ARABIC NAMES OF STARS (8th S. xii. 143, 317).—A long list of stars may be found in the 'Orient Guide,' fourth edition, and a shorter one in the fifth edition.  Col. Prideaux's "edh" puzzles me.  He objects to Mr. Wilson's using German forms, so he himself uses French forms.  Here are translations made directly from the Arabic in English forms:—
    "Deneb," or "al Deneb," the tail.
    "Algol," properly "al ghol," the horror; the sphinx is called "Abu al ghol," the father of horror.
    "Denebola" is a corruption of "Deneb al Asad," the lion's tail.
    "Dejaj," in Egyptian Arabic "dagag," means a fowl.
    "Altair," the eagle, or any flying bird.  "Gibel al Tair" occurs in many places as well as Gibraltar.
    "Betelgeuse," or "Betelgeux," is a corruption of "beyt al agus," the old man's home.  The star was supposed by Arab travellers to rise over their old home in Arabia.  In Egypt only the feminine form of "agus" is used.
    "Fom al haut," the fish's mouth.
    "Rigol," or "Rijl," means a leg.  Our "wriggle" is by some derived from it.
    W.J. LOFTIE. (Notes & Queries, v.12, 1897)