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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065 |
I will add that The Dictionary of the Khazars is actually a novel told in the form of a dictionary of people and documents of interest to Khazar studies. Very puzzling for the first few entries but then you start building up a picture of the story from the clues dropped in the various entries. There are also supposed to be male and female versions of the book differing by only a single sentence. It's fun, but don't buy it as a linguaphilic aid. A typical entry (well not typical because I think it's just about the shortest, the others are far too long to type out):
IBN (ABU) HADERASH -- The devil who divested Princess Ateh* of her sex. He resided in hell, at the place where the orbit of the moon crosses that of the sun. A poet, he wrote the following lines about himself:
When I near their women, Abyssinians
look aghast,
As do Greeks, Turks, and Slavs,
from first to last
The poems of Ibn Haderash were compiled by a man named Al-Mazrubani, who collected the verse of demons and in the 12th century assembled a book of demon poetry (compare the Arabic collection of Abul-Ala Al-Maarri, which records this fact).
Ibn Haderash rode a long-striding horse, and the trot of his hoofs can still be heard, one in each day.
Bingley
Bingley
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Joined: Jan 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
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Dear Bingley: I found a site with some interesting stuff about the author of "The Dictionary of the Khazars" http://www.khazars.com/index-e.html
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Dr. Bill, I thought some of the choices of what to put in the author's brief bio were interesting: it included his Aztec horoscope, and the statement that he does not belong to any political party.
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