حَصاد root: ح-ص-د / form I verbal noun / definition: to harvest Last week left me exhausted. So I spent the weekend wearily harvesting whatever grains of energy I’d managed to sow, and trying hard to herd unwieldy guilt into the back of my mind. I’ve noticed I tend to write step-by-step literature translation postsContinue reading “Step-by-Step Arabic Literature Translation #16”
Tag Archives: arabic literature
Resource: Free Arabic e-Books
مَجّانًا root: م-ج-ن / adverb / definition: for free, without charge Saying I had “errands to run” this morning feels very grown-up. Then I remember I’m 27, and I am a grown-up. I somehow feel like my twenties are round-two of being a toddler: here I am, bobbing about, experiencing every new first with pitifulContinue reading “Resource: Free Arabic e-Books”
Step-by-Step Arabic Literature Translation #15
قَيْلولة root: ق-ي-ل / noun / definition: nap It must be this autumnal weather that’s breezed into mid-summer like an uninvited guest that has me seeking out daytime naps all of a sudden. Maybe I’m squirrelling away energy so I can cope with the gloom. But I’ll claw myself away from another micro-hibernation long enoughContinue reading “Step-by-Step Arabic Literature Translation #15”
Step-by-Step Arabic Literature Translation #14
دِفْء root: د-ف-ء / noun / definition: warmth December has brazenly blustered in with its frost and chill and here I am, sitting at my desk with my right foot pressed against the radiator beside me, hoping for a semblance of warmth to spread to the rest of my body. I may as well typeContinue reading “Step-by-Step Arabic Literature Translation #14”
Step-by-Step Arabic Literature Translation #13
اِستِسلام root: س-ل-م / form X verbal noun / definition: surrender I was torn this week between: writing about Arabic-Akkadian case endings; adding to the Uncommon Arabic Words for… series; and dedicating my time to a step-by-step literature translation. As you can see from the title, I settled on the third option. It only seemedContinue reading “Step-by-Step Arabic Literature Translation #13”
Strangeness and a Summer of Reading
غَريب root: غ-ر-ب / adjective / definition: strange Orhan Pamuk’s A Strangeness in My Mind has been sitting on the tiny, just-enough-space-for-tea-and-a-book shelf beside my bed, having remained unopened for far too long after I’d got into it and read a decent amount. I’m not sure why it’s hard for me to pick it backContinue reading “Strangeness and a Summer of Reading”
Step-by-Step Arabic Literature Translation #12
طَبيعة root: ط-ب-ع / noun / definition: nature My appointment to reconnect with nature is approaching and it can’t come soon enough. I’ve been feeling sort of anxiously suspended between buildings and roads here in London and—whilst local parks have been somewhat of a refuge from all things grey—sandy beaches, turquoise waters, and sunshine areContinue reading “Step-by-Step Arabic Literature Translation #12”
Step-by-Step Arabic Literature Translation #11
مُواصَلة root: و-ص-ل / verbal noun of form III / definition: continuation This week we’re continuing on from last week’s literature translation where we went through the first part of our extract:
Step-by-Step Arabic Literature Translation #10
سِكّين root: س-ك-ك / noun / plural: سَكاكين / definition: knife As September swept in, I made a resolution to read more in both English and Arabic. Novels, specifically, because I miss getting lost in them as I used to. And I’ve now, for various reasons, found myself in a situation where I have multipleContinue reading “Step-by-Step Arabic Literature Translation #10”
Step-by-Step Arabic Literature Translation #9
حَقيقة root: ح-ق-ق / noun / plural: حَقائِق / definition: reality, truth Well, well, well… it’s been quite a while since we had a literature translation post, hasn’t it? (On consulting the calendar, that “while” appears to be nearly six months—time must have taken a shortcut somewhere…) Time anxiety aside, in this post we’ll beContinue reading “Step-by-Step Arabic Literature Translation #9”
Step-by-Step Arabic Literature Translation #8
سيرة root: س-ي-ر / noun / plural: سِيَر / definition: biography For this post in the literature translation series, we’ll be going word-by-word through a non-fiction excerpt, taken from بغداد: سيرة مدينة (Baghdad: Biography of a City) by the Iraqi writer نجم والي (Najem Wali).
Step-by-Step Arabic Literature Translation #7
مُؤَلِّف root: ء-ل-ف / noun / plural: مُؤَلِّفون / definition: author, writer We’re adding to the literature translation series this week—it’s been a while!—with a short excerpt from عائد إلى حيفا (Returning to Haifa) by غسان كنفاني (Ghassan Kanafani).
Step-by-Step Arabic Literature Translation #6
شاعِر root: ش-ع-ر / noun / plural: شُعَراء / definition: poet For today’s addition to the literature translation series, I’ve chosen some lines from a poem that really had an impact on me the first time I read it. And that’s because the poet’s words are not confined to a poem. Instead, they unsettlingly foreshadowContinue reading “Step-by-Step Arabic Literature Translation #6”
Step-by-Step Arabic Literature Translation #5
شَمس root: ش-م-س / noun / plural: شُموس / definition: sun Welcome back! For our fifth post in the literature translation series, we’re taking a look at an excerpt from the famous novel رجال في الشمس (Men in the Sun) by the Palestinian writer غسان كنفاني (Ghassan Kanafani).
Step-by-Step Arabic Literature Translation #4
اِستِعارة root: ع-و-ر / noun / plural: اِستِعارات / definition: metaphor And… we’re back with the fourth post in the literature translation series! This time, we’re going through an excerpt from another poem: مَسرَح (Theatre) by الصادق الرضي (Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi), whose poetry I previously mentioned in this post.
Step-by-Step Arabic Literature Translation #3
قَصِيدَة root: ق-ص-د / noun / plural: قَصائِد / definition: poem You may remember me mentioning Badr Shakir al-Sayyab previously, when I used a quote from a poem of his to exemplify one of the Four Synonyms for “to Begin to” in Arabic. And—unsurprisingly, I suppose, considering my dissertation was centred around his poetry—al-Sayyab’s works wereContinue reading “Step-by-Step Arabic Literature Translation #3”
Step-by-Step Arabic Literature Translation #2
رِوايَة root: ر-و-ي / noun / plural: روايات / definition: novel Note: this is part two of the previous Step-by-Step Arabic Literature Translation, so if you haven’t read that one yet, you might want to start with that first! We’ll keep this introduction short because it’s safe to assume this will be a very longContinue reading “Step-by-Step Arabic Literature Translation #2”
Step-by-Step Arabic Literature Translation
أَدَب root: ء-د-ب / noun / plural: آداب / definition: literature The shift from simplified pieces of writing in Arabic textbooks to your first encounter with an Arabic novel can will be intimidating. You’ll likely note (amidst your “mild” panic at the sheer amount of words between your hands that you’ll have to mentally decipher)Continue reading “Step-by-Step Arabic Literature Translation”
The Arabic Pages 