(*) Al-Ansab, fol. 548a; Nuzhat al-alba, p. 390; Mujam al-udaba, 5/45–51; al-Lubab, 3/281; Inbah al-ruwat, 1/121–124; Wafayat al-ayan, 1/148; Tarikh al-Islam, 4:223/1–2; Tadhkirat al-huffaz, 4/1276; Talkhis Ibn Maktum, p. 19; al-Wafi bil-wafayat, 7/326–328; Mirat al-jinan, 4/223; al-Bidaya wa-l-nihaya, 12/149; Tabaqat Ibn Qadi Shuhba, fol. 99; Bughyat al-wua, 1/356–357; Miftah al-saada, 1/124–125; Kashf al-zunun, cols. 974, 1597; Shadharat al-dhahab, 4/58; al-Falaka wa-l-maflukun, p. 99; Rawdat al-janat, p. 80; Hadiyat al-arifin, 1/175; Idah al-maknun, 1/94 and 2/45. (1) The nisba derives from Maydan Ziyad ibn Abd al-Rahman, a quarter of Nishapur. (2) Al-Safadi notes that the work contains six thousand proverbs. It is said that when Abu al-Qasim al-Zamakhshari examined it, he envied the elegance of its arrangement, took up a pen, and added a nun to the word “al-Maydani,” turning it into “al-Naymadani,” which in Persian means “one who knows nothing.” When al-Maydani discovered this, he retaliated by changing the mim in Zamakhshari’s name to a nun, producing “al-Zankhashari,” which in Persian means “a man who sells his wife.” (3) Among his verses are: “Dawn-breaths of grey hair blew into the night of my temples; I hoped it would stop at my beard alone. When it spread, I reproached it; it answered: ‘Has anyone ever seen a dawn without a day?’” And: “O liar who has become a marvel— Indeed, what a marvel you are! With a single word you can utter Seventy falsehoods in one breath. People likened you to their Arqub When they saw you borrow his style; But I replied: no, he is a liar— Arqub himself could not reach his own Arqub!” Sources: Mujam al-udaba 5/48–50; al-Wafi 7/327.