The Syriac Chronicle

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who, so that they might not appear to be ignorant of anything, sell the most uncertain things as certain. Whatever he does not know, he generally passes over, and he prefers not to translate rather than to translate poorly. Moreover, all the more credit is to be given to his version in this place because, if he had wished to follow etymology and the similarity of sound, the truly Syriac name ܚܘܠܕܐ chulda was at hand, which six hundred others would have accepted as the name for the same animal. But since he applies this ܚܘܠܕܐ chulda to another animal, חלד chaled, which follows only a few words later, but translates ܚܠܕ chaled as ܩܘܩܙܐ quqza, I think that is a sign that he was convinced of the true meaning of the word ܚܠܕ chaled. But what kind of animal is ܩܘܩܙܐ quqza? If you ask Castell, led astray by others in this word, he replies: Weasel. Bar-Hebraeus, who uses this word more frequently, teaches the truth. On page 216, line 16, where he speaks of the great famine that arose in the Khorasan region, he adds these words:

"Then there was death from hunger, such that a litra of bread was sold for a gold dinar. And men were plundering for dogs and ܩܘܩܙ̈ܐ quqza."

Such was the famine that a litra of bread was sold for one gold denarius and men were feeding on dogs and ܩܘܩܙ̈ܐ weasels/vermin.

Since the meaning of "weasel" does not fit well, it is not difficult to guess what ܩܘܩܙܐ quqza was. However, another, much clearer passage must be compared with this one, which leaves no room for doubt. On page 268, from line 4, he describes a famine that especially afflicted the city of Damascus, and he recounts that of its inhabitants, of whom there were 300,000 before the famine, only 3,000 survived after it. Afterwards, he continues thus:

"It was full of dead bodies in the streets, without number, of dogs and ܩܘܩܙ̈ܐ quqza; then they were eating from them."