fateme mehri

This study examines the usage of the verb "barxīzīdan" in ancient Persian texts with a specific focus on its application in referring to "havāmm" and "xalq al-sā'ah". These texts, which incorporate elements of zoology, commonly employ Arabic terms to categorize animals based on their habitat and mode of movement. Furthermore, they contain references to a distinct group of animals believed to have been created according to the naturalists' beliefs of ancient times, known as "xalq al-sā'ah". This research aims to offer a thorough and analytical exploration of how translators and writers who have demonstrated an interest in the Persian language have utilized "barxīzīdan" from two semantic domains to denote these two animal groups. By carefully examining the zoological content of these texts and combining specialized knowledge in zoology with linguistic expertise, it becomes possible to discern subtle nuances in meaning between the terms "xīzandigān" and "barxīzandigān". This study primarily focuses on Tuhfat al-Ghrāib by Hāsib Tabarī, a scholar of the 5th and 6th (AH) centuries, which stands as the earliest known Persian encyclopedic text of its kind. Additionally, other texts, including a translation of Nahj al-Balāgha, likely from the same time, and Nuzhat Nāmah by Shahmardān Rāzī, are examined from this perspective, along with other zoological encyclopedia texts, to validate this classification criterion within ancient texts. Our findings suggest that Hāsib Tabarī has attributed a novel significance to the term "barxīzandigān" ("xalq al-sā'ah" creatures) within the context of his work, a meaning not previously documented in other dictionaries.

Pregnancy after a heart transplant is a concern for many female recipients, and it remains a medical challenge that raises many questions. A 24-year-old woman, gravida 3, para 0, contacted us for obstetric care in the first trimester of gestation, about 3 years after an orthotopic cardiac transplant. She was a known case of dextrocardia with congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries. The transplant had been performed for severe retractable heart failure, manifesting during her previous lost pregnancy. The course of the current gestation was uneventful. The patient’s cardiovascular function was good throughout the pregnancy. She was admitted to the hospital for dyspnea at 35 weeks and 4 days of gestational age. A cardiovascular consult and echocardiography were performed. The results were within the normal range, and labor pains explained the patient’s dyspnea. Because of labor pain, a repeat Cesarean section was performed at 35 weeks and 4 days of gestational age. A male baby weighing 2700 g, with an Apgar score of 7/9, was delivered. The patient was discharged after delivery with enoxaparin (40 mg), prednisolone (5 mg), levothyroxine, and mycophenolate mofetil (500 mg) without any complications. Follow-up was carried out at 1 month, and no abnormality was found. Here, we report a case of a successful pregnancy in a young woman after a heart transplant.

Although the rhino has never been a native animal of Iran, Iranians have long been familiar with it due to their proximity to India and their connections to China and North Africa, which were the main habitats of the animal. Signs of this familiarity can be found in various texts, including geographical and zoological texts as well as Persian poetry. However, due to the small number of rhinos, the distance of its habitats and the few direct observations of the animal, we are faced with different narratives about rhinos in different sources. This diversity sometimes causes the figure of the animal to be drawn as if we are dealing with a creature other than a rhino. Variety in denominations has also been associated with and reinforced this multiplicity. In this article, we try to examine the depiction of this animal through ancient scientific and Persianate literature. One of our main findings is that, as evidenced by several texts and images, some Iranians in some eras considered rhinos to be huge birds. We have tried to demonstrate the process of formation this belief according to the biological characteristics attributed to the rhino to show which ideas played a role in the emergence of this belief. For this purpose, in addition to Persian sources, we have also used texts written in Arabic but in the field of Iranian culture. We have also pointed out that some of the literary depictions of rhino in ancient Persian poetry, such as its fight with elephant, are not made by the creators’ imaginations, but are taken from animal-related sources in ancient cultures, and by searching these sources, one can retrieve the background of such depictions and show their antiquity. It can also be shown to what extent ancient zoological ideas have been the result of a combination of texts with different origins and scientific and cultural exchanges among previous civilizations

The eminent German orientalist Bertold Laufer is best known for his extensive research on Chinese civilization. Having received his Ph.D. in Oriental Languages from the University of Leipzig, he travelled to China and Tibet to conduct extensive research on various aspects of Chinese culture and art, and became known as one of the great sinologists of his day. Among his many works is a collection called Sino-Iranica (1919) in which Laufer discusses the cultural interactions between Iran and China in ancient times in various articles, often in the field of botany and mineralogy. Although this study is above all a historical-civilizational study in the field of natural sciences, it nevertheless has benefits in the field of language as a means of transmitting culture. One of Laufer's efforts at Sino-Iranica is to identify the Persian names of plants and minerals by his extensive knowledge of the Chinese language and the methods of recording the loan-words in Chinese, and thus the transferring of material components of Iranian civilization to China from the 2nd century BC to the 14th century. In this article, we review some of the linguistic knowledge about Iranian plants that Laufer acquired during his studies of Chinese texts, and show the importance of his work both in the field of the influence of Iranian languages and in the field of Iranian cultural and civilizational impact on ancient Chinese civilization.

In studying botany in the Islamic civilization three groups of texts are worthy of mention: plant books (Kutub al-Nabāt), agriculture books (Kutub al-Falāḥa), and pharmacopoeia (Kutub al-Adwīya). The last group consists of some medical books containing a major part on medicinal plants. In each group of these texts the content has been presented by specific methods and arrangements. Even if the authors remain silent about their methods of classification of the plants, one can have some idea, by scrutinizing these methods and arrangements, of the way these texts think about diverse species and genera of plants. However, in another level of analysis, if we focus on the way these texts describe the general features of the palnts, we can show that some concepts which play a role in the constitution of these classifications, and are taken as evident or as given, are in need of a better scrutiny. Based on some examples, this article tries to show that in order to achieve a more accurate analysis it is necessary to take into account both levels. For this purpose the canon of botany till 14th century will be studied.