Tag Archives: hans wehr

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”

Case Endings on the Alif Maqsoora (ى)

مَقْصور root: ق-ص-ر / form I passive participle / definition: limited, shortened I’ve been thinking recently about this blog. Well, of course I have—I’ve been writing posts twice a week, every week, for four-and-a-half years now—I can’t think of a way not to think about it. But I guess my dedication to writing here doesContinue reading “Case Endings on the Alif Maqsoora (ى)”

Three Arabic Verbs for “to Announce”

إِعْلان root: ع-ل-ن / noun / plural: إعْلانات / definition: announcement, declaration There’s a lot on my mind as we approach the end of Ramadan, and I’m faced with some decisions that I didn’t expect to have to make. Decisions that will impact the course of my studies—and life in general—for at least the nextContinue reading “Three Arabic Verbs for “to Announce””

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”

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?”