IN the second half of the nineteenth century, the general upsurge of nationalism in Europe exerted an influence on the Jewish population as well. This influence was particularly strong in Eastern Europe, where there occurred a formidable Jewish nationalistic renaissance, some features of which were: the revival of Hebrew as a spoken language; the widespread use of Jewish folk-lore in the works of Jewish writers, painters, and musicians; and the rebuilding and resettling of Palestine by small groups of Jewish pioneers. The new settlers in Palestine soon adapted Hebrew (which had indeed remained very much alive through the centuries as a literary tongue) to the requirements of daily existence, and it became the language of instruction in most of their schools. At present, practically the entire Israeli population (about two million) speaks Hebrew.

THE scholarly article entitled ‘Muslim institutions of learning in eleventhcentury Baghdad’ by Dr. George Makdisi deserves careful study. It is much more than a mosaic of notices of institutions and men of learning; it has a thesis running through its course, which seeks to elucidate the character of the madrasah in general and that founded by Niẓām al-Mulk in Baghdad in particular.

Hadramawt, properly speaking, is the name of the Wadi, a province separated from its coast by an empty stony plateau. Each of these provinces is a distinct entity

In the second half of the nineteenth century, the general upsurge of nationalism in Europe exerted an influence on the Jewish population as well. This influence was particularly strong in Eastern Europe, where there occurred a formidable Jewish nationalistic renaissance, some features of which were: the revival of Hebrew as a spoken language; the widespread use of Jewish folk-lore in the works of Jewish writers, painters, and musicians; and the rebuilding and resettling of Palestine by small groups of Jewish pioneers. The new settlers in Palestine soon adapted Hebrew (which had indeed remained very much alive through the centuries as a literary tongue) to the requirements of daily existence, and it became the language of instruction in most of their schools. At present, practically the entire Israeli population (about two million) speaks Hebrew.

IN the second half of the nineteenth century, the general upsurge of nationalism in Europe exerted an influence on the Jewish population as well. This influence was particularly strong in Eastern Europe, where there occurred a formidable Jewish nationalistic renaissance, some features of which were: the revival of Hebrew as a spoken language; the widespread use of Jewish folk-lore in the works of Jewish writers, painters, and musicians; and the rebuilding and resettling of Palestine by small groups of Jewish pioneers. The new settlers in Palestine soon adapted Hebrew (which had indeed remained very much alive through the centuries as a literary tongue) to the requirements of daily existence, and it became the language of instruction in most of their schools. At present, practically the entire Israeli population (about two million) speaks Hebrew.

J. Gonda's study The meaning of Vedic bhīṣati (Wageningen, 1939), republished in Four studies in the language of the Veda ('s-Gravenhage, 1959), has failed to convince scholars, and seemingly the author himself, that a basic meaning ‘strengthen’ is tenable.

In a previous paper I discussed the typology of two collections of neolithic artifacts from the North Karnataka of India and discovered a close correspondence between them.

Abī Manṣur al-Tha'ālibī devotes twenty pages of Yatīmat al-dahr to selections from al-qaṣīda al-sāsāniyya of Abū Dulaf al-Khazraji, the fourth century A.H. poet, who prided himself on being a member of the ‘world brotherhood’ of beggars and impostors known by the ‘royal’ name of banū sāsān. This group of people used a special jargon, munākāh, a considerable part of which is preserved in this poem of Abk Dulaf's.

Professor O. Maenchen kindly draws my attention to a paper by B. Staviskiy (Soobščeni'a Gostidarstvennogo Ermitaža, xx, 1961, 54–6) on a hitherto unpublished Kushan-type seal with a cursive inscription in Bactrian. It consists of a single word:

The Old Persian phrase artācā brazmaniy does not seem yet satisfactorily explained, in spite of numerous attempts, and although much headway has been made towards its complete elucidation.