نبهرج

Borrowed from Middle Persian *na bahrag equalling Classical Persian نهبهره (nabahra, nubahra), نه بهره (na bahra, “without profit or advantage, fruitless”).

• IPA^(key): /na.bah.rad͡ʒ/, /ni.bah.rad͡ʒ/

نَبَهْرَج or نِبَهْرَج • (nabahraj or nibahraj)

1. obsolete form of بَهْرَج (bahraj, “false, phony”)
   • a. 869, الْجَاحِظ [al-jāḥiẓ], “باب معرفة الذهب والفضة وامتحانهما [About the knowledge of gold and silver and their assessment]”, in التَبَصُّر بِٱلتِّجَارَة [at-tabaṣṣur bi-t-tijāra]‎^[1]:

     وزعموا أن خير الذهب العقيان وخير الفضة اللُّجَين، ومذاق الفضة الصافية عذبٌ، ومذاق الزيوف مرٌّ صَدِئٌ، والنبهرج من الدراهم مالحٌ جَرَسيُّ الطنين، والفضة صافية الطنين لا يشوبها صَممٌ، وهي تقطع العطش إذا مُسكت في الفم.

     It is claimed that the best gold is the native one, and the best silver the refined one. Refined silver tastes sweet, fake silver bitter and disagreeable. The phoney dirhams are salty in taste and bell-sounding, whereas pure silver has a thudless sound. It tranquilizes thirst if held in the mouth.

• Schiaparelli, Celestino (1871) “نبهرج”, in Vocabulista in arabico. Pubblicato per la prima volta sopra un codice della Biblioteca Riccardiana di Firenze (in Arabic), Firenze: Tipografia dei successori Le Monnier, page 383
• Steingass, Francis Joseph (1892) “نبهرج”, in A Comprehensive Persian–English dictionary, London: Routledge & K. Paul, page 1386a