiárok_,» p. 51. [102] Avicenna died in 428 A.H. End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Sufistic Quatrains of Omar Khayyam, by Omar Khayyam