إهْمال
root: ه-م-ل / form IV verbal noun / definition: neglect
It’s another Academic Arabic post this week because, frankly, too many weeks had passed without one and I feel guilty for my neglect.
Plus, it’s back-to-uni season and I’m sure you want something to spice up your academic writing and/or show off your elite linguistic knowledge in class.
We’ve all probably used and heard of the standard passive phrase “وُلِدَ في” (“to be born in”) in biographies. But did you know there are two more-elevated phrases to introduce when and where someone was born?
Let’s take a look:
مِن مَواليد
مِن مَواليد literally translates as “among the ones born [in]”. We can use it to introduce both the place and year of someone’s birth. Like this:
الكاتِب الشَّهير مِن مَواليد 1975
the famous author was born in 1975
Or:
الكاتِب الشَّهير مِن مَواليد دِمَشْق
the famous author was born in Damascus
مَسقَط رَأسِه/رأسِها
We first saw the phrase مَسقَط الرَّأس in Wehr Wednesdays #108. It literally translates as “the place where one’s head fell” (a pretty interesting depiction of birth), and simply means “birthplace“.
(Note how the first noun in this idaafa phrase is a noun of place!)
Here’s two examples:
نَشَأَتْ في مَدينةِ الرِّياض، التي هي مَسقَط رَأسِها
she was raised in Riyadh, where she was born
And:
عادَ إلى مَسقَطِ رَأسِهِ لِلدِّراسة
he returned to his birthplace to study
And there we have it. Two more ways to show your teacher that you can write and talk with effortless sophistication.
Which other phrases have you come across in academic contexts recently that you found interesting? I’d love to hear about them!
!إلى اللقاء
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