Tag Archives: hans wehr

Arabic-Turkish Observations: İhtiyar and خِتيار

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”

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”

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.

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”