Bisbeigi

Bisbeigi arabice pollipodium besfagum Stephanus scripsit.

Apparatus:

Bisbeigi (Bis^beigi j) ABC fjp | Biscegi e
pollipodium (-diũ A p) AC p | polipodiũ B efj
Stephanus scripsit | s. S. ms. j

Translation:

Bisbeigi is Arabic for Latin pollipodium {"polypody"}. Stephanus writes besfagum.

Commentary:

Bisbeigi:
Siggel (1950: 20) mentions several variant forms for Arabic: ﺑﺴﻔﺎﺋﺞ /basfāʔiğ/ = ﺑﺴﻔﺎﻳﺞ /basfāyiğ/ = ﺑﺴﺒﺎﻳﺞ /basbāyiğ/, which he characterizes as one of the Polypodium genus, (Filices) [[1]]. These variants are represented in Simon's entry like this: Bisbeigi < ﺑﺴﺒﺎﻳﺞ /basbāyiğ/ and besfagum < ﺑﺴﻔﺎﺋﺞ /basfāʔiğ/ or ﺑﺴﻔﺎﻳﺞ /basfāyiğ/.

The word is of Persian origin, cf. Steingass (1892: 185): بسپایه bas-pāya, بسپایك bas-pāyak (many- footed), Polypody; (1892: 187): بسفاتج /basfātağ/, بسفایج /basfāyağ/ (for P.{ahlavi} bas-pāya), Polypody.

Cf. Pahlavi: was "much, many, enough", pāy "foot, leg" (McKenzie); the word is therefore a calque of Greek πολυπόδιον /polypódion/.

WilfGunther 25/02/2014

See also: Polipodium; for Stephanus see Besfagum

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