Happy Arabʹia

A mistranslation of the Latin Arabia felix, which means simply on the right hand—i.e. to the right hand of Al-Shan (Syria). It was Ptolemy who was the author of the threefold division Arabia Petrœa, miscalled “Stony Arabia,” but really so called from its chief city Petra; Arabia Felix (or Yemen), the south-west coast; and as for Arabia deserta (meaning the interior) probably he referred to Nedjaz.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.