The Book of Akbar 23: NOTE II. (from page 78.)
The Akbarnama (H. Beveridge), vols. I–II 23
- Language
- English
NOTE II. (from page 78.)
23.1
ddarjan. This word puzzled me for a long time. It is not to be found in the dictionaries except under the form or They however do not explain even this word; saying only that it means “certain figures and mysteries in astrology.” (See Vullers 78 and Steingass.) The Lucknow editor (27) says that ddarjan is the same as wabal, and he repeats this explanation at page 30. He there says also that ddarjan, is a fortitude or dignity superior to that of the darijan, but inferior to that of the wajh face. It is clear therefore that it cannot bear the same meaning as wabal which is a debility and corresponds to the English detriment, Perhaps the editor connected it with auj, apsis or exaltation. Another explanation was sent me from India, to the effect that when two planets were in the same musallasat or triplicity, each was said to be the adārjan or partner of the other. If this were so, the word might be connected with the Arabic or idrāj or idrāj, a fold or folding; but I now believe this explanation is quite incorrect. The fact seems to be that adarjān or ādarajān is merely a form of the word darijān and is probably nothing but that word with the Arabic article al prefixed. The word occurs in the Mafātīhu-l-‘ulūm (ed. Vloten, Leyden 1895, 226) under the forms aldahaj and aldaraj and is there explained as synonymous with wajh, sūrat and dārijān. The editor says it is the same as the Greek δεκανός.
23.2
That this explanation is correct appears from the Latin translation of an early treatise on Astrology by an Eastern writer, commonly known as Alchabitius, but whose real name was ‘Abdu-l-‘azīz ibn ‘Usmān Alqabīsī and who, according to the Biographie Universelle lived in the 10th century. He wrote a Madkhal or Introduction to Astrology which was translated into Latin by Johannis Hispalensis and was several times reprinted. Its Arabic title is given in Hājī Khalfa’s Lexicon (V. 473) as Madkhal fī ‘ilm-al-nujūm. In the Differentia Quarta (Cap. IV. The pages are not separately numbered, but this chapter is a few pages after dd4.) of this work, there is the following passage: “Modus inveniendi dominum decani.” “Et ex hoc adorogen, hoc est ut dividas ascendens in tres partes; et sit omnis divisio 10 graduum; dabisque divisionem primam domino ascendentis; et secundam domino quinti signi ab eo; et tertiam domino noni; nam ascendens, 5, et 9 una semper sunt triplicitas. Verbi gratia, ab initio Arietis usque in decimum gradum ejus est dorogen i. (i.e.) decanus ejus Martis. Et si fuerit ex 10 gradu usque 20 gradum erit ejus dorongen sol, dominus Leonis. Et si fuerit 20 usque in finem ejus erit dorongen Jupiter, dominus Sagittarii.” The same volume contains a commentary on Alchabitius by John of Saxony and at M.M. 3, we have these words, “Et ex hoc adoringen, Hic docet invenire decanum.” This commentary, it seems, was written in 1331, though apparently not printed till 1485.
23.3
The book is in the British Museum, and there is another copy of Alchabitius and of John of Saxony’s Commentary which was printed at Venice in 1521. In this, too, we have the expression, “Et ex hoc adorogen” and “et ex hoc padorogen.” This is the passage according to the Venetian editions of 1485 and 1521. In another edition, printed at Bologna in 1473 (B.M. press-mark 8610 d. 10.) we have the form abdorungen, but otherwise the wording is the same. It begins, “Et ex hoc abdorungen” and lower down has the important expression “ejus abdorungen, id est, decanus, est Mars.” The occurrence of the letter b certainly seems to favour the supposition that the first syllable is merely the Arabic article, the b being a misprint for l. As for the expression et ex hoc, the explanation is that the Differentia Quarta is a glossary of astrological terms and that et ex hoc seems a literal rendering of the Arabic wa-minhu. The difficulty arising from A.F.’s using the word as if it were of different meaning from darijān, his speaking, for instance, both of the darijān and ādarjan in the same passage.
23.4
This is due, I think, to the fact that each House of a horoscope consists of about 30° i.e., of three decanates or darijāns. Hence, in mentioning the dignities or properties of a House, instead of saying darijan and darijan or using the word wajh (face) three times over, he varies the expression for the sake of euphony. What the exact etymology of the word adarjān or darijan is, I am unable to say. The varieties of spelling lead one to suppose it a foreign word. It is clear from Alchabitius, that adarjān or ādarajān is the proper spelling, and that the form aradjan of the Bādshāhnāma and the Dictionaries is incorrect.
23.5
Most probably the word comes from the Greek τρίγωνον, a triangle. I do not think it can come from δέκατος, for I do not see how the letter r came to be inserted. It appears, from Sachau's Albīrūnī, that the word which in our dictionaries is spelled darijan is in Arabic draijān. I have suggested above that the first syllable or letter of adarjān is the Arabic article, but there may be another explanation. As Persian does not admit of conjunct consonants at the beginning of words, it is possible that when the word was borrowed from the Arabic or the Greek, the dr or the tr of the Greek necessitated either a prosthetic or a medial vowel. Thus trigonon or draijān became in Persian, either adrajan or darijan. In a similar manner we have both Iskandar and Sekandar as transliterations of Alexander and dirham for the Greek drachme, Firangī for Frank, etc. But if adarjān comes from trigonon and not from decanus, it must still be acknowledged that it came to have the same meaning as decanate in English or drekkana in Sanscrit, and is stated by Alchabitius to be the equivalent of decanus. If anything were necessary to prove that the word adarjān is identical in meaning with wajh, facies, I think it is furnished by the fact that Haly, (i.e., ‘Alī ibn Abi-’l Rijāl al-Shaibānī) in his elaborate work on astrology, says nothing about darijan or adarjān, though he has a chapter De Faciebus or, (as the Arabic has it) Fī-l-wujūh.
23.6
Moreover Guido Bonatus has this passage (ed. Basle 1550 825) De dorungea non dico hic (the passage occurs in a chapter on the triplicities) aliquid quoniam videtur spectare ad considerationem facierum, de quibus latius ac sufficienter dictum est superius in Tractatu primo in cap. de Faciebus. Scaliger has yet another spelling of darijan; he calls it dorogen and says the Arabs apply the term to the dodecatemoria. (Notes on Manilius 179 l.38.) This seems to be a mistake.