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”
Tag Archives: foreign language
Dictionary Finds: Collocations of شقّ
جَوّ root: ج-و-و / noun / plural: أَجْواء / definition: air, atmosphere I try to evoke, in my physical spaces, an air of refreshing minimalism. My bedroom walls, for example, are washed in white and bare, save the two (white) floating shelves and narrow (white) floating desk that quite subtly jut out along one side.Continue reading “Dictionary Finds: Collocations of شقّ”
Arabic Observations: “Seeking” in Arabic and Turkish
لُغَويّ root: ل-غ-و / nisba adjective / definition: linguistic I’ve been toying with the idea of writing this Arabic Observations post for a while, but I was unsure whether it’s too small of an observation to be added to this series. I’ve since concluded, however, that no linguistic observation is too small to be noted.Continue reading “Arabic Observations: “Seeking” in Arabic and Turkish”
The End, the Middle, and the Beginning
أُفُق root: ء-ف-ق / noun / plural: آفاق / definition: horizon Today, I was conducting the Arabic oral exams for my second-year students and it became apparent that I have some residual anxiety from my undergraduate days as I felt nervous for them. They seemed chilled in comparison, which I’m happy about. This sort ofContinue reading “The End, the Middle, and the Beginning”
Unearthed Vocabulary
مَهجور root: ه-ج-ر / passive participle of form I / definition: abandoned Anyone who’s visited the Vocabulary page on this blog recently may have found themselves feeling as though they’d stumbled upon a long-abandoned site, with the ominously-hopeful message “More vocabulary lists coming soon!” an echo of a curious past that makes you wonder whatContinue reading “Unearthed Vocabulary”
The Wind, and a Wandering Mind
ريح root: ر-و-ح / noun / plural: رِياح / definition: wind I was watching an episode of Karadayı last week, my favourite Turkish series, and two phrases related to the wind came up in quick succession: In these sayings, the wind—whether rüzgâr (a word derived from Persian) or yel (a Turkic word)—appears as an activeContinue reading “The Wind, and a Wandering Mind”
Quinquiliteral Arabic Roots
خُماسيّ root: خ-م-س / adjective / definition: consisting of five consonants I have just a matter of hours before I’m due to catch a flight, and an unexpected nap earlier means that I’m now two to-dos behind on my to-do list, with writing this post being in prime position. Anyhow, you’ve read about my obsessionContinue reading “Quinquiliteral Arabic Roots”
Dictionary Finds: جِفتلِك
نَفَس root: ن-ف-س / noun / plural: أَنْفاس / definition: breath For the first time in a while, I feel like I can take a breath. And I can feel my creativity, whose absence I’ve been mourning for the past few weeks, rushing back as though floodgates have suddenly been lifted. What a relief!
Dictionary Finds: ماخِرة
عام root: ع-و-م / noun / plural: أَعْوام / definition: year We’re some days into 2023 now, around the time where resolutions begin to break down and the glossy new year starts to feel like any other. Except, of course, for those who didn’t bother with resolutions, determined to avoid failure at all costs. ButContinue reading “Dictionary Finds: ماخِرة”
Morocco, Darija, and Tifinagh
الدّارِجة root: د-ر-ج / noun / definition: colloquial language spoken in North Africa I’ve just returned from my one-week holiday in Agadir, and I’m slowly and reluctantly adjusting to the notable lack of heat and sunshine in London, with my already-fading tan and henna sweet reminders of my Moroccan stay. While I managed to tickContinue reading “Morocco, Darija, and Tifinagh”
Reading Arabic Literature: An Interesting (?) Structure
تَرْكيب root: ر-ك-ب / verbal noun of form II / plural: تَراكيب / definition: (grammatical) construction If it seems like the last post in the Reading Arabic Literature series was almost a year ago… that’s because it was, unfortunately. (January, apparently?!) And this doesn’t mean I haven’t been reading any Arabic literature—because as you mightContinue reading “Reading Arabic Literature: An Interesting (?) Structure”
Resource: Arabic Literature Podcast
حَلْقة root: ح-ل-ق / noun / plural: حَلَقات / definition: episode I’m rushed off my feet this week and to top it off, I have an important deadline lying menacingly in wait on the footstep of Friday evening when it will, assuredly, catch me off-guard and drag me into the lair of panic that I’veContinue reading “Resource: Arabic Literature Podcast”
Verbal Nouns of Hollow Roots
مَصْدَر root: ص-د-ر / noun / plural: مَصادِر / definition: verbal noun, source Back in June, when we looked at the different types of Arabic roots, we mentioned that hollow roots are those with either و or ي as the middle letter. Like ق-و-ل and غ-ي-ر. Verbal nouns (مصادر) derived from hollow roots sometimes followContinue reading “Verbal Nouns of Hollow Roots”
The Verb يتسبّب and its Prepositions
مُتَنَوِّع root: ن-و-ع / active participle of form V / definition: various In one of the examples in Arabic Observations: Words with Antonymic Meanings, we saw how changing the preposition following a verb could produce two completely opposite meanings. While the meaning of the form V verb تَسَبَّبَ / يَتَسَبَّبُ doesn’t change that drastically, it stillContinue reading “The Verb يتسبّب and its Prepositions”
Distance and Perspective
بُعْد root: ب-ع-د / noun / plural: أَبْعاد / definition: distance, dimension So I’m back from my one-week solo trip to Istanbul which was perfect on all fronts. To feel so immersed in history, culture, spirituality… and to be there with my thoughts alone… was simply unbeatable. With every step I took through the palaces,Continue reading “Distance and Perspective”
Arabic Observations: The Eye and Other Water Sources
عَيْن root: ع-ي-ن / noun / plural: عُيون أو أَعْيُن / definition: eye, spring Here we are with another post in the Arabic Observations series, and this one starts with the word عَين (“eye”). When you look up عَين in the dictionary and scoot your finger across a little from its first definition, you’ll landContinue reading “Arabic Observations: The Eye and Other Water Sources”
Form I Active Participles of Geminate Roots
مُضَعَّف root: ض-ع-ف / passive participle of form II / definition: doubled, geminate As we saw in the post Arabic Roots: the Different Types, geminate roots are those whose final two letters are the same. Like م-س-س or ح-ر-ر. When it comes to the form I active participle of geminate roots then, we might expect itsContinue reading “Form I Active Participles of Geminate Roots”
Arabic Observations: الإتباع
إتباع root: ت-ب-ع / verbal noun of form IV / definition: to make something follow something else It was a long time ago when I first realised that a linguistic phenomenon that occurs in various languages—like my heritage language, Turkish—can also be found in Arabic. Now I wish I could remember the exact Arabic exampleContinue reading “Arabic Observations: الإتباع”
Dictionary Finds: ناهيك
ناهٍ root: ن-ه-ي / form I active participle / definition: prohibitive Under certain words in the dictionary, we find a list of their various usages—some collocations, some phrases. ناهٍ—which is a form I active participle from a defective root, ن-ه-ي (hence the kasratayn ending)—is one example of this.
What’s the Difference Between ابن and بن?
اِبْن root: ب-ن / noun / plural: أَبْناء or بَنون / definition: son Having finished my master’s, I took myself to the Tate Modern last week and wandered around the galleries and the exhibitions I’d booked to see. I was clearly inspired by the trip because I picked up my paintbrush again a few eveningsContinue reading “What’s the Difference Between ابن and بن?”
The Arabic Pages 