E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Happy Arab’ia.
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.
