Birdhaun البرذون

Al Birdhaun البرذون / was suggested as an Arabian star name. al-Birḍawn is indeed an Arabic word « le Cheval de somme ». It is quoted in Laffitte (2012) from historical dictionaries, e.g. Allen (1899) but likely accidentally invented by one of his sources.

Etymology and History

Provenance

• Abu Ma'ashar in Kitāb al-Mudḫal al-kabīr, does not have it
• al-Battānī, al-Ṣūfī and al-Bīrūnī: no mention.
• Allen (1899) in the discussion of Lupus pg 278 - 279 says this: "Caesius said that in Persia it was Bridemif, but Hyde, commenting on p279 this from Albumasar, asserted that the word should be Birdūn, the Pack-horse, and was really intended for the Centaur."
• Introductorium astronomiam Albumasaris, ed. 1506, and checked the texts of Scaliger, Grotius and Caesius: no one actually gives al-birḍun but only Caesius indicates Bredemis.
• Golius gives in Lexicon Arabico-Latinum, page 286 : al-Birdawn = jumentum. So, whether or not it was inserted into Hyde‘s work, it is unlikely that this author, any more than his predecessors, invented this name.

Laffitte (2012)

• al-Birḏawn: épithète utilisée pour la partie cheval du Centaure dans un texte arabe classique
• pour Centaurus chez al-Ṣūfī > ‘Birdun’, Hyde, cité par Allen. Birdun, Pultar, Al Birdhaun, h2g2.
• perhaps a name for ε Cen, a 2.29 mag star in Centaurus.

IAU Working Group Star Names

The name was proposed to for the IAU-CSN in 2025 following a discussion of other star names in the region. The WGSN decided neglect it, since its provenance is questionable at best.

Reference

Ibn Qutayba al-Dīnawarī, Abū Muḥammad ʿAbdallah b. Muslim. 1956. Kitāb al-anwāʾ (fī mawāsim al-ʿArab). Hyderabad: Maṭbaʿat Majlis Dāʾirat al-Maʿārif al-ʿUthmāniyya.

Kunitzsch, Paul. 1961. Untersuchungen zur Sternnomenklatur der Araber. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz.

al-Ṣūfī, Abū al-Ḥusayn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. ʿUmar. 1981. Kitāb ṣuwar al-kawākib al-thamāniya wa al-arbaʿīn. Beirut: Dār al-Āfāq al-Jadīda.