LessonsFamiliar and Distinctive Metaphor: Obvious Resemblance and Artful RarityQuiz

وإذا احتبى قربوسه بعنانه
And when the front of his saddle, with its rein, seems to assume the posture of iḥtibāʾ.

The verb iḥtabā properly evokes a human adopting a particular bound sitting posture. Here it is attributed to the saddle pommel. The saddle does not literally gather its knees; the wording describes the visual pattern formed by the rein.

Both the unexpected attribution and the finely constructed resemblance make the expression a distinctive metaphor. The point is a recoverable but uncommon picture, not an arbitrary verbal puzzle.

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Borrowing the verb “wrapped himself in a seated posture”

Familiar and Distinctive Metaphor: Obvious Resemblance and Artful Rarity

وإذا احتبى قربوسه بعنانه
And when the front of his saddle, with its rein, seems to assume the posture of iḥtibāʾ.

The verb iḥtabā properly evokes a human adopting a particular bound sitting posture. Here it is attributed to the saddle pommel. The saddle does not literally gather its knees; the wording describes the visual pattern formed by the rein.

Both the unexpected attribution and the finely constructed resemblance make the expression a distinctive metaphor. The point is a recoverable but uncommon picture, not an arbitrary verbal puzzle.