Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon

يَرْبُوعٌ

Root: ربع

Full Definition

يَرْبُوعٌ , in which the ى is augmentative, because there is not in the language of the Arabs any word of the measure فَعْلُولٌ, except what is extr., such as صَعْفُوقٌ, which is a foreign word [introduced into their language], (S in art. صعفق,) [The jerboa;] a certain wellknown beast; a small beast like the فَأْرَة [or rat], but longer in the tail and ears, and of which the hind legs are longer than the fore-legs, the reverse of what is the case in the زَرَافَة [or giraffe]; called by the vulgar جَرْبُوع; a rat (فَأْرَة) of which the burrow has four entrances; Az says, it is a small beast larger than the جُرَذ, [q. v.; but in the L, in art. جرذ, the reverse of this is said;] and the name is applied alike to the male and the female: [Forskål terms it mus jaculus: see the questions appended to Niebuhr's “ Descr. de l' Arabie, ” p. 177:] pl. يَرَابِيعُ. [See ذُو الرُّمَيْحِ, voce رُمْحٌ.]
2 Hence, اليَرْبُوعُ also signifies لَحْمَةُ المَتْنِ [The portion of flesh and sinew next the back-bone, on either side]; as being likened to the فأَرة [thus called]: or this is with damm [اليُرْبُوعُ]: or the يَرَابِيعُ of the مَتْن are its portions of flesh; and the word has no sing.: Az says, I have not heard any sing. thereof.


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