بَرِيدٌ
Root: برد
Full Definition
def.2 Also A mule appointed [for the conveyance of messengers] in a رِبَاط [or public building for the accommodation of travellers and their beasts, or in a سِكَّة, which is a house or the like specially appropriated to messengers and the beasts that carry them: thus it signifies a postmule: afterwards, it was applied also to a posthorse, and any beast appointed for the conveyance of messengers]: [this is what is meant by the words in the S and K, البَرِيدُ المُرَتَّبُ:] it is a word of Persian origin, arabicized, from بُرِيدَهْ دُمْ, i. e. “docked,” or “having the tail cut off;” for the post-mules (بِغَالُ البَرِيدِ) had their tails cut off in order that they might be known: [or perhaps it is from the Hebrew
2 Having been originally used in the sense first explained above, it was afterwards applied to A messenger borne on a post-mule [or post-horse]: or messengers on beasts of the post: or a messenger that journeys with haste: or [simply] a messenger: pl. as above. Hence the saying, الحُمَّى بَرِيدُ المَوْتِ Fever is the messenger of death: because it gives warning thereof. Hence also البَرِيدُ applied to The animal called الفُرَانِقُ, because he gives warning before [the approach of] the lion. And صَاحِبُ البَرِيِد [The master of the messengers that journey on post-mules or post-horses]. [And خَيْلٌ البَرِيِد, occurring in many histories &c., The post-horses, that carry messengers and others.]
3 Also, having been applied to a messenger on a post-mule [or post-horse], it then became applied to The space, or distance, traversed by the messenger thus called; the space, or distance, between each سِكَّة and the سِكَّة next to it; the سكّة being a structure of either of the kinds called بَيْت and قُبَّة, or a رِبَاط [explained above], in which the appointed messengers lodge; the space, or distance, between two stations, or places of alighting; or two parasangs, or leagues; [six miles;] each parasang, or league, being three miles, and each mile being four thousand cubits: or twelve miles; i. e. four parasangs, or leagues: [for] the space, or distance, between each station termed سِكَّة and the next to it is either two parasangs or four: the distance of twelve miles is [also] termed سِكَّةُ البَرِيِد: the pl. is as above. A journey of four بُرُد, or forty-eight miles, renders it allowable to shorten prayers; which miles are of the Háshimee measure, such as are measured on the road to Mekkeh.
4 Also The course, or pace, of a camel along the space thus called: so in the following verse of Muzarrid, in praise of 'Arábeh El-Owsee:
[May my mother, and my maternal aunt, and my she-camel that is swift in her course to thee from one station to another, be ransoms for thee, O 'Arábeh, this day!].فَدَتْكَ عَرَابَ اليَوْمَ أُمِّى وَ خَالَتِى وَ نَاقَتِىَ النَّاجِى إِلَيْكَ بَرِيدُهَا
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