Author Archives: thearabicpages

Using إيّا and an Object Pronoun

مُقابَلة root: ق-ب-ل / noun / plural: مُقابَلات / definition: interview I woke up very early on Monday morning to a sprawling breakout across my forehead and scratches across my chest that weren’t there the night before—two signs telling me I was stressed. Not that I didn’t know it, because I had a 7:30am interviewContinue reading “Using إيّا and an Object Pronoun”

Five Arabic Words Meaning “Nightmare”

فَوْضى root: ف-و-ض / noun / definition: chaos I’ve just emailed a wonderfully chaotic draft of a PhD chapter to my supervisor who, if he’s reading this post, might scoff at the word “wonderfully” coming anywhere near the mention of that calamitous document—the second half of which is a roaring pandemonium of red font andContinue reading “Five Arabic Words Meaning “Nightmare””

Travelling and Teaching as an Anxious Introvert

قَلَق root: ق-ل-ق / noun / definition: anxiety I just returned last night from my second solo trip—this time: a week in Qatar. I’m often surprised, being that I’m a habitually-anxious introvert, that I can force myself out of my comfort zone far enough that I actually find peace in that space beyond. “Why aren’tContinue reading “Travelling and Teaching as an Anxious Introvert”

Andalusi Arabic: to Revive or Not to Revive?

إحْياء root: ح-ي-و / form IV verbal noun / definition: revival Every so often and very suddenly, a linguist (and I’m specifically talking about myself) gets ludicrously preoccupied with researching an extinct language or dialect and dreamily sketches out a grandiose plan to revive it… which, of course, firstly includes learning it. It’s partly delusion—butContinue reading “Andalusi Arabic: to Revive or Not to Revive?”

One-Letter Imperatives in Arabic

أَناقة root: ء-ن-ق / noun / definition: elegance, grace Modelling is tough work, I thought as I posed as a muse for my photographer friend who was practising using her new camera. And by posing, what I mean is that I was walking through Central London in the evening at 0.25x speed with an expressionContinue reading “One-Letter Imperatives in Arabic”

Post-Sleep Linguistic Observations and Finds

عَشْوائي root: ع-ش-و / adjective / definition: random I was introduced to the beauty of Babylonian names in a recent Akkadian class and have grown mildly obsessed with the idea of naming my future child (or pet… perhaps a terrapin) with something like May I See Your Light in Akkadian, which I might have toContinue reading “Post-Sleep Linguistic Observations and Finds”

Arabic Words for “Perhaps”

أَمَل root: ء-م-ل / noun / plural: آمال / definition: hope I’ve been feeling a sense of peace recently that had remained elusive for a while. Or maybe I mean a sense of relief. Perhaps it’s to do with the fact that some internal pressure has been lifted, and my mind isn’t beating me upContinue reading “Arabic Words for “Perhaps””

Arabic Observations: Another Collection of Word Twins

مَجْموعة root: ج-م-ع / noun / plural: مَجموعات / definition: collection, group In Akkadian class last week, we learnt that mut (“husband”) plus the possessive pronoun suffix –ša (“her”) join to form mussa, in a phonological process triggered when the š finds itself snuggled up next to a dental or sibilant phoneme. Our teacher alsoContinue reading “Arabic Observations: Another Collection of Word Twins”

Reading Arabic Literature: Struggling to Connect

جَهْد root: ج-ه-د / noun / plural: جُهود / definition: effort, struggle Procrastination is an odd thing. You see, I’ve been busy with the academic reading I need to get through in order to write my PhD literature review, but I’ve partially busied myself with that because reading the second novel I’m supposed to analyseContinue reading “Reading Arabic Literature: Struggling to Connect”

Five Dual Nouns Meaning “the Sun and the Moon”

قَمَر root: ق-م-ر / noun / plural: أَقمار / definition: moon, satellite We usually use dual nouns in Arabic to refer to two of the same thing. Like يَومان, “two days”, and مَكتَبَتان, “two libraries”. But sometimes, the dual is used to refer to two things that are usually mentioned together—like the Sun and theContinue reading “Five Dual Nouns Meaning “the Sun and the Moon””