Tag Archives: foreign language

“Gaza! Gaza! Gaza!”: Life Through Literature

غَزّة root: غ-ز-ز / proper noun / definition: Gaza A tidal wave of sleep overwhelmed me late yesterday afternoon, with its undercurrents pulling me further into the depths of somnia until I washed up on the shores of wakefulness this morning and listlessly stretched my way out of bed. I basked in the sun forContinue reading ““Gaza! Gaza! Gaza!”: Life Through Literature”

Reading Arabic Literature: Thinking Back

التَّمْر root: ت-م-ر / collective noun / definition: dates Akkadian class flew by this week as we ate dates and drank (only mê, water, not karān-am, wine) all in order to learn new vocabulary and begin talking about our daily routines. I noted how the Akkadian word for “star”, kakkab-um, mirrors the Arabic كَوكَبٌ, kawkab-un,Continue reading “Reading Arabic Literature: Thinking Back”

A Summer School, Sardinia, and Spent Ink

حِبْر root: ح-ب-ر / noun / definition: ink Never have I veered so close to spontaneity before. It was a Thursday morning and I had just applied for a linguistics summer school—without realising that it was due to start just four days later in Sardinia’s capital, and that the deadline had passed weeks before. Somehow,Continue reading “A Summer School, Sardinia, and Spent Ink”

Arabic’s Chameleon Words: اهتمّ

حِرْباء root: ح-ر-ب / noun / plural: حَرابي / definition: chameleon There are many Arabic words from which multiple meanings bloom, taking on a certain one according to the context. A bit like how a chameleon adapts to its immediate environment. Learning the meanings of these chameleon words is especially beneficial to us Arabic studentsContinue reading “Arabic’s Chameleon Words: اهتمّ”

The لِ and كَ of Distance

هَزّاز root: ه-ز-ز / adjective / definition: rocking Even after ten sweet days in Morocco, there’s nothing like coming back home and falling into the gentle swing of my rocking chair. I rock, and lull my prodding thoughts about the angle of the chair’s swing into silence to make way for some other brain activity.Continue reading “The لِ and كَ of Distance”

Dictionary Finds: a Spelling Mistake

إمْلاء root: م-ل-ء / form IV verbal noun / definition: spelling, filling out After I submitted my first-year PhD work last week, I had two days of conducting students’ oral exams followed by an unplanned overnight stay, then a wedding, then a Saturday outing and a Sunday (today) of ticking things off my to-do list.Continue reading “Dictionary Finds: a Spelling Mistake”

Two Other Ways to Refer to the Arabic Language

يَقْطين root: ق-ط-ن / noun / definition: pumpkin Somehow, and I really don’t know how, I managed to submit my PhD work earlier today despite it not being due until mid next week. I really thought I’d be last-minuting it on Wednesday until the midnight clock struck and I’d turn into a pumpkin… or howeverContinue reading “Two Other Ways to Refer to the Arabic Language”

The Sabaic Language and a Much Awaited Deadline

إعادة التَّأطير root: ع-و-د and ء-ط-ر / phrase / definition: reframing Solitudinous sahoors and attempts at staying up as late as I can handle in my mid-twenties (my failings in which remind me I’m well past my teen years) have been left behind in Ramadan, and my PhD chapter that I abandoned in the secondContinue reading “The Sabaic Language and a Much Awaited Deadline”

Resource: Recorded Lectures from a Palestinian University

مُسَجَّل root: س-ج-ل / adjective, form II passive participle / definition: recorded When you’ve written hundreds of posts like I have on this blog, you start to forget what you have and haven’t posted about. And I was half-certain I’d mentioned this resource before on here, but—after a few seconds with the search box—I guessContinue reading “Resource: Recorded Lectures from a Palestinian University”

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”

Travelling and Teaching as an Anxious Introvert

قَلَق root: ق-ل-ق / noun / definition: anxiety I just returned last night from my second solo trip—this time: a week in Qatar. I’m often surprised, being that I’m a habitually-anxious introvert, that I can force myself out of my comfort zone far enough that I actually find peace in that space beyond. “Why aren’tContinue reading “Travelling and Teaching as an Anxious Introvert”

Andalusi Arabic: to Revive or Not to Revive?

إحْياء root: ح-ي-و / form IV verbal noun / definition: revival Every so often and very suddenly, a linguist (and I’m specifically talking about myself) gets ludicrously preoccupied with researching an extinct language or dialect and dreamily sketches out a grandiose plan to revive it… which, of course, firstly includes learning it. It’s partly delusion—butContinue reading “Andalusi Arabic: to Revive or Not to Revive?”

One-Letter Imperatives in Arabic

أَناقة root: ء-ن-ق / noun / definition: elegance, grace Modelling is tough work, I thought as I posed as a muse for my photographer friend who was practising using her new camera. And by posing, what I mean is that I was walking through Central London in the evening at 0.25x speed with an expressionContinue reading “One-Letter Imperatives in Arabic”

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”

Reading Arabic Literature: Struggling to Connect

جَهْد root: ج-ه-د / noun / plural: جُهود / definition: effort, struggle Procrastination is an odd thing. You see, I’ve been busy with the academic reading I need to get through in order to write my PhD literature review, but I’ve partially busied myself with that because reading the second novel I’m supposed to analyseContinue reading “Reading Arabic Literature: Struggling to Connect”

Night-time Ramblings of an Arabic PhD Student

إنتاجيّة root: ن-ت-ج / noun / definition: productivity Ten thousand words. Of notes. I think it was easier to understand that one A-Level Physics class I had when my teacher was explaining how light moves, yes, in straight lines but, oh no, it actually takes every possible route to reach anything (I still don’t getContinue reading “Night-time Ramblings of an Arabic PhD Student”

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”

Fixed-Form Passive Participles with Prepositions

شَرْح root: ش-ر-ح / form I verbal noun / definition: explanation One of my classmates, a while back, asked me if I could clarify the grammar of the phrase غير المُبلَغ عنه, which translates as “unreported”. We’ve talked before about the different meanings of غَير—here, it gives the word its un- prefix in English, soContinue reading “Fixed-Form Passive Participles with Prepositions”