Seven Arabic Terms for “Twilight”

غائِب

root: غ-ي-ب / form I active participle / definition: absent, third person (gramm.)

Writing about yourself in the third person always feels strange. And when I think of “third person”, I always think of Attila İlhan’s poem and then I feel even stranger.

But I had to set that strangeness aside and rewrite my translator bio which, from last summer, had already become outdated… as though I myself had become a stranger—

Okay, I’ll stop now. Let’s get on with the post. And we’re back with the synonyms series.

I don’t remember why I decided to write a post on Arabic words for “twilight” today. Maybe I’ve been looking out of the window too much, or maybe I’m nostalgic for those vampire films.

Anyway, shall we begin?

شَفَق

twilight, evening glow, aurora

غَسَق

evening twilight, dusk

غَبَش

morning twilight

دَغَش

twilight, dusk

Let me briefly interrupt this list for the sake of two notes:

Firstly—have you noticed how the first four words on this list contain a lot of the same letters? And both غ and ش appear in three out of four of them. Interesting.

Secondly—see Wehr Wednesdays #76 for a verbal phrase related to دغش!

Okay, back to the list…

جَيْش المَساء

evening twilight, dusk

(This one can be read literally as “army of the evening”; although, I think جيش here is more of a reference to the notions of simmering and brewing from its root…)

سَدَف

twilight, dusk

فَجْر

morning twilight, dawn

Now that I’m thinking about it, I could have turned this post into an Exploring Time in the Arabic Dictionary one. But it’s too late now and—anyway—I’ve missed doing these synonym posts.

Have I missed any words off of the list? Do you know any other Arabic words or phrases meaning “twilight”?

!إلى اللقاء.. ورمضان مبارك