Al-Naʿāmāt
Authors: Khalid Al-Ajaji
Al-Naʿāmāt (النَّعَامَات), “the ostriches”, is an Arabic asterism in the body of the modern constellation Cetus. Ibn Qutayba describes it as five stars arranged like the quadrilateral of al-Naʿš, following al-Riʾāl and preceding al-Udḥī, the ostriches’ nest. p. 73.[2]
It forms part of a continuous complex of ostrich imagery extending across the southern sky in indigenous Arabic stellar lore: al-Ẓalīmān, the two male ostriches; al-Riʾāl, the chicks between them; al-Naʿāmāt, the ostriches; al-Udḥī, the nest; and al-Bayḍ wa’l-Qayḍ, the eggs and their shells.
The name is independently recorded by ibn Qutayba and al-Ṣūfī. The latter identifies the five stars by number in his catalogue of Cetus. Al-Marzūqī and ibn ʿĀṣim al-Ṯaqafī preserve the same southern sequence only as far as al-Riʾāl; among these primary anwāʾ authors, Ibn Qutayba alone preserves the complete sequence.[3][4]
Provenance, Etymology, History
The indigenous Arabic name al-Naʿāmāt (النَّعَامَات) is recorded by Ibn Qutayba and al-Ṣūfī. In later European and modern scholarly literature, it appears in several Latin-script forms:
- AlNaamât, Hyde, p. 44.[5]
- El-naâmât, Ideler, p. 207.[6]
- al-naâmât, Schjellerup, p. 202.[7]
- Al Naʿāmāt, Allen, p. 162.[8]
- an-naʿāmāt, Kunitzsch, entry 184, p. 84.[9]
Etymology
The name derives from نَعَامَة, “ostrich”. Lisān al-ʿarab notes that the word applies to males and females alike and gives three plurals:
والنَّعَامَةُ: معروفةٌ، هذا الطائرُ، تكونُ للذَّكَرِ والأُنثى، والجمعُ نَعَامَاتٌ ونَعائِمُ ونَعامٌ.
“Al-naʿāma: this well-known bird; the word is used of both the male and the female, and its plurals are naʿāmāt, naʿāʾim, and naʿām.” (s.v. نعم)[1]
Because نَعَامَات and نَعَائِم are plurals of the same singular, the Cetus asterism and the Sagittarius lunar station can be confused. They are distinguished by their positions in the sky, not by separate lexical roots. Within the ostrich complex, different words distinguish the male ostrich, ظَلِيم, from the chick, رَأْل; in this context, النَّعَامَات may refer specifically to the adult female ostriches.
Other names for the group and its neighbour
- al-Naʿām (النَّعَام) — al-Ṣūfī gives this as an alternative to al-Naʿāmāt (النَّعَامَات) for the same five stars. Cetus[10]
- Rāʿī al-Naʿām (رَاعِي النَّعَامِ) or Rāʿī al-Naʿāmāt (رَاعِي النَّعَامَاتِ), “the herdsman of the ostriches” — names in the Urjūza for the bright star that rises before the group, al-Ḍifdiʿ al-Thānī (Diphda, β Cet), rather than for the group itself.[11]
Historical Sources
| Authority | Date | Testimony |
|---|---|---|
| Ibn Qutayba[2] | d. 276 H / 889 AD | In his description of the southern region beginning at al-Qubba (p. 73), he writes: «وبعد الرئال النعامات، وهي خمسة كواكب على تربيع النعش. وعلى إثرها الأدحى، وهي كواكب مستديرة على قدر دارة القمر» — “After al-Riʾāl come al-Naʿāmāt: five stars arranged like the quadrilateral of al-Naʿš. After them comes al-Udḥī: stars arranged in a circle approximately the extent of the lunar halo.”[12][13] |
| Al-Ṣūfī[10] | d. 376 H / 986 AD | In his chapter on Cetus, he names the group and identifies its stars by catalogue number: «وتُسَمِّي الخمسةَ التي على بدنه، وهي الثاني عشر والثالث عشر والرابع عشر والخامس عشر والسادس عشر: النَّعَامَ والنَّعَامَاتِ أيضًا» — “And [the Arabs] also call the five on its body [the body of Cetus]—the twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth—al-Naʿām and al-Naʿāmāt.” His count of five agrees with Ibn Qutayba’s. Elsewhere he names al-Ḍifdiʿ al-Thānī (no. 22) and, in the River, al-Ẓalīm, al-Riʾāl «وهي فراخ النعام», and Udḥī al-Naʿām with al-Bayḍ wa’l-Qayḍ. |
| Ibn al-Ṣūfī[11] | d. after 400 H / 1010 AD | In the Cetus passage of the Urjūza: «أَرْبَعَةٌ هُنَّ عَلَى مُرَبَّعَهْ … فَسِيحَةٌ رُقْعَتُهَا مُتَّسِعَهْ ‖ يَنْأَيْنَ عَنْهُ نَحْوَ خَمْسِ قَامَاتْ … تَعْرِفُهَا الأَعْرَابُ بِالنَّعَامَاتْ» — four form a broad, spacious quadrilateral, about five qāmāt from the preceding star, and are known to the Bedouin as al-Naʿāmāt. The verse attests the name and describes the four-star quadrilateral; it need not exclude a fifth star outside that figure. |
Identification
Al-Ṣūfī identifies the group with Cetus nos. 12–16, collectively described as “the five on its body”. His individual catalogue entries, however, describe nos. 12–14 as the three stars in the body and nos. 15–16 as the two at the root of the tail.
| Ṣūfī no. | Description | Translation | Bayer | HR | HIP | V |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | الوسط من الثلاثة التي في البدن | The middle of the three stars in the body | τ Cet | 509 | 8102 | 3.5 |
| 13 | الجنوبي منها | The southernmost of them | υ Cet | 585 | 9347 | 4.0 |
| 14 | الشمالي من الثلاثة (Baten Kaitos) | The northernmost of the three | ζ Cet | 539 | 8645 | 3.7 |
| 15 | التالي من اللذين عند أصل الذنب | The rearmost of the two stars by the section next to the tail | θ Cet | 402 | 6537 | 3.6 |
| 16 | المتقدم منهما | The more advanced of them | η Cet | 334 | 5364 | 3.5 |
The five stars have apparent visual magnitudes of about 3.5–4.0. They stand out from some of the fainter members of the wider sequence described by Ibn Qutayba.
Spatial Configuration
The following measurements use positions precessed to 850 AD. Four of the five stars form a quadrilateral, with υ Cet to the south as the fifth:
| Side | Al-Naʿāmāt | Bowl of al-Naʿsh | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | η–θ 4.40° | γ–δ UMa 4.53° | |
| 2 | θ–ζ 7.08° | β–γ UMa 7.90° | |
| 3 | ζ–τ 6.02° | α–β UMa 5.41° | |
| 4 | τ–η 11.07° | δ–α UMa 10.17° | |
| fifth star | τ–υ 5.81° | — |
'Ibn Qutayba’s description «على تربيع النعش» thus admits a specific geometric comparison with the four-star quadrilateral of al-Naʿsh in Ursa Major. The corresponding sides are similar in scale, differing by less than one degree in each case.
Alternative Asterism: The five qāmāt
The Urjūza places the group about five qāmāt from al-Kaff al-Jadhmāʾ. On the calibrated scale set out at Terminology of the Anwāʾ Books, one qāma is about 3.2 dhirāʿ, or approximately 6.5°; five qāmāt correspond to approximately 32.3°. The angular distances from al-Kaff al-Jadhmāʾ (λ Cet) to the proposed member stars are:
| Star | From λ Cet |
|---|---|
| ζ Cet | 25.67° |
| θ Cet | 29.27° |
| τ Cet | 30.99° |
| υ Cet | 33.40° |
| η Cet | 33.63° |
The centre of the group lies 29.99° from λ Cet. The measured distances are broadly consistent with the verse’s approximate five-qāma separation on the proposed calibrated scale.
Discussion
The entire chain survives in one source; the asterism does not depend on it. Al-Marzūqī and al-Ṯaqafī preserve the southern sequence only as far as al-Riʾāl. Neither contradicts ibn Qutayba’s continuation, but the surviving texts do not establish why their accounts stop there. The asterism itself has independent support: al-Ṣūfī records its name and identifies its five stars.
The figure is geometrically testable. Because al-Naʿš has an identifiable quadrilateral, Ibn Qutayba’s comparison can be checked against the proposed stars. Their quadrilateral closely resembles that of al-Naʿš in scale and side lengths, lending support to his description of the group.
IAU Working Group Star Names
In 2026, Alnaamaat or Naamaat was suggested as possible star name for η Cet, a member of the historical asterism al-Naʿāmāt.
WGSN decided in ... 202x to name ... ...
Weblinks
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 لسان العرب، ابن منظور (توفي 711 هـ)
Ibn Manẓūr (d. 711 H / c. 1312 AD), Lisān al-ʿarab. - ↑ 2.0 2.1 أبو محمد عبد الله بن مسلم ابن قتيبة الدينوري المتوفى سنة 276هـ - 879م، كتاب الأنواء في مواسم العرب، دائرة المعارف العثمانية، حيدر أباد، الهند، 1375 هـ - 1956م.
Ibn Qutayba al-Dīnawarī, Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh b. Muslim (d. 276 H / 889 AD), Kitāb al-Anwāʾ fī Mawāsim al-ʿArab, Dāʾirat al-Maʿārif al-ʿUthmāniyya, Hyderabad, 1375 H / 1956 AD. - ↑ الإمام أبو علي أحمد بن محمد بن الحسن المرزوقي (توفي سنة 421 هـ)، الأزمنة والأمكنة، تحقيق د. محمد نايف الدليمي، عالم الكتب، بيروت، لبنان، 1422 هـ.
Al-Marzūqī, Abū ʿAlī Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan (d. 421 H / 1030 AD), Al-Azminah wa-l-Amkinah, ed. Muḥammad Nāyif al-Dulaymī, ʿĀlam al-Kutub, Beirut, 1422 H. - ↑ عبد الله بن حسين بن عاصم الثقفي (توفي 403 هـ)، الأنواء والأزمنة، تحقيق: د. نوري حمودي القيسي، د. محمد نايف الدليمي، دار الجيل، بيروت، لبنان، 1416 هـ.
Al-Ṯaqafī, ʿAbd Allāh b. Ḥusayn b. ʿĀṣim (d. 403 H / c. 1013 AD), Al-Anwāʾ wa-l-Azminah, ed. Nūrī al-Qaysī and Muḥammad Nāyif al-Dulaymī, Dār al-Jīl, Beirut, 1416 H / 1996 AD. - ↑ Hyde, Thomas. Tabulæ Longitudinis ac Latitudinis Stellarum Fixarum. Oxford: Henry Hall, 1665.
- ↑ Ideler, Ludwig. Untersuchungen über den Ursprung und die Bedeutung der Sternnamen. Berlin, 1809.
- ↑ Al-Ṣūfī, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. ʿUmar. Description des étoiles fixes, translated with notes by H. C. F. C. Schjellerup. St Petersburg, 1874.
- ↑ Allen, Richard Hinckley. Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning. Dover edition, 1963.
- ↑ Kunitzsch, Paul. Untersuchungen zur Sternnomenklatur der Araber. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1961.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 أبو الحسين عبدالرحمن بن عمر الرازي المعروف بالصوفي (المتوفى سنة 376 هـ/986م)، كتاب صور الكواكب الثمانية والأربعين، الطبعة الأولى بمطبعة مجلس دائرة المعارف العثمانية، حيدر أباد الدكن، الهند، 1375 هـ - 1954 م.
Al-Ṣūfī, Abū al-Ḥusayn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. ʿUmar (d. 376 H / 986 AD), Kitāb Ṣuwar al-Kawākib al-Thābitah, Dāʾirat al-Maʿārif al-ʿUthmāniyya, Hyderabad, 1954 AD. - ↑ 11.0 11.1 أرجوزة الكواكب لأبي علي الحسين بن عبد الرحمن بن عمر الرازي المعروف بابن الصوفي (ت بعد 400 ه، 1010م)، تحقيق خالد بن عبد الله العجاجي.
Poem of the stars by Ibn al-Ṣūfī (died after ~ 400H, 1010AD): Critical edition with commentary by Khalid al-Ajaji, digital edition, 2021. - ↑ The expression على تربيع النعش compares the pattern with the quadrilateral of al-Naʿsh in Ursa Major. It should not be translated only as “in the pattern of a bier”.
- ↑ The expression على قدر دارة القمر refers to approximately the extent of a lunar halo, not the apparent diameter of the Moon’s disk. The proposed identification of al-Udḥī includes η Eridani, π Ceti, π1, π2, π3, and π4 Ceti, together with adjacent stars; the proposed configuration spans approximately 13°.
