A survey of the meanings and supportive quotations of the word “Kaniseh” [Jewish Temple] in Persian and Arabic texts

Besides its well-known use in the sense of “Jewish temple”, the word “kaniseh” has also been used in the sense of “sunshade” during a certain period or in certain local dialects: both as a sunshade that protects wagon passengers from rain and the sun as well as the projecting addition build to the top of a building façade. “Kaniseh” in latter meanings rarely appears in Persian and Arabic texts. Apparently because they have been used locally or regionally, lexicographers have paid less attention to them. The rare application in earlier books of kaniseh in these secondary meanings have caused them to appear as strange and unknown to book emenders, increasing the possibility of misreading. In the present article, by citing examples from literary and religious texts as well as word-books, we have discussed the meanings of kaniseh, and pointed out several instances where scholars, translators and editors of Persian and Arabic texts, from the Erudite (Allameh) Mohammad Qazvini to Shakir Luaybi, have gone wrong in reading or comprehending the meanings of this word.