Kuyūthā () is the cosmic bull in medieval Islamic cosmography. It is said to carry on its back the angel who shoulders the earth and the rock platform upon which the angel stands. The bull is said to stand on the giant fish or whale, Bahamut.
The bull is variously described as having 40,000 horns and legs, or as many eyes, ears, mouths and tongues in the oldest sources. The number of appendages can vary in later versions. Its breathing is said to control the tides of the ocean.
Kīyūbān () or Kibūthān () also appear in printed editions of Qazwini's cosmography. These have been claimed to be corruptions of Leviathan (). Alternate names include Al-Rayann.
Kuyootà, Kuyoothán were forms of the name as transcribed by Edward Lane, and given as Kuyata (Spanish), Kujata (first English translation, 1969), and Quyata (revised English translation) in various editions of Jorge Luis Borges's Book of Imaginary Beings.
Orthography
"Kuyootà" was Edward Lane's transcription of the beast's name according to an Arabic source not clearly specified. This became "Kuyata" in Jorge Luis Borges's El libro de los seres imaginarios (originally published as Manual de zoología fantástica, 1957). Then in its first English translation Book of Imaginary Beings (1969) it was further changed to "Kujata", and then to "Quyata" (in the 2005 translation).
Kuyūta is yet another spelling in print, re-transcribed from Lane. Kujūta was given by Thomas Patrick Hughes's Dictionary of Islam.
"Kuyūthā" appears in a copy of al-Qazwini's cosmography and as "Kīyūbān () or Kibūthān" () in Wüstenfeld's 1859 printed edition of al-Qazwini. These names are said to be corrupted text, and have been emended to "Leviat[h]an" (), by German translator Hermann Ethé.
"Kuyoothán" is an alternate spelling from the source Lane identifies as Ibn-Esh-Shiḥneh, which was some manuscript Lane had in his possession.
and .
Rakaboûnâ is one variant name for the bull, as read from some manuscript of Al-Damiri (d. 1405) by French Dr. Nicolas Perron, though the original text has al-thawr Kuyūtha (, 'the bull Kuyūtha'. Cairo ed. of 1819) Al-Rayann is the name of the bull as it appears in Muḥammad al-Kisāʾī (ca. 1100)'s version of the Qiṣaṣ al-Anbiyā’ ("Tales of the Prophets"). A reshaping of its nature must have occurred in Arab storytelling, some time in the pre-Islamic period. One proposed scenario is that a pair of beasts from the bible were confused with each other; the behemoth mis-assigned to the fish, and the aquatic leviathan to the bull.
Derivation
Lūyātān () was the bull's reconstructed correct name in Arabic according Hermann Ethé's notes. Accordingly, he translates the bull's name as Leviathan in his German translation of Qazwini.
Other commentators such as have also stated that the bull derived from the biblical Leviathan, much as the name of the Islamic cosmic fish Bahamut derived from the biblical Behemoth.
Lane's summary
Borges relied on Islamic traditional cosmography as summarized by Edward Lane in Arabian Society in the Middle Ages (1883).
Lane's summary of Arabic source explains that "Kuyootà" was the name of the bull created by God to hold up a rock of "ruby", on which stood an earth-propping angel. God created the angel, rock, then the bull in that order according to this source, then a giant fish called Bahamut to sustain the bull underneath. Before this, the earth was oscillating in wayward directions, and all these layers of support were needed to achieve stability.
The bull had 4,000 eyes, ears, noses, mouths, tougues, feet, according to Lane's summary, but the number is 40,000 eyes, limbs, etc. in several (older) Islamic sources, as discussed below.
Arabic sources
Kuyūthā is the name of the bull in the text of al-Qazwini (d. 1283)'s popular cosmography, The Wonders of Creation. This approximates Lane's spelling "Kuyootà". There exist a multitude of "editions" and manuscripts of al-Qazwini, which vary widely.
Al-Damiri (d. 1405) on authority of Wahb ibn Munabbih, is one source he specifically named as being used by Lane, in his summary. This so-called al-Damiri's account is considered to be a mere later redaction of al-Qazwini's cosmography printed on the margins, and it may be noted that in Qazwini's account, Wahb ibn Munabbih acts as narrator. A translation of Al-Damiri into French was undertaken by Nicolas Perron. The bull's name was however "Rakaboûnâ" (Rakabūnā) in al-Damiri, according to Perron's translation.