Classical Arabic - English Dictionary

زَرْنَبٌ A certain perfume: or certain sweetsmelling trees: (Ḳ:) or a species of sweet-smelling plant: (Ṣ:) it consists of slender round twigs, between [مَا بَيْنَ, misprinted ملين,] the thickness of the large needle and the thickness of writingreeds, black inclining to yellowness, not having much taste nor odour, its little odour being of a fragrant kind like that of the citron: (Ibn-Seenà, book ii. p. 168:) [Freytag says, as on the authority of the Ḳ, but he seems to have taken it from the TḲ, that, “accord. to some, it signifies the leaves of a sweet-smelling plant, which has the name of رجل الجراد, locusts' foot:” and he adds, as though on the authority of Ibn-Seenà ubi suprá, “salix Aegyptiaca:” referring also to Sprengel, Hist. rei. herb., t. i. p. 270:] also saffron: (Ḳ:) it is of the measure فَعْلَلٌ; (Ṣ, TA;) and is a genuine Arabic word, though asserted by Ibn-El-Kutbee to be arabicized. (TA.) A rájiz says,

* يَا بِأَبِى أَنْتِ وَفُوكِ الأَشْنَبُ *

* كَأَنَّمَا ذُرَّ عَلَيْهِ الزَّرْنَبُ *

[O, with my father thou shouldst be ransomed, and thy mouth that is cool and sweet, as though زَرْنَب were sprinkled upon it]. (Ṣ.) In the trad. of Umm-Zarạ, where it is said, المَسُّ مَسُّ أَرْنَبٍ وَالرِّيحُ رِيحُ زَرْنَبٍ [The feel is the feel of a hare, and the odour is the odour of زَرْنَب], IAth says that it signifies saffron; and she may mean the sweetness of his odour, or the perfume of his garments among the people. (TA.)

Also The [dung such as is termed] بَعْر of wild animals. (Ḳ.)

Also, [and, as appears from what follows, زَرْنَبَةٌ↓ likewise, if this be not a mistranscription,] The vulva of a woman: (Ḳ,* TA:) or such as is large: or the external portion thereof: (Ḳ:) or a piece of flesh (Ḳ, TA) within the زروان [a mistranscription for زَرَدَان, a name for the vulva], (TA,) behind the كَيْنَة [or كَيْن, q. v.]: (Ḳ, TA:) behind the زَرْنَبَة↓ is another piece of flesh: so says IAạr. (TA.)