Agricultural Life as reflected in the Arabic Terminology of the Transjordanian Area of as-Sal ṭ at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century, Based on an Arab Christian Informant of Gustaf Dalman

: This article is based on the discovery of a letter exchange between the

now, but some of the letters seem to be written at Tābri's initiative, due to historical events and from personal motives. 4 Any information that is known of this person has been gleaned from the numerous letters that he wrote to the German scholar and that was recorded in a notebook by the latter. 5 Thus, we can understand that Tābri, a teacher, was a Christian from the Transjordanian city of as-Salṭ and was active in the local church. According to a letter dated January 7, 1901, Tābri had a wife named Miryam and five children: a son named Salīm, born in 1886 and who studied at Zion-School in Jerusalem (therefore Faraḥ Tābri was nicknamed Abû-Salīm, which is the reason that this son is mentioned before the daughter); the eldest child Luise, born in 1884 who studied at the Syrian Orphan House; another daughter Mathilde born in 1890; a third daughter named Farīde born in 1893, and the youngest son Farīd born in 1896. 6 Tābri also mentions a priest called Abû-Ḥâṭūm. 7 4 I have tried to find contemporary information on Faraḥ Tābri without any success. The Tābri family is also found in the city of Nazareth. 5 Dalman, Palästinischer Diwan, viii: ‚Grosse Verdienste um die Erklärung der Lieder sowohl wie um die Vollständigkeit meiner Sammlung hat sich der dortige Lehre Faraḥ Tābri erworben, welcher noch nachträglich diesen ganzen Winter hindurch mit aufopfernder Hingabe bemüht gewesen ist, durch Nachfrage bei Bauern und Beduinen und eingehende Mitteilungen der mir aufgestoßenen Lücken meines Wissens abzufühlen. Er In a letter dated November 24, 1900, Tābri mentions the number of his children, placing the sons before the daughters: ‚…wir alle ich meine Frau u. Meine 5 Kinder 2 Knaben u. 3 Maedchen sind alle Gottlob u. Dank wohl u. Gesund u. Lassen Euch herzlich gruessen u. Wuenschen u. Hoffen dass ihr immer in guter Gesundheit bleiben moechtet‛ (We all, I mean my wife and 5 children: 2 boys and 3 daughters, are thank God fine and healthy and we send you regards and wishes and we hope that you will always be in good health). On May 29, 1901, Tābri describes a journey (Schammat Haua ‫شمة‬ ‫هوا‬ [sic]) his family takes to Wādi lʾAzrak (Wadin elazrag) near as-Salṭ to visit a friend named Dr. Ibrâhīm Ḧalībi. Tābri vividly describes how his children enjoyed bathing in the little river there. 7 In a letter dated September 8, 1900, Tābri also mentions another priest named Nicola and the family of Yūsif al-Kbāsi, who send Dalman their best regards. In a letter dated January 7, 1901, other families from as-Salṭ send Dalman their regards and from here we can understand that Dalman had apparently previously visited this Transjordanian city.
In many letters, Tābri answers Dalman's questions, first stating the question then providing the answer. Over time, Tābri becomes more creative and imaginative and writes at length, relating local customs and describing in detail various botanical species, especially fruits and vegetables, apparently in response to Dalman's questions which are later not always mentioned.
In three of Tābri's letters to Dalman (two from 1900 and one from 1902), we find data regarding agricultural life in Transjordan, mainly in the area of his home, as-Salṭ, which was populated by many Arab Christians. Some other letters indirectly contain some data on agricultural life, while describing local poetry. These three letters, on which I would like to focus in this article, are mainly answers to Dalman's questions in this field. It is interesting that Dalman inserts his question about agricultural life within questions about the political life of the area in the late Ottoman period of the region. It seems that he chose a strategic way to raise these sensitive questions as, aside from his work as a famous university scholar, he was also active in reading aerial photographs for the Prussian army. 8 In this article, I would like to concentrate on Tābri's linguistic contribution, based on his local Arabic dialect. 9 This valuable information casts light also on the agricultural life of Transjordan at the beginning of the twentieth century. Tābri ascribes importance to dialectological differences between the local dialects. He often divides the dialects of Greater Syria into three main groups: the dialects of the Fellahin, the dialects of the Bedouin and the dialect of the city speakers. In the field of agriculture, he naturally focuses on the first two groups. It is noteworthy that Tābri's own dialects, although he was Christian, tend to be more Bedouin in nature, a phenomenon that can be still traced in Modern Jordan where we can still find Christian Bedouins, a rare phenomenon. After asking Tābri questions regarding the administration of the city of as-Salṭ, 10 Dalman dedicates his next questions to the domain of agriculture. In his second question, Dalman concentrates on field crops, barley and fodder in the area of as-Salt. 11 Tābri begins his answer on this geographical area 12 by saying that ‚green fodder‛ is called ‫قصيلة‬ in the local dialect; he backs up this word also using phonetic transcription. 13 Tābri adds that the fodder is only sown from barley and very seldom also fed to the cows from a kind of pea called ‫.جلبانة‬ 14 He adds that this kind of pea is never sown in a small vegetable garden, which is called ‫.حاكورة‬ 15 Tābri explains this lexeme in a linguistic way, giving its singular and plural form ‫,حواكير‬ and clarifies that this vegetable garden is near the house and not in the field itself. 16 Tābri expands his information adding that in the area of Damascus there is another sort which is sown and called there ‫ة‬ ‫َصَّّ‬ ‫;ف‬ it is believed there that it may increase the production of cow's milk. 17 Dalman's third question is in the domain of raised-bed gardening. He asks which sorts of vegetables are grown there with water supply, and inquires about the local terminology for ‚furrow‛. 18

Letter dated November 24, 1900
This letter begins with Tābri's report about the mysterious disappearance of a postal sack containing a large sum of money from the local government, which was posted from as-Salṭ to the Transjordanian city of al-Karak. The postman returned with an empty sack crying hysterically that the money had disappeared. Tābri promises Dalman to give him further details the moment he hears. The letter continues with a very meticulous report in response to Dalman's questions in the field of local politics in as-Salṭ about local personalities, elections, leading families and important functionaries and officials. The topic of agriculture is inserted only at the end of the letter and is actually a continuation of Tābri's previous answer from the letter dated September 8, 1900. Tābri answers Dalman's 20 It is also called karrote (sing.) in German. 21  questions: ‚Which kinds of vegetables are grown in raised-bed gardening or directly in furrows? Which kinds are left in the raised-bed gardening and not moved elsewhere? What is the [lexeme] name for ‚furrow‛ in the local dialect besides ‫‛?ثلم‬ Tābri begins his answers by noting that there is no additional word for ‚furrow‛ in the local as-Salṭ dialect except for ‫.ثلم‬ 29 He writes that eggplants are first sown in small raised beds and are intensively watered. Raised-bed gardening is always used for vegetables that are never allowed to dry out. Some vegetables are not removed from their locations until they produce seeds. This is the case for parsley (Petersielie ‫بقدونس‬ bagdonis 30 ), spinach and beetroot, a sort of a long-leaf lettuce, 31 coriander ( 32 ( ‫كزبره‬ Kuzbara. Chive is left until its upper column ‫البصل‬ ‫َّّار‬ ‫ن‬ ُ ‫ق‬ 33 Kunnar elbasal produces seeds. Tābri notes that chive seeds are sold in a measurement of weight called ‫صاع‬ and definitely not in the measurement of ‫.رطل‬ 34 Garlic and lettuce are grown in bigger raised beds and are also used for producing seeds.
The letter proceeds with a new theme of crops. Tābri now introduces Dalman's questions regarding groves and orchards: ‚Are pear, apple, peach 35 and quince trees grow in as-Salṭ? Are they grafted or not? Which sorts can one find there?‛ 36 Tābri begins his answers by saying that these sorts of fruits are grown in as-Salṭ, but only by a limited number of farmers and not so intensively as one can find in the area of Damascus or in other places that are rich with water. Only quince trees are scarce in as-Salṭ since its farmers tend to fertilize the earth massively and, according to Tābri, this sort of fruit tree does not like heavy fertilizing. Still, he states, there are some quince trees in the area of as-Salṭ, but they do 29  not give much fruit. Nevertheless, there is a sort of marmalade made from quince which is called Tattli essafar‫ج‬al. 37 As for the pear trees, 38 Tābri notes that they are called ‫جاص‬ ‫ان‬ in the local dialect of as-Salṭ, while in written Arabic they are called ‫اجاص‬ a‫ج‬as. 39 As with quince trees, young reeds that grow around an old tree are taken with their root and are then replanted; they flourish well, with or without botanical cutting. Farmers use botanical cuttings if they want to improve the quality of the fruits of all the four mentioned above. Tābri also mentions that there are three sorts of pears in as-Salṭ: 1. ‫بلدي‬ ‫جاص‬ ‫ان‬ in‫ج‬as baladi 40 is a local type which is also nicknamed ‫حصوه‬ ‫ابو‬ ‫جاص‬ ‫ان‬ in‫ج‬as abu ‫ح‬asue (= pear with peats). Tābri notes that this sort is the biggest in size, green and delicious, 41 and he even draws this pear in the letter. 37 Sic. Tābri uses a very peculiar transcription (sometimes even with errors) which uses from time to time Arabic letters within the transliteration along his letter exchange, and I left it as it is. From Turkish ‚tatlı‚(tat = sweet). This sort of quince marmalade is also made in Turkey and there is a dessert that is called ayva tatlısı: the quince is cooked by boiling in water or baked in the oven with cloves, sweet syrup and filled with apple or quince meal and raisins, and is topped with kaymak, a creamy dairy product similar to clotted cream. It is served in halves with the inside slightly carved out. The dish is eaten warm or cold throughout Turkey, particularly in wintertime. The area of as-Salṭ was specially known at the beginning of the twentieth century for its grapes and raisins.  39 Barthélemy, Dictionnaire Arabe-Français, p. 816: ‚une poure‛. 40 The term baladi semantically meant at that time an agricultural product, normally vegetables and fruits, which have a good taste. Later, from the end of the twentieth century, the meaning expanded also to biological or organic agricultural products that do not use chemical spraying or chemical fertilizations. 41 Waesserig im Mund.
According to Tābri, the two other types of pears are not as tasty, and are yellow and smaller than the first kind above: 2. in‫ج‬as ifran‫ج‬ie ‫جي‬ ‫افرن‬ ‫جاص‬ ‫ان‬ (= foreign pear), found also in Jerusalem, they are smaller and narrower than the first type.
3. ‫صغير‬ ‫جاص‬ ‫ان‬ in‫ج‬as sa‫غ‬ir (= small pear). This third sort of pear is, according to Tābri, at least ‚half larger‛ than the first two types, has no ‚neck‛ 42 and is round; it grows in as-Salṭ prolifically and is without botanical cuttings.
Apple trees: Tābri mentions that there are two main general types in as-Salṭ: 1. Sour apple ‫حامض(‬ ‫تفاح‬ saure Aepfel) 2. Sweet apple (tuffa‫ح‬ suckar ‫سكري‬ ‫تقاح‬ sic.) (= sweet as sugar.) New apple reeds are taken from young reeds around the trunk and they are with or without botanical cuttings. A sort of jam 43 is made from the apples.
Plum 44 trees ‫وخ(‬ Choch): Tābri indicates that also here young reeds that grow around the tree trunk are used, with or without botanical cuttings. There are three kinds of plums 45 grown in as-Salṭ: 1. Yellow plum (Choch asfar ‫اصفر‬ ‫وخ‬ gelbe Pflaumen). Larger in size and harder than sorts 2 and 3.
2. Red plum (Choch a‫ح‬mar ‫أحمر‬ ‫وخ‬ ), which is also called Barkuk; 46 it is medium sized. 3. Small plum (elchoch elsa‫غ‬ir 47 ‫الصغير‬ ‫خوخ‬ ‫,)ال‬ which is also called ‫قارصيا‬ garasia. 48 Apricot trees ‫مشمش(‬ Mischmisch): grown in as-Salṭ directly from the kernels or new reeds taken from around the trunk, with botanical cuttings. According to Tābri, there are not many apricot trees in as-Salṭ and there are only two sorts of apricots: 1. Mischmisch lozi 49 ‫لوزي‬ ‫)مشمش‬ (= almond-like apricot); this sort is sweeter than sort 2. 2. Mischmisch kalbi ‫كلبي‬ ‫)مشمش‬ (= doggish apricot): bitter in taste. 50 Tābri states that in Damascus there are more kinds of apricots and more beautiful fruits in addition to the previously mentioned sorts that grow in as-Salṭ: 51 ‫حموي‬ ‫مشمش‬ mischm ‫ح‬amaui (= apricot from the Syrian City of Hama; ‫حماة‬ Ḥamāh) and also ‫مستكاوي‬ ‫مشمش‬ mischm. Mustakaui (mastic apricot 52 ), and also other sorts not specified by Tābri, although he remarks that in as-Salṭ ‫نقوع‬ Nku‫ع‬ are made, which are dried apricots, similar to dried figs. 53 The dried apricots of as-Salṭ are eaten ωρωω raw or cooked. Another sort of dried apricot is called Kamardin ‫ِين‬ ‫َرد‬ ‫م‬ َ ‫,ق‬ 54 which is prepared in as-Salṭ as a leather of apricots and placed shredded in water and is then used as a dip for bread.
As for peach trees (pfirsich ‫ُراق‬ ‫د‬ 55 od. ‫دراق‬ durrag): they grow in as-Salṭ from kernels and their reeds are used without botanical cuttings. In as-Salṭ, there are two kinds: sometimes this name denotes an apricot (abricot); he also mentions the etymon, which is in Middle Syriac Syr. Moy. 47 This form appears here in Classical Arabic and not in the colloquial dialect. 48 Here, we can indicate the Bedouin dialect of Tābri, based on the allophone /g/, although he belongs to the Christian community of as-Salṭ; Cf. also Barthélemy 1. Pfirsich ‫ُراق‬ ‫د‬ od. ‫دراق‬ durrag 2. ‫بلدي‬ ‫ّاق‬ ‫در‬ durrag Baladi Jam is also made from this sort of peach.

Letter dated March 24, 1902
This letter contains three answers from Tābri to Dalman's questions (5-9). Question 5 is in the domain of politics. Question 7 is about agriculture and poetry, 56 while question 8 is in the field of anthropology; 57 questions 6 and 9 are dedicated to the fields of botany and agriculture. In question 6, Tābri pseudo-cites Dalman: ‚Somebody states that the ‫بعل‬ (fields) is a term used also for fields that are slightly irrigated by using natural water which is found in the field. Is it true?‛ 58 Immediately thereafter, Tābri typographically writes ‚answer 6‛. He states that all crops that are irrigated by man are called ‫سقي‬ Zarri‫ع‬at Saki, 59 while all other crops that fully depend on natural sources of rain or dew are called ‫بعل‬ ‫يعة‬ ‫زر‬ 60 l Zarri‫ع‬at Ba‫ع‬l. Tābri concludes his answer by saying, ironically, that the ‚person who stated that an irrigated field can be also named ‫بعل‬ is totally wrong, based on the information in this domain that we have in as-Salṭ.‛ 61 In question 9, Dalman asks about the possibility of dividing terminology used by Fellahin on one hand, and by Bedouin on the other hand, to ‚manure‛ of different domestic animals such as ‚horses, camels, donkeys, cows and sheep‛, which is used for heating. 62 Dalman then asks about the meaning of the word Lati‫?ع‬ 63 Tābri gives a very detailed answer. First he states that all domestic animals' feces are generally called ‫زبل‬ Zibl, for example, ‚feces of horses, cows and donkeys‛. 64 Then he adds two further local Arabic lexemes which are used in as-Salṭ, 56 68 and in spring, when it is fluid, it is called by a metathesis form which denotes semantic proximity to the word ‚spring‛ ‫,)ربيع(‬ then the sheep feces are called ‫ربعي‬ rib‫ع‬i od rib‫ع‬i el‫ع‬anam. 69 The terminology for camels' feces is roṯh jmāl ‫جمال‬ ‫روث‬ u Ba‫ع‬er gmāl ‫جمال‬ ‫,بعر‬ yet this domestic animal also has a new, different term which is Haraz Gmāl ‫جمال‬ ْ ‫َز‬ ‫َر‬ ‫.ح‬ 70 Answering Dalman's question, Tābri notes that the terminology 71 ‫بقر‬ ‫لطع‬ is used when the feces are thick, but when they are liquid it is called only by the term used for cows, ‫شطاط‬ ‫البقر‬ or ‫البقر‬ ‫.خراق‬ 72 The feces of cows are also used for pottery. Fresh excrement of cows is placed on the walls in order to dry it. The Fellahin women also use the dried feces called ‫جله‬ Ḡalla 73 od. Krās Ḡalle ‫جله‬ ‫قراص‬ pl. ‫جله‬ ‫قرص‬ Kurṣ Ḡalle, sing. genannt diese Krāṣ Ḡalle in order to fire pottery, while the Bedouin or Urban women ‫)مدنية(‬ make pottery only with their hands in order to manufacture kettles or other housewares. 74 Tābri adds that the Fellahin and Bedouin women use the dried excrement of horses, camels and sheep also for the fire of the ‫صاج‬ of the ṭābūnoven for baking bread. 75 Tābri concludes by saying that the city women do not need these at all since they have ordinary ovens ‫.)فرن(‬

Conclusions
A Christian living in the Christian area of as-Salṭ, Faraḥ Ḥabīb Tābri is Dalman's most important informant from Transjordan at the beginning of the twentieth century. Most of Dalman's linguistic informants in Greater Syria were Christians and most of them also had a relatively good knowledge of the German language in which they wrote their letters to Dalman. It seems that sharing the same religion gave the German Christian theologist Dalman and many of his informants in the field a feeling of closeness. One assumes that these informants provided Dalman with valuable information in a wide range of areas and not just in the field of language as they also provided him with much administrative information which undoubtedly served as valuable information for German Intelligence.
Though relatively unknown, Tābri's information is valuable and unmatched in various fields, especially anthropologically, historically and linguistically, although the transcription he uses for the colloquial dialect is not always fully accurate. It is very difficult to positively determine that Tābri served as an intelligence agent operated by Dalman, whom we assume to have worked for Prussian intelligence alongside his scholarly job at the university. However, what we can accurately conclude is that Tābri was not aware of being such an agent since he does not report in such a style at all. It seems that Germany had a deep interest in the region as the Ottoman rule began to show signs of weakness, and wanted to establish a foothold before any other empire gained control in the area. 76 As we have seen, it is noteworthy that in his books Aaron Aaronsohn referred mainly to the flora of the area of Transjordan and therefore the Tābri's letters play an even more important role. In this article, I have examined three letters out of approximately sixty from Tābri to Dalman. These three letters concentrate on the field of local agricultural life and terminology. Additionally, these three letters describe agricultural life in this area. The data provided in Tābri's letters cast light on almost unknown lacuna in the field of agricultural crops of the subregion of Greater Syria to which the local Arabic dialect of as-Salṭ also belongs. Agriculturally, the area belongs to the Fertile Crescent. Tābri tends to divide this area dialectologically and anthropologically into three main groups: the Fellahin, the Bedouin and the Urban population, yet in the field of agriculture most of the data is focused mainly on the Fellahin and sometimes on the Bedouin.
Species of crops tend to change over time and Tābri documents the old names of species. With the modernization and urbanization missions of contemporary state societies, the persistence and vitality of autochthonous farming communities have been challenged, particularly in developed nations. Local Arabic dialects encode in the autochthonous folk taxonomies of species of plants. Arabic uses a form of binomial (two-term) or trinomial nomenclature for plants, similar to that developed by Linnaeus, except that second and third terms, instead of designating the species, identify some important characteristic of the plant. 76 Dalman interpreted aerial photographs of the German air force in Palestine; see Dalman, Hundert deutsche Fliegerbilder aus Palästina.
Thus, we can see in Tābri's letters binominal nomenclatures given by the local farmers. It means that the second name, which is a sort of folkloristic attribute, of the species casts light on the first name. Some of these binary names of species have disappeared with the modernization and globalization of agriculture during the twentieth century, and also through the introduction of new species. Thus, we find in Tābri's letter remnants of binominal names of which some can still be traced today, while others cannot. The local props are always nicknamed baladi in Greater Syria [literally: of the country, of the country place]. The species that have the attribute baladi belong to traditional local crops. This term is also found in Tābri's letters: in‫ج‬as baladi (local pear), Durrāq baladi (local peach). Other binominal nomenclatures denote attributable names that show the origin of the fruit or that it is not a local fruit, e.g., in‫ج‬as ifran‫ج‬ie (= foreign pear). Other nomenclatures denote the size of the fruit, e.g., if the fruit is small elchoch elsa‫غ‬ir (small plum) or its color Choch aṣfar (= yellow plum) or its taste, e.g., tuffa‫ح‬ suckari (= sweet apple). In other cases, the second binaric name denotes an indirect quality or description of the fruit, e.g., Mischmisch kalbi (= doggish apricot), when the fruit is bitter, as dogs symbolize impurity in Muslim culture. The information on traditional crops is valuable in our modernized life which aims to restore old species of the region that were not influenced genetically over the course of time.
While answering Dalman's questions, Tābri also documents a wide range of local terminology connected to agriculture, such as the various local names of feces and their traditional uses among the Fellahin. He also describes the fine differentiations between irrigated-land-agriculture and irrigated fields. This information is valuable not only for the region of the Fertile Crescent where as-Salṭ is located but also worldwide because of global warming and changes in rain patterns.
Anthropologically and linguistically, the data provided by Tābri is priceless since he documents endangered information or obsolete agricultural lexemes that can disappear or had already vanished in the course of the twentieth century. Some of the terminology can also be traced linguistically to other ancient civilizations that had existed in the Fertile Crescent, yet left their fingerprints, such as the name of the Canaanite god of weather Baˁal, which appears in the combination Ba'al agriculture which denotes agriculture that depends only on rain.  77 Although totally unknown to modern researchers, Tābri was Dalman's most fluent and prominent informant. In the introduction to his book Palästinischer Diwan, 78 he thanks him, calling him ‚my friend from the Gilead Mountains‛. He remarks that Tābri helped him considerably in correcting this book and by approaching farmers and Bedouin of the region in order to proof the data of his Dīwān, a collection of folk Palestinian songs. ‫)تابري‬ 79 y el teólogo y orientalista Gustaf Dalman (1855-1941), que fue realizado por el autor de este trabajo cuando revisaba algunas carpetas olvidadas en el Instituto Dalman en Greifswald (Alemania) durante mi visita en febrero de 2014. 80 Aunque es totalmente desconocido para los investigadores modernos, Tābri fue el más fluído y prominente informante de Dalman. En la introducción de su libro, Palästinischer Diwan, 81 él le muestra su agradecimiento, llamandolo ‚mi amigo de las montañas de Galaad‛. Él destaca que Tābri lo ayudó considerablemente en la correción de este libro en el acercamiento entre granjeros y beduinos de la región para probar la fecha de su Dīwān, una colección de canciones del folklore palestino.