Sayfa 911 / 1116

[FN#42] Arab. "Shaykh"=an old man (primarily), an elder, a chief

(of the tribe, guild, etc.), and honourably addressed to any man.

Comp. among the neo Latins "Sieur," "Signore," "Senor," "Senhor,"

etc. from Lat. "Senior," which gave our "Sire" and "Sir." Like

many in Arabic the word has a host of different meanings and most

of them will occur in the course of The Nights. Ibrahim (Abraham)

was the first Shaykh or man who became grey. Seeing his hairs

whiten he cried, "O Allah what is this?" and the answer came that

it was a sign of dignified gravity. Hereupon he exclaimed, "O

Lord increase this to me!" and so it happened till his locks

waxed snowy white at the age of one hundred and fifty. He was the

first who parted his hair, trimmed his mustachios, cleaned his

teeth with the Miswak (tooth-stick), pared his nails, shaved his

pecten, snuffed up water, used ablution after stool and wore a

shirt (Tabari).