The Nileside pace of life is nonchalant, the small pastel-painted villages ramshackle, and the weather dry- until Friday.
-New York Times, November 15, 2021, reporting on an infestation of scorpions in Nubia following heavy rains
I was confused. I knew the word for Spider, ‘Ankabūt, and for Scorpion, ‘Aqrab, but when I sat on the wooden bed frame laced tight with rope, what they called an ‘Angrayb, the same as they called the constellation Orion, I thought they were teasing me, that I was about to be bitten. Now I know that ‘Angrayb derives from the word ‘Angray in the Nubian language, so that explains why I couldn’t find it in Wehr or Lane.