M. (Page 212.) The Origins.
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Goldziher, Ignác and Martineau, R. (Russell)
As an example of this, I may mention that, in opposition to the Biblical Myth of Civilisation, which brings the planting of the vine into connexion with Noah, the Rabbinical Agâdâ makes even Adam enjoy the fruit of the vine, which was the forbidden fruit of Paradise.[774] The Mohammedan legend names the Canaanitish king Daramshil, contemporary with Noah, as the first wine-drinker, saying that he was the first who pressed and drank wine: auwal man-iʿtaṣar-al-chamr washaribahâ.[775] I also observe in passing that a feature of the Noah-legend of the Arabs which is mentioned in my article quoted below, viz. longevity, seems to have a connexion with the old Solar myth. Long life distinguishes the posterity of Adam in Genesis, and reaches its maximum in Methuselah. The longevity which in the popular belief, especially in Italy, is ascribed to the Cuckoo (A. de Gubernatis, p. 519) is accounted for by its solar character in the myth. Noah’s longevity passed into a by-word in Arabic: ʿumr Nûḥ ‘the length of life of Noah.’ In the writings of the poet Ruʾbâ we find—
Faḳultu lau ʿummirtu ʿumra-l-ḥisli * au ʿumra Nûḥin zaman-al-fiṭaḥli,
‘I said, If I were made to live the lifetime of the lizard or the lifetime of Noah at the time of the flood.’[776] Marzûḳ al-Mekkî says, in a poem to Moḥammed al-Amîn: Faʿish ʿumra Nûḥin fî surûrin wa-ġibṭatin, ‘Live the lifetime of Noah in joy and comfort’ (Aġânî, XV. 67. 4); and similarly Abû-l-ʿAlâ (Saḳṭ al-zand, I. 65. v. 4.):
Fakun fî-l-mulki yâ cheyra-l-barâyâ * Suleymânan fakun fî-l-ʿumri Nûḥâ.
‘Then be in the government, O best of created beings, a Solomon, and be in length of life a Noah.’ And we also find in Ḥâfiẓ:[777]
Come, hand me here the gold-dust, victorious for ever; be it poured,
That gives us Ḳârûn’s treasures rich and Noah’s age for our reward.
But a collateral reason for Noah being made a special example of longevity may be found in the South-Semitic signification of the verb nôch. In Ethiopic Noah is called Nôch, and the verb denotes longus fuit. And in an Ethiopic poem (in Dillmann’s Chrestomath. Aethiop., 111. no. 13. v. 1) it is said of Methuselah’s longevity, ôzawahabkô nûch mawâʿel la-Matûsâlâ.