One of the most well known early Islamic works on horses is the Kitāb al-Khayl (Book of horses) written by Abū ‘Ubayda (d.822 CE). In it he features a chapter called “The names of things that fly in the horse“.
Below I’ve listed the 16 terms that he includes in this chapter and their literal meaning and the part of the horse they refer to as recorded in the many other chapters of the Kitāb al-Khayl by Abū Ubayda.
Arabic | Transcription | Literal meaning | Part of horse |
عُصْفُورٌ | uṣfūr | Any small bird(s) | Parietal crest (on the muzzle) |
هَامَةٌ | hāma | Owl that visits burial places | Bregma or crown |
ذُبَابٌ | dhubāb | Fly | Point of the ear |
صُرَدٌ | ṣurad | Black bird with a white belly | The white hair that appears after a healed saddle sore |
فَرَاشَةٌ | Farāsha | Moth/ Butterfly | Muscle beneath the tongue |
يَعْسُوبٌ | ya’sūb | The king of the bees/male bee | a blaze that ends before the nostrils and extends no further than the beginning of the forehead |
سَمَامَةٌ | samāma | Mountain-swallow | A whirl in the middle of the neck of the horse (on the side of the neck) |
نَاهِضٌ | nāhiḍ | A young bird whos wings have become complete and is able to fly | Deltoid (shoulder muscle) |
صَقْرٌ | ṣaqr | Hawk | Whirl on the back behind the place of the liver |
قَطَاةٌ | qaṭā | Sand grouse | The loin |
غُرَابٌ | ghurāb | Crow | Sacroilliac joint |
زُرٌّ | zurr | A species of sparrow | Socket (of upper arm bone) |
خَرَبٌ | kharab | Male bustard | A whirl on the flank |
نَسْرٌ | nasr | Vulture/ sometimes eagle | Frog |
زُرَّقٌ | zurraq | Sparrow-hawk | Whiteness in the hair of the forelock or feathers |
سَحَاةٌ | Saḥa | Bat | A vein in the lower part of the tongue |