دَوْر root: د-و-ر / noun / plural: أَدْوار / definition: role What’s new? Well, quite a lot. I’ve found myself, as we tick through month one of twenty-twenty-six, switching between several roles—with my work placement, consultation sessions, study, and new endeavours. (I also keep meaning to set a date for my workshop; let me knowContinue reading “New Hats, and More Wednesday Writings”
Tag Archives: foreign language
Exploring Time in the Arabic Dictionary: “Autumn”
ضَباب root: ض-ب-ب / noun / definition: fog, mist It’s never great to have brain fog. It’s even worse if someone else suggests you have it. And more so if your brain doesn’t feel particularly foggy and you start to question what “symptoms” the other person noticed… And then, all of a sudden (the sameContinue reading “Exploring Time in the Arabic Dictionary: “Autumn””
Reading Arabic Literature: Back to ذا
خُبْز root: خ-ب-ز / collective noun / definition: bread After much anticipation, I’ve finally started my work placement with an Arabic literary magazine. I spent the day with head tucked into laptop, pausing now and then to graze on the delicious flour-free muffins I’d made at 7am and—now—I remind myself that I said I’d startContinue reading “Reading Arabic Literature: Back to ذا”
A Word from the Saudi Dialect: بزران
مَزْرَعَة root: ز-ر-ع / noun / plural: مَزارِع / definition: farm, plantation In Medina, the week before last, we’d wandered off-path and through-open-gate into someone’s land. Unknowing trespassers, our eyes took in the palm trees, running water, greenery. And then—oops—the someone whose land it was walked over and asked how we got in. It wasContinue reading “A Word from the Saudi Dialect: بزران”
What’s the Difference between Form II and Form IV Verbs?
سَبَبِيّة root: س-ب-ب / abstract noun / definition: causality You probably already know that different Arabic verb forms point to different general meanings. For example, form X verbs refer to seeking something, and form VII indicates that the verb meaning is passive. But have you noticed that form II (فَعَّلَ / يُفَعِّلُ) and form IVContinue reading “What’s the Difference between Form II and Form IV Verbs?”
An Eastern Dialect, a Return to the Peninsula
شَرقِيّ root: ش-ر-ق / nisba adjective / definition: eastern It’s funny. In the summer, I was preparing to spend my winter studying in Jeddah, but ended up cancelling my plans for one reason and the other. And now we’re nearing the end of December, I’m here in Jeddah—on completely different terms. I’m on a four-cityContinue reading “An Eastern Dialect, a Return to the Peninsula”
Three Arabic Words for “Sleeplessness”
سَهْران root: س-ه-ر / adjective / definition: sleepless Here I sit, nearby suitcase half-packed with un-ironed clothes, and I remember that it’s been a while since our last post in the synonyms series. In fact, it was over two months ago—so, before my move—that I wrote Seventeen Arabic Words for Peace and my thesaurus-inclined mind cravesContinue reading “Three Arabic Words for “Sleeplessness””
Winter, Visas, Bowl
صَحْن root: ص-ح-ن / noun / plural: صُحون / definition: bowl, dish In case any one of you hadn’t noticed that daylight hours have dwindled to their almost-minimum: it’s winter. (And if you actually hadn’t noticed, I apologise for being the bearer of this heavy news.) That is, of course, unless you’re over on theContinue reading “Winter, Visas, Bowl”
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”
Dictionary Finds: A Form XIV Verb
نادِر root: ن-د-ر / adjective, form I active participle / definition: uncommon, rare As they say, one discovery in the dictionary leads to another. So that’s why—for the second week in a row—I couldn’t resist adding to the Dictionary Finds series. And this time, our dictionary find brings us back to an uncommon triliteral verbContinue reading “Dictionary Finds: A Form XIV Verb”
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 weekContinue reading “Dictionary Finds: The Thursday Before الخميس”
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’mContinue reading “Reading Arabic Literature: Settling in and Heading Back”
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”
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 IContinue reading “Exploring Time in the Arabic Dictionary: “the Future””
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 chosenContinue reading “Uncontactable and Unread”
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 peaceContinue reading “Seventeen Arabic Words for Peace”
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 inContinue reading “Journeys with Arabic: Mohammed N.”
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”
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 myContinue reading “A Useful Structure: ما إن ـــــ حتى ـــــ”
A Final Call, a Third Year
نِداء root: ن-د-و / noun / plural: نِداءات / definition: call, public announcement If you saw four dishevelled passengers racing through Istanbul Airport to catch their transfer flight and making it just before their gate closed on Saturday evening… that was me and my family. Gate F1—why did you have to be so far. AContinue reading “A Final Call, a Third Year”
The Arabic Pages 