Tag Archives: vocabulary

Ten Arabic Place Nouns for “Refuge”

لُجوء root: ل-ج-ء / form I verbal noun / definition: refuge It’s the final week of the first semester, which means I’ll soon have five weeks to completely focus on my PhD without thinking about teaching. At the end of the first semester last year, I wrote the post The مَـ of Place and Time,Continue reading “Ten Arabic Place Nouns for “Refuge””

Step-by-Step Arabic Literature Translation #14

دِفْء root: د-ف-ء / noun / definition: warmth December has brazenly blustered in with its frost and chill and here I am, sitting at my desk with my right foot pressed against the radiator beside me, hoping for a semblance of warmth to spread to the rest of my body. I may as well typeContinue reading “Step-by-Step Arabic Literature Translation #14”

Three Ways to Say “There is” in Arabic

ضَوْء root: ض-و-ء / noun / plural: أَضْواء / definition: light I feel like a heavy door has flung open and let light flood in since I wrote about my deepening winter blues two weeks back. Maybe it’s my increased vitamin D dosage. Or maybe entering my twenty-sixth year of life brought with it lotsContinue reading “Three Ways to Say “There is” in Arabic”

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”

Delving into لَلأَسَف

اِكفِهْرار root: ك-ف-ه-ر / form IV quadriliteral verbal noun / definition: gloom It’s mid-November and my winter blues are bursting vibrantly into full swing. I sort of feel like I’m in a gloomy room with a heartbroken flamenco dancer who keeps passionately swishing her black skirt in my face whilst I’m trying to draft anContinue reading “Delving into لَلأَسَف”

Dictionary Finds: عَطَن

جَمَل root: ج-م-ل / noun / plural: جِمال / definition: camel I didn’t realise it’d been so long since our last proper Dictionary Finds post, especially as I’m always adding to the list of intriguing vocabulary I’ve stumbled upon whilst consulting the dictionary for one reason or another. So today I’ve chosen a word fromContinue reading “Dictionary Finds: عَطَن”

Arabic Headline Analysis #9

ساعة root: س-و-ع / noun / plural: ساعات / definition: hour, clock So the clocks went back by an hour here on the weekend, and I felt like I turned back time in another sense a few days ago when my new purchase—a 1928, first-edition Ottoman Turkish book about arts—arrived in the post. “What areContinue reading “Arabic Headline Analysis #9”

Some Arabic Words and Phrases for “to Cry”

دَمْع root: د-م-ع / noun / plural: دُموع / definition: tear October is the month of the pomegranate, according to the fruit tree calendar on my wall. Which means I’m begrudgingly ushering in the wintery months where a gloomy disposition clouds over me and clings on until the dawn of spring. It happens every yearContinue reading “Some Arabic Words and Phrases for “to Cry””

Reading Arabic Literature: يالنجي and يبرق

طَبَق root: ط-ب-ق / noun / plural: أَطباق / definition: dish Hearing about the sudden passing of the Syrian novelist Khaled Khalifa a few weeks ago, I was overcome by an unexpected grief. I was still, at the time, partway through reading his novel, لا سكاكين في مطابخ هذه المدينة. I guess you feel aContinue reading “Reading Arabic Literature: يالنجي and يبرق”