Brewer's: Stony Arabia

A mistranslation of Arabia Petræa, where Petræa is supposed to be an adjective formed from the Greek petros (a stone), and not, as it really is, from the city of Petra, the capital of the Nabathæans. This city was called Thamud (rock-built). (See Yemen.)

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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