Dictionary Finds: The Thursday Before الخميس

خَميس

root: خ-م-س / noun / definition: Thursday

Last Thursday marked my move into my twenty-ninth year of life, which makes me twenty-eight in some cultures and twenty-nine in others—and makes me closer to twenty-one in my head.

But it’s not like numbers really matter. Except in the case of the days of the week in Arabic of course, where Sunday is one day (الأَحَد) and so on until we reach the fifth, Thursday (الخَميس).

(I’m reminded of Joey from Friends whose Monday was one day but somehow Thursday was third…)

But let’s get back to الخميس, because before Thursday was titled the fifth day of the week, the dictionary tells us this day had another name.

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Reading Arabic Literature: Settling in and Heading Back

اِسْتِقْرار

root: ق-ر-ر / form X verbal noun / definition: settling down, stability

For the past month, studying productively (and at all) has been a struggle. I’ve been settling into a new life and trying to settle back into a study routine—at a time that my annual, late-autumn sleepiness lulls me into cognitive numbness.

I’m fighting that numbness by forcing myself to engage with reading through not-worth-mentioning ways, and rebuke myself for drinking that sleep-inducing hot chocolate before my study session today.

I’m currently working on the second main chapter of my PhD, which means returning to a novel I’ve mentioned several times before in my posts.

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Arabic Observations: Reflections on حصحص and the Truth

اِستِطْراد

root: ط-ر-د / form X verbal noun / definition: digression

I was browsing my notes on Notion, seeking inspiration for today’s post, when one little word pulled at my eyelashes and demanded attention.

So the title thus began to take form, and I headed to the dictionary where my semantics addiction took hold and dragged me into an unstoppable, thunderous orchestra of cerebration and digression.

But before we digress, let’s… gress. (Words both inspire and fail me.) Let’s start from where my thoughts sprung: حَصحَصَ.

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Exploring Time in the Arabic Dictionary: “the Future”

اللّامَعْنى

root: ع-ن-ي / compound abstract noun / definition: meaninglessness

The clocks went back the day before yesterday and, like every year, it feels like someone somewhere switched off the warming daylight and left us in a cold, dark wintertime.

I think about how a shift of just an hour changes so much, and I wonder whether that speaks to the significance or meaninglessness of counting time.

And with that seed planted, we circle back to our Exploring Time series. This time, we’ll look ahead to the future, المستقبل.

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Uncontactable and Unread

اِختِفاء

root: خ-ف-ي / form VIII verbal noun / definition: disappearance

For those who have found me almost uncontactable—of whom I must mention: journal co-editors, my Akkadian teacher, and dear friends whose messages lie in wait in my Whatsapp unreads—I apologise for my unexplained disappearance.

You see, there was an unexpected meeting. Then, a chosen date; then rings exchanged; then a move to somewhere new. Now: here I am, on a balcony overlooking city lights and my suitcase only half-unpacked.

A whirlwind is probably the only way to describe it and I’m still swirling.

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Arabic Headline Analysis #11

صَديقة

root: ص-د-ق / feminine noun / plural: صَديقات / definition: friend

Has it really been over a year since I last wrote an Arabic headline analysis? My archives nod “yes” and guilt sinks me into my chair.

I think of my friend who was the inspiration behind both the headline analysis and literature translation series—posts with word-by-word breakdowns and guidance for putting everything together to get something that resembles a logical sentence.

Because between un-vowelled words and Arabic grammar complexities, meanings can sometimes get lost for us students.

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Seventeen Arabic Words for Peace

سَبْعة

root: س-ب-ع / noun / definition: seven

Only seven days to go, I remind myself, willing away the days but craving more hours. I’m restless with the wait, yet overwhelmed by all I need to get done before next Tuesday.

Despite the dull pangs of stress in my head, my heart is at peace with everything. And I realise I’ve been using that word—peace—a lot in my conversations.

Just as art imitates life, this blog mirrors my thoughts. So today I decided to write a synonyms post, looking at some words in Arabic that mean “peace”.

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Journeys with Arabic: Mohammed N.

خَريف

root: خ-ر-ف / noun / definition: autumn

It’s that time of year, as September dips into the mid-autumn of October, that I start worrying about the narrowing window of daylight and almost-inevitable wintery mood that draughts in through closed curtains.

And if I weren’t so distracted by the spring of a new season in my life, I’d already be blanketed by a premonition of sombreness.

But away from my own seasonal reflections, I thought it’s time—again—to bring a new voice to the blog. And this time, I reached out to someone whose Arabic notes I, once upon a time, embarrassingly misread.

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Arabic Observations: Solace Through Forgetting

التَّأَمُّل

root: ء-م-ل / form V verbal noun / definition: reflection, contemplation

I’ve been in a reflective mood lately. And it’s the type of reflection that is directly opposed to productivity rather than one that drives it: consuming, daydreamy, paralysing.

As such, it made sense for me to write a reflective post today, adding to our Arabic Observations—a series I’m particularly fond of.

And this reflection begins on page 498 of the Hans Wehr…

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A Useful Structure: ما إن ـــــ حتى ـــــ

إبْريق

root: ب-ر-ق / noun / plural: أَباريق / definition: teapot, jug

With the pouring of a never-emptying teapot and the stealing of smiling glances, another Sunday passed and this week has left me in unfamiliar but exciting territory.

I served the dolma and wondered if any of the leaves had gotten stuck between my teeth. I run my tongue, now, over a new name in my mouth and re-count grains of rice.

I lose focus and start again.

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