بُرْهان root: ب-ر-ه-ن / noun / plural: بَراهين / definition: proof It seems that I’ve unintentionally created a new series of posts this Ramadan, and now I can’t help but add to it. We’ve been looking at variations of ذلك/تلك in the Qur’an—specifically, how these demonstratives are modified with pronoun suffixes: But things don’t endContinue reading “Arabic Observations: ذانِكَ”
Category Archives: arabic observations
Arabic Observations: تِلكَ and تِلكُما and تِلكُم
التَّوْطين root: و-ط-ن / form II verbal noun / definition: to grant citizenship Ten-thousand-and-something days after my birth, Cyprus has finally acknowledged my existence. I can’t blame them for not granting me citizenship earlier though, as—well, how could they have known me? I was born in a London borough and have, since then, spent aContinue reading “Arabic Observations: تِلكَ and تِلكُما and تِلكُم”
Arabic Observations: ذلكَ and ذلكِ and ذلكُم
مُنْتَشِر root: ن-ش-ر / form VIII active participle / definition: widespread, ubiquitous We all know ذٰلِكَ. And how could we not? It’s that ubiquitous demonstrative pronoun meaning “that”. But have you also heard of ذٰلِكِ and ذٰلِكُمْ? Because those are demonstrative pronouns too—but ubiquitous? Not so much. More like rare, actually. So, where can weContinue reading “Arabic Observations: ذلكَ and ذلكِ and ذلكُم”
Arabic Observations: The Cross-Linguistic-ness of “Eating” a Beating
الضَّرْب root: ض-ر-ب / form I verbal noun / definition: beating, hitting I left the house this morning, planning to attend the 10:30am sit-down-and-write session at my university. But after window-(and actual)-shopping in Regent Street, I bought myself a matcha oat latte (why does everything have oats in nowadays?) and decided to work from aContinue reading “Arabic Observations: The Cross-Linguistic-ness of “Eating” a Beating”
Arabic Observations: The Root of Falling, and Love
مَهْوًى root: ه-و-ي / noun of place and time / plural: مَهاوٍ / definition: abyss I love little linguistic crossovers between languages. The ones where we find that two or more languages, far-removed in terms of place and origin, express a particular concept through the same semantic lens. Maybe I love them because they revealContinue reading “Arabic Observations: The Root of Falling, and Love”
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 andContinue reading “Arabic Observations: Reflections on حصحص and the Truth”
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 toContinue reading “Arabic Observations: Solace Through Forgetting”
Arabic Observations: Returning to مُحيط
إعادة root: ع-و-د / form IV verbal noun / definition: return, re- In the past few days, I reconnected with someone I haven’t seen in eleven years. And it made me reflect on the reasons why we return to our past—or why it returns to us. And in terms of ideas, one theme I keepContinue reading “Arabic Observations: Returning to مُحيط”
Hidden Form V Verbs in the Qur’an
مَخْفيّ root: خ-ف-ي / adjective / definition: hidden, concealed Last week, I attended an online talk about developing a writing system for Cypriot Arabic. As a Cypriot linguist who’s studying Arabic, I kind of couldn’t miss it. I hadn’t realised, though, that it was a “camera-on” event—so I quickly threw on a headscarf and smoothedContinue reading “Hidden Form V Verbs in the Qur’an”
Arabic Observations: Retracing and Narrating
بُقْعة root: ب-ق-ع / noun / plural: بُقَع / definition: stain Someone noted last night that I often wear white. And a matter of minutes later, sat in that Uyghur restaurant in Central London, an orange stain of noodle sauce had menacingly bloomed on the referred-to dress, front and centre. It was tempting—in that moment—toContinue reading “Arabic Observations: Retracing and Narrating”
Arabic Epiphanies in Akkadian Class: خلق, the Rule of 12, and 19 Verb Forms
خَلَقَ root: خ-ل-ق / form I verb / definition: to create I’ve taken on a few new projects recently which have made for an exciting–albeit very busy—week. My tranquil Monday mood helped me to take everything in my stride… and the giant pizza over a business dinner didn’t hurt mood-wise either. But in between reviewingContinue reading “Arabic Epiphanies in Akkadian Class: خلق, the Rule of 12, and 19 Verb Forms”
Arabic Observations: زوج and جوز
القَلْب root: ق-ل-ب / form I verbal noun / definition: transposition, alteration Something in this library is producing a noise that sits halfway between the whine of a hungry mosquito and the never-ending, impalpable ring of tinnitus, in both sound and annoyingness. I feel like it’s the fluorescent light directly above my head but letContinue reading “Arabic Observations: زوج and جوز”
Arabic-Turkish Observations: Imprinting
بَصْمَة root: ب-ص-م / noun / plural: بَصَمات / definition: imprint, impression This will probably be the last post I write on this laptop of mine, which has been slowly spiriting away in recent times after having survived with me through the second half of the pandemic, a remote job, a master’s degree, a fewContinue reading “Arabic-Turkish Observations: Imprinting”
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 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”
Arabic-Akkadian Observations: talmīd, تِلميذ, and a Lost Root
مَهرَقان root: ه-ر-ق / noun / definition: ocean, related to “spill” Yesterday, the two writing prompts my friend messaged me triggered a flood—okay, more like a small spill—of creativity. Inspiration at last! (“This could be a line in a novel,” she said, “Save the sentence”!) And something else, a certain Akkadian word, inspired me recentlyContinue reading “Arabic-Akkadian Observations: talmīd, تِلميذ, and a Lost Root”
Arabic and Akkadian Case Endings
إعْراب root: ع-ر-ب / form IV verbal noun / definition: inflection Thanks to an unexpected but very welcome email from one of my Akkadian teachers I met during my summer course, I’m happily resuming my Akkadian language studies this week! I wrote about some of the Arabic-Akkadian lexical similarities I noticed back in July, butContinue reading “Arabic and Akkadian Case Endings”
Arabic-Turkish Observations: the Mediterranean Sea
أَبيَض root: ب-ي-ض / adjective / definition: white Anyone who knows both Turkish and Arabic might have realised that the terms for the Mediterranean Sea in both languages include the word “white”: we have Akdeniz in Turkish, and البحر الأبيض المتوسّط in Arabic. But the reasons this sea is described as “white” in these twoContinue reading “Arabic-Turkish Observations: the Mediterranean Sea”
Some Arabic-Akkadian Lexical Observations
أَكّادي root: ء-ك-د / nisba adjective, noun / definition: Akkadian For the past week, I’ve been intensively studying Akkadian as part of the three-week Ancient Languages of Anatolia program, run by the Koç University Research Center for Anatolian Civilisations (ANAMED). And when I say intensively, I mean it: I feel like I’ve studied the equivalentContinue reading “Some Arabic-Akkadian Lexical Observations”
Arabic Observations: the True Meanings of Poetry
اِرتِباط root: ر-ب-ط / form VIII verbal noun / plural: اِرتِباطات / definition: connection, link During one of your sessions journeying through an Arabic dictionary, you might have stumbled upon the entry for شِعْر, and maybe you also noticed how it has two primary meanings: knowledge and poetry. (You’ll find quite a nice phrase underContinue reading “Arabic Observations: the True Meanings of Poetry”
The Arabic Pages 