قاسِم
root: ق-س-م / form I active participle / definition: divider, partition
August and September passed like a swift breeze and now winter no longer feels far to reach—especially if (like I was taught) you count November as the start of the season.
I remember asking my husband if he liked Kasım—meaning “November”, in Turkish—as a name. I mentioned how it’s derived from the Arabic word قاسِم (“divider”), and how November is considered the divide between autumn and winter. And how, of course, it’s my birth month and Mum always used to call me a winter baby.
He said no.
But anyway, seeing as we’re on the topic of time, I have one or two little additions to our Academic Arabic series.
In academic contexts, when referencing a time period, these two words might crop up: أوائِل and أَواخِر.
They mean “early” and “late“, respectively, and I come across them most often when preceding a decade. Like this:
وما تَغَيَّرَ الوَضْعُ السِّياسي حَتّى أَوائِلِ الخَمسينات
and the political situation didn’t change until the early 50s
(Note: الخمسينات and other decades may also be written with an additional ي, e.g. الخمسينيات!)
قَدْ أَصبَحَ تَيّارًا شائِعًا في أَواخِرِ الثَّمانينات
it had become a popular trend in the late 80s
We might also see these words in the context of a season, century, or age:
تَحَوَّلَ الرَّأْيُ العامُ بِسُرعةٍ في أَوائِلِ الصَّيفِ قَبلَ الاِنتِخابات
public opinion shifted quickly in early summer before the elections
كُتِبَتْ هذه المَجموعةُ في أَواخِرِ القارنِ التاسِع عَشَر
this collection was written in the late 19th century
كانَت في أَواخِرِ العِشرينات مِن عُمرِها
she was in her late 20s
Why not try using the words أوائل and أواخر in your next essay, writing practice, or presentation? That’s the way vocab sticks!
!مع السلامة
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