بسباس

Arabic

Alternative forms

• بَسْبَاسَة (basbāsa), بِسْبَاسَة (bisbāsa)

Etymology

From the Middle Persian predecessor of Persian بزباز (bazbâz), بزبازه (bazbâze), پسپاسه (paspâse, “mace, the cover of nutmeg”), with such semantic variation because in either case it is some minute herb spice thrown into manifold dishes.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bas.baːs/, /bis.baːs/

Noun

بَسْبَاس or بِسْبَاس • (basbās or bisbās) m

1. some Apiaceae family plants
   1. Echinophoreae tribe plants
      1. Anisosciadium spp., particularly Anisosciadium lanatum (so in the Najd)
      2. Pycnocycla spp.
   2. (Northwest Africa, Al-Andalus) fennel, Foeniculum spp.

      Synonyms: رَازِيَانَج (rāziyānaj), شَمَر (šamar)

2. nutmeg, Myristica spp. (the plant and the seed and sometimes in particular the aril employed as spice) (see how English nutmeg by default means the seed, this Arabic mace)
   • 850–861, علي بن سهل ربن الطبري [ʿAlī ibn Sahl Rabban aṭ-Ṭabarī], edited by Oliver Kahl, ʿAlī ibn Sahl Rabban aṭ-Ṭabarī’s Health Regimen or “Book of the Pearl” كتاب اللؤلؤة (Islamic Philosophy, Theology and Science. Texts and Studies; 115), Leiden: Brill, published 2020, →ISBN, § 260, page 158:

     صِفَةُ حَبِّ ٱلْمِسْكِ ٱلْهِنْدِيِّ وَهُوَ دَوَاءٌ تَسْتَعْمِلُهُ ٱلْمُلُوكُ مُجَرَّبٌ جَيِّدٌ نَافِعٌ، يُؤْخَذُ مِنَ ٱلْأَرْمَالِ وَمِنَ ٱلْحِبْرِ مِنْ كُلِّ وَاحِدٍ رِطْلٌ يُرَضَّانِ وَيُغْسَلَانِ وَيُصَيَّرَانِ فِي قِدْرٍ نَظِيفَةٍ وَيُصَبُّ عَلَيْهِمَا مِنَ ٱلْمَاءِ ٱلْعَذْبِ أَرْبَعِينَ رِطْلًا وَيُطْبَخَانِ بِنَارٍ لَيِّنَةٍ حَتَّى يَبْقَى مِنَ ٱلْمَاءِ قَدْرُ خَمْسَةِ أَرْطَالٍ ثُمَّ يُنَزَّلُ عَنِ ٱلنَّارِ وَيُصَفَّى ثُمَّ يُرَدُّ إِلَى قَدْرٍ نَظِيفَةٍ مُطَيَّنَةٍ بِطِينٍ حُرٍّ وَشَعْرٍ مِنْ خَارِجِهَا أَوْ مَا يَقُومُ مَقَامَ ٱلشَّعْرِ وَيُوقَدُ تَحْتَهَا نَارٌ لَيِّنَةٌ وَيُحَرَّكُ لِئَلَّا يَحْتَرِقَ حَتَّى يَصِيرَ‭‬ بِمَنْزِلَةِ ٱلْعَسَلِ ٱلْخَاثِرِ ثُمَّ يُنَزَّلُ عَنِ ٱلنَّارِ وَيُجَفَّفُ فِي ٱلظِّلِ بِمَنْزِلَةِ ٱلصَّبِرِ ٱلْمَغْسُولِ فَإِذَا أَرَدْتَ أَنْ تَتَّخِذَ مِنْهُ ٱلْحَبَّ أَخَذْتَ مِنْهُ عِشْرِينَ مِثْقَالًا فَتَدُقُّهُ وَتُنَخِّلُهُ بِحَرِيرَةٍ وَتَأْخُذُ مِنَ ٱلْقَاقُلَّةِ ٱلصَّغِيرَةِ وَهِيَ‭‬ ٱلْهَالُ وَمِنَ ٱلْقُرُنْفُلِ وَٱلْجَوْزِبَوَّا وَٱلْبَسْبَاسَةِ وَٱلْعُودِ ٱلصَّرْفِ ٱلْهِنْدِيِّ وَٱلسَّاذَجِ ٱلْهِنْدِيِّ وَٱلْقَيْطَفُورِ وَهُوَ دَوَاءٌ هِنْدِيٌّ يُشْبِهُ ٱلتِّرْمِسَ وَمِنَ ٱلصَّنْدَلِ ٱلْأَصْفَرِ وَٱلْهَرْنُوَةِ وَٱلْكُبَابَةِ مِنْ كُلِّ وَاحِدٍ مِثْقَالٌ وَمِنَ ٱلْمِسْكِ خَمْسَةُ مَثَاقِيلَ وَمِنَ ٱلْكَافُورِ عَشَرُ مَثَاقِيلَ يُدَقُّ كُلُّ وَاحِدٍ عَلَى حِدَتِهِ ثُمَّ يُخْلَطُ وَيُؤْخَذُ مِنَ ٱلْأَرْمَالِ خَمْسُ مَثَاقِيلَ فَيُرَضُّ وَيُغَلَّى بِنِصْفِ رِطْلِ مَاءٍ عَذْبٍ حَتَّى يَبْقَى مِنَ ٱلْمَاءِ أُوقِيَّتَانِ وَيُعْجَنُ بِهِ ٱلْأَدْوِيَةُ وَيُحَبَّبُ أَمْثَالَ ٱلْحِمِّصِ وَيُسْتَعْمَلُ إِنْ شَاءَ ٱللهُ تَعَالَى.

     ṣifatu ḥabbi l-miski l-hindiyyi wahuwa dawāʔun tastaʕmiluhu l-mulūku mujarrabun jayyidun nāfiʕun, yuʔḵaḏu mina l-ʔarmāli wamina l-ḥibri min kulli wāḥidin riṭlun yuraḍḍāni wayuḡsalāni wayuṣayyarāni fī qidrin naẓīfatin wayuṣabbu ʕalayhimā mina l-māʔi l-ʕaḏbi ʔarbaʕīna riṭlan wayuṭbaḵāni binārin layyinatin ḥattā yabqā mina l-māʔi qadru ḵamsati ʔarṭālin ṯumma yunazzalu ʕani n-nāri wayuṣaffā ṯumma yuraddu ʔilā qadrin naẓīfatin muṭayyanatin biṭīnin ḥurrin wašaʕrin min ḵārijihā ʔaw mā yaqūmu maqāma š-šaʕri wayūqadu taḥtahā nārun layyinatun wayuḥarraku liʔallā yaḥtariqa ḥattā yaṣīra‭‬ bimanzilati l-ʕasali l-ḵāṯiri ṯumma yunazzalu ʕani n-nāri wayujaffafu fī ẓ-ẓili bimanzilati ṣ-ṣabiri l-maḡsūli faʔiḏā ʔaradta ʔan tattaḵiḏa minhu l-ḥabba ʔaḵaḏta minhu ʕišrīna miṯqālan fataduqquhu watunaḵḵiluhu biḥarīratin wataʔḵuḏu mina l-qāqullati ṣ-ṣaḡīrati wahiya‭‬ l-hālu wamina l-qurunfuli wal-jawzibawwā wal-basbāsati wal-ʕūdi ṣ-ṣarfi l-hindiyyi was-sāḏaji l-hindiyyi wal-qayṭafūri wahuwa dawāʔun hindiyyun yušbihu t-tirmisa wamina ṣ-ṣandali l-ʔaṣfari wal-harnuwati wal-kubābati min kulli wāḥidin miṯqālun wamina l-miski ḵamsatu maṯāqīla wamina l-kāfūri ʕašaru maṯāqīla yudaqqu kullu wāḥidin ʕalā ḥidatihi ṯumma yuḵlaṭu wayuʔḵaḏu mina l-ʔarmāli ḵamsu maṯāqīla fayuraḍḍu wayuḡallā biniṣfi riṭli māʔin ʕaḏbin ḥattā yabqā mina l-māʔi ʔūqiyyatāni wayuʕjanu bihi l-ʔadwiyatu wayuḥabbabu ʔamṯāla l-ḥimmiṣi wayustaʕmalu ʔin šāʔa llāhu taʕālā.

     Description of Indian musk pill. It is a remedy employed by kings, well-tested, agreeable, effective: One takes one rottol each of sand and ink, either rottol is to be hackled, washed, then moved to a clean pot. Pour forty rottol of clean water over them, and simmer them on a low flame until about five rottol of water are left over; then heave it off the fire, and strain it by means of a filter; then put it again into a clean pot with a layer of hot clay and hair or the like at the exterior, set a gentle fire underneath it, stir to avert burning, until it assumes the texture of clotted honey; then put it off the fire, and in the shade to dry, to reach a consistency of washed aloes. So, when you desire pills from it, take twenty miṯqāl, pound that, and sift it by use of piece of silk; take cardamom, clove, nutmeg, mace, unadulterated Indian agalwood, Indian cinnamon leaves, qyṭfwr–an Indian drug resembling lupines–, yellow sandalwood, aloe-berries and cubeb, of all a miṯqāl, and of musk five miṯqāl, whereas ten of camphor; grind each (ingredient) solitarily then commix; and take of sand five miṯqāl, hackle it, and boil it in half a rottol of clean water until two ounces of the water remain; and knead the remedies with it, shape pills like chickpeas, and use them if God the exalted will.

3. (Yemen) cayenne pepper (Capsicum frutescens and other species)

Declension

Declension of noun بَسْبَاس (basbās)‎; بِسْبَاس (bisbās)

Singular	basic singular triptote
	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	بَسْبَاس‎; بِسْبَاس basbās‎; bisbās	الْبَسْبَاس‎; الْبِسْبَاس al-basbās‎; al-bisbās	بَسْبَاس‎; بِسْبَاس basbās‎; bisbās
Nominative	بَسْبَاسٌ‎; بِسْبَاسٌ basbāsun‎; bisbāsun	الْبَسْبَاسُ‎; الْبِسْبَاسُ al-basbāsu‎; al-bisbāsu	بَسْبَاسُ‎; بِسْبَاسُ basbāsu‎; bisbāsu
Accusative	بَسْبَاسًا‎; بِسْبَاسًا basbāsan‎; bisbāsan	الْبَسْبَاسَ‎; الْبِسْبَاسَ al-basbāsa‎; al-bisbāsa	بَسْبَاسَ‎; بِسْبَاسَ basbāsa‎; bisbāsa
Genitive	بَسْبَاسٍ‎; بِسْبَاسٍ basbāsin‎; bisbāsin	الْبَسْبَاسِ‎; الْبِسْبَاسِ al-basbāsi‎; al-bisbāsi	بَسْبَاسِ‎; بِسْبَاسِ basbāsi‎; bisbāsi

References

• Corriente, Federico, Pereira, Christophe, Vicente, Angeles, editors (2017), Dictionnaire du faisceau dialectal arabe andalou. Perspectives phraséologiques et étymologiques (in French), Berlin: De Gruyter, →ISBN, page 142, declares the Arabic as from that Persian بزباز (bazbâz) although there must be a chronological discrepancy.
• Dozy, Reinhart Pieter Anne (1881) “بسباس”, in Supplément aux dictionnaires arabes‎^[1] (in French), volume 1, Leiden: E. J. Brill, page 83
• Löw, Immanuel (1924) Die Flora der Juden‎^[2] (in German), volume 3, Wien und Leipzig: R. Löwit, page 476
• Mandaville, James Paul (2011) Bedouin Ethnobotany. Plant Concepts and Uses in a Desert Pastoral World, Tuscon: University of Arizona Press, →ISBN, pages 111, 135, 209, 288, saying page 209 it is a reduplication without anything about the simplex, and this author never considers borrowings anyway.

Moroccan Arabic

Etymology

From Arabic بَسْبَاس (basbās).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bas.baːs/

Noun

بسباس • (basbās) m (usually uncountable)

1. fennel