اِخْتِيار root: خ-ي-ر / form VIII verbal noun / definition: choosing I spent hours of the day yesterday—following a strong PhD-productive push in the morning—building a shelving unit that represents our latest bid to increase storage space in the home we already feel like we’re growing out of. I, just to clarify, am a loverContinue reading “Arabic-Turkish Observations: İhtiyar and خِتيار”
Tag Archives: foreign language
Academic Arabic: Birth Years and Birthplaces
إهْمال root: ه-م-ل / form IV verbal noun / definition: neglect It’s another Academic Arabic post this week because, frankly, too many weeks had passed without one and I feel guilty for my neglect. Plus, it’s back-to-uni season and I’m sure you want something to spice up your academic writing and/or show off your eliteContinue reading “Academic Arabic: Birth Years and Birthplaces”
Academic Arabic: The Early, and the Late
قاسِم root: ق-س-م / form I active participle / definition: divider, partition August and September passed like a swift breeze and now winter no longer feels far to reach—especially if (like I was taught) you count November as the start of the season. I remember asking my husband if he liked Kasım—meaning “November”, in Turkish—asContinue reading “Academic Arabic: The Early, and the Late”
Adverbs of Return: The Origins of أيضًا and عادةً
آضَ root: ء-ي-ض / form I, past tense verb / definition: to return Did you know that the Arabic adverbs أَيْضًا (“also, too”) and عادةً (“usually”) are derived from roots with the same core meaning? What is the core meaning linking them? And why? Let’s take a look.
Arabic-Akkadian Roots: ء-خ-ذ and و-ل-د
حَجْز root: ح-ج-ز / form I verbal noun / definition: booking, reserving Independently organising a three-week trip for four people across multiple cities—with international and internal flights, cross-country trains, five hotels, and jam-packed itineraries (plus sudden cancellations and panicked rebookings)—made me want to curl up in a suitcase and cry. Dry sobs on a warmContinue reading “Arabic-Akkadian Roots: ء-خ-ذ and و-ل-د”
Dictionary Finds: غُطَيطة
غُطَيْطة root: غ-ط-ط / diminutive noun / definition: fog I overslept this morning. Upon rising: a foggy, rainy sky, and a suspiciously clear mind. Is there a term for the inverse of pathetic fallacy? What do we call it when my brain fog has ventured into the sky and its cloudlessness has migrated into myContinue reading “Dictionary Finds: غُطَيطة”
Arabic Observations: ج and the Body
جَسَد root: ج-س-د / noun / plural: أَجْساد / definition: body We’ve looked at word twins before—that is, two words with the same meaning that differ only in a single letter, like ضَجّة and لَجّة, or بُقْعة and رُقْعة, or سَهِرَ and سَهِدَ. But there’s more to the story; synonyms carry similar sounds in differentContinue reading “Arabic Observations: ج and the Body”
Dictionary Finds: Lawlessness and the Last Child
جَريمة root: ج-ر-م / noun / plural: جَرائِم / definition: crime What do youngest siblings have in common with lawlessness? A few ideas might spring to your mind (although I, as the youngest child myself, see no relation whatsoever…). But Arabic dictionaries hold the two definitions under the same term. Let’s see why.
A New App: ArabyBuddy
تَطْبيق root: ط-ب-ق / form II verbal noun / plural: تَطْبيقات / definition: app, application I n three Tuesdays it’ll be autumn—but no one has time to dwell on that because, here in London, we’re being pulled into the swell of a fifth heatwave and our fridge is still full of pink-red watermelon. So, we’reContinue reading “A New App: ArabyBuddy”
Arabic’s Chameleon Words: قام
أَجْوَف root: ج-و-ف / adjective / definition: hollow Two weeks ago, in one of our Academic Arabic posts, we looked at the form I, hollow verb قامَ which—when followed by بِـ—means “to carry out or undertake”. But قام holds many meanings. And its meaning in any given place is dictated by the semantic and syntacticContinue reading “Arabic’s Chameleon Words: قام”
The Many Meanings of وَ
فَلَك root: ف-ل-ك / noun / plural: أَفْلاك / definition: celestial orbit July is waning and August, only four moonrises away, awaits expectantly. And I, in four new moons, reach 29 (or 30, Turkish-ly speaking) and all this talk of moons is sending me into an orbital spin. Whatever that may mean. And speaking ofContinue reading “The Many Meanings of وَ”
Academic Arabic: Carrying Out, Conducting, Doing
كادَ root: ك-و-د / form I past tense verb / definition: almost When was the last time I wrote an Academic Arabic post? Too long ago, clearly, because I almost forgot this series existed. But since my memory has been jogged, we’re getting back into it. And today, we’re looking at two widely-applicable Arabic verbsContinue reading “Academic Arabic: Carrying Out, Conducting, Doing”
Dictionary Finds: Come Rain or Shine
يَصيفُ root: ص-ي-ف / form I present tense, hollow verb / definition: to be summery It’s mid-July. Summer’s peak. And while most have their faces stubbornly positioned in a fan’s airpath, my own spectacled one has been nestled warmly into the dictionary’s pages. It seems that, come rain or shine, my mind will always beContinue reading “Dictionary Finds: Come Rain or Shine”
Arabic Observations: Warm Hearts, Cool Eyes
قُرّ root: ق-ر-ر / noun / definition: cold, coolness I’ve been napping a lot lately. Sometimes two or three times a day. My body feels heavy with a fatigue that pulls down my eyelids and drags my centre of gravity to the nearest flat surface to search for rest in the land of nod. ButContinue reading “Arabic Observations: Warm Hearts, Cool Eyes”
Exploring Time in the Arabic Dictionary: “Season”
هَنْهونة root: ه-ن-ه-ن / noun / definition: lullaby Tuesday’s early-hours London sky boomed and ignited in thunderstorm, and I—with my passionate affection for summer storms—heard the rumbles and roars as cradlesong and slipped effortlessly back into sleep after dawn prayer. I was, however, mildly fearful that the “triangle of death” would fly into my room;Continue reading “Exploring Time in the Arabic Dictionary: “Season””
Same Rule, Another Noun: عِزون
مَعْرَج root: ع-ر-ج / noun of place / plural: مَعارِج / definition: place or route of ascent Over a year ago, in Non-Human Nouns, Human Plurals, we explored some non-human nouns that—unexpectedly—take on sound, masculine plural forms (which are usually reserved for nouns referring to humans). Think: سِنون and عالَمون and أولون. Or, with a differentContinue reading “Same Rule, Another Noun: عِزون”
Four Shared Words for Camels in Arabic and Akkadian
إبِل root: ء-ب-ل / collective noun / definition: camels I learnt a new phrase this weekend, from an Arabic-speaking guy who drove three hours to an underwhelming event and told us: أَكَلْنا خازوق. Basically, as my husband put it, it means he took an L. In other words, “we’ve been done”. Or, in ever-so-slightly-less colloquialContinue reading “Four Shared Words for Camels in Arabic and Akkadian”
Dictionary Finds: Zaʿtar, Saʿtar, and Ṣaʿtar
مِسْكين root: م-س-ك-ن / noun / plural: مَساكين / definition: poor thing If you know me in-person, you’ve probably been fortunate enough to be an unwilling spectator and/or listener to my gleeful blabbering about some dictionary find or linguistic observation. This weekend, my husband—yet again, مسكين…—was in the line of fire as I gushed aboutContinue reading “Dictionary Finds: Zaʿtar, Saʿtar, and Ṣaʿtar”
Fifteen Form XII Verbs in the Arabic Dictionary
اِصْطِناعي root: ص-ن-ع / nisba adjective / definition: artificial Since the rise of the AI search, the number of views my blog gets has tripped and faltered. It makes sense. Sometimes I myself type a grammar question into Google and—lo and behold—the AI overview summarises an answer (from none other than The Arabic Pages, theContinue reading “Fifteen Form XII Verbs in the Arabic Dictionary”
Five Arabic Terms for the Bedouins
وَبَر root: و-ب-ر / noun / plural: أَوْبار / definition: the fur of camels and goats Throughout my twenties, I’ve carried a sort of sign-up-and-see-what-happens attitude. I’ll sign up to lead a workshop or run a marathon or join a summer school abroad, etcetera, and then just follow the path of fate. Sometimes, though, IContinue reading “Five Arabic Terms for the Bedouins”
