... The Deglet Noor is by no means common in the Sahara, and according to Masselot it was carried about two hundred and forty years ago from the oasis of Temassin near Tougourt, where it originated, to the oases of southern Tunis.  It had then been known in Temassin only about sixty years, so the variety is about three centuries old.  Masselot gives the following account of its origin as told by the Arabs: "A revered saint, Lella Noora, had the habit of making daily ablutions at a point in the oasis of Temassin called "Bliden-Amar."  A seed sprouted fortuitously at this point and produced a palm of a new sort of degal (soft date) which was called degal ennoura or deglat ennour in remembrance of the saint."  Most authorities derive the name from the Arabic noor "light" and "degal or "deglet," "soft date," meaning "the date of the light" or "the transparent date." (The Date Palm &c., Swingle, 1904)