Al-Darini

Overview

Al-Darini (al-Dārīnī) is the nisba to Dārīn, the anchorage on the island of Tārūt off the eastern coast. Yāqūt gives it as a port of al-Baḥrayn, and both he and Lisān al-ʿArab record what made the name proverbial: misk Dārīn, the musk of Dārīn, so called because the ships carrying it from the east put in there and the perfume took the name of the harbour it was landed at, not of any place it was made.

Three routes to one shape

The shorter form al-Dārī is where the difficulty sits, and the classical books give it more than one sense. In Lisān al-ʿArab al-dārī is the ʿaṭṭār, the seller of perfume, and the lexicographers derive the trade-name from Dārīn itself and its musk. Separately, al-Dārī is the nisba of Banū al-Dār, a house reckoned to Lakhm, where the name has nothing to do with the island. And thirdly dār is the ordinary word for a dwelling, so al-Dārī can be built on that with no reference to either. Three unconnected routes end at nearly one written shape, and only a source naming which is meant will separate them. The extended al-Dārīnī is the one form that points to the port unambiguously, which is precisely its value.

Names easily confused

Beside al-Dārī, note al-Dārimī, a nisba to the personal name Dārim, which is a different word again and not a variant of these.

Bearing the name

A toponymic family name records a place an ancestor was attributed to — born there, settled there, known by it — as the name was applied to him, not a lineage. It attaches to no tribe, and two families bearing it need have no connection to one another beyond the place itself.