dance of boors:

reference to a country dance or kermis often in a barn or outside a village tavern, a not uncommon subject for painting of village life; a boor is a country bumpkin, rustic or yokel.  Dance is of course an aspect of imitation, which Spengler associated to life, Time and direction.  He connected rural life with the Culture-Springtime and its gradual disappearance with Civilization- Autumn.

 

minstrel’s lay:

a short narrative or other poem, especially one to be sung; a minstrel was a medieval poet & musician who sang or recited while accompanying himself on a stringed instrument, either as a member of a noble household or as an itinerant troubadour.  Poetry recitation or song is an aspect of imitation, which Spengler associates with life, Time and direction.  He connected rural life with the Culture-Springtime and its gradual disappearance with Civilization- Autumn.

 

Tzigane music:

as Tzigane is often used as an alternative for Gypsy this wold refer to Gypsy music

 

squinch-cupola:

a squinch in architecture is a construction filling in the upper angles of a square room so as to form a base to receive an octagonal or spherical dome such as a cupola, which is a dome, often covering a circular or polygonal area.

 

string instruments (origins Arabia or Celtic Britain):

the rebec was a popular stringed instrument in Medieval European between the 13th & 16th centuries.  Its introduction into Western Europe coincided with the Arabic conquest of the Iberian Peninsula.  It was adopted as a key instrument in Arab classical music & in Morocco it was used in the tradition of Arabic-Andalusian music.  There is however no consensus between musicologists on the roots Western string instruments.

 

Spengler raises similar questions regarding the roots of the late Roman dome (possibly from the Etruscans) and the Florentine court (from N African Moors).  In all of these questions his point is that the origin of the technique or idea is of much less consequence then understanding the idea or concept in relation to the Prime Symbol.  Even if Western stringed instruments were derived from a foreign Culture (e.g. Magian) the key factor is their relation of the Prime Symbol not their origins.  The same hold true for the dome & Florentine court.  It is the techniques or concepts expression of the Prime Symbol not its roots, which is fundamental to understanding a culture.