'Attābi, Atābi and their Meanings in Persian and Arabic languages

The two words 'Attābi and 'Atābi have been recited in the works of some Persian poets such as a verse in one of Saadi’s odes. The authors of the Persian dictionaries have generally considered 'Attābi as a cloth that a person called 'Attab had produced it, or a cloth had woven in one of Baghdad's neighborhoods known as 'Attābiyya (al-'Atābiyya). It seems a misunderstanding has occurred here and there is basically a relation between the name of this striped cloth - 'Attābi- and the original meaning of the word 'Attāb as it applies in the word al-Hemār al-'Attabi (Zebra) in Arabic texts. Reminding the viewpoint of 'Allameh Qazvini about this matter, in present study, and providing some evidences from pre-12th century Arabic and Persian texts we have shown that Saadi had paid attention to the Arabic and Persian works before him using 'Atābi Garment and 'Attabi Donkey and had used both words 'Attābi and 'Atābi according to their background.