Tag Archives: vocabulary

Writer’s Grief and Closing a Chapter

كاتِبة root: ك-ت-ب / form I active participle, feminine form / definition: writing, a writer I get emotionally attached to plans. I’ve been gathering quotes, ideas, and notes for months—only to realise there’s not enough word count (or time) to include everything in the chapter I’m writing. So I save bullet points of brain clutterContinue reading “Writer’s Grief and Closing a Chapter”

Hidden Form V Verbs in the Qur’an

مَخْفيّ root: خ-ف-ي / adjective / definition: hidden, concealed Last week, I attended an online talk about developing a writing system for Cypriot Arabic. As a Cypriot linguist who’s studying Arabic, I kind of couldn’t miss it. I hadn’t realised, though, that it was a “camera-on” event—so I quickly threw on a headscarf and smoothedContinue reading “Hidden Form V Verbs in the Qur’an”

Root Exploration: ر-ح-م

رَحّال root: ر-ح-ل / adjective / plural: رُحَّل / definition: nomadic Every now and then, a wave of embarrassment that I thought had ebbed into nonexistence surges over me once more. Once upon a time, I received feedback for one of my undergrad Linguistics essays and was mortified to find that the teacher had correctedContinue reading “Root Exploration: ر-ح-م”

10:27, Baghdad, Page 63

مَقْهًى root: ق-ه-و /noun / plural: مَقاهٍ / definition: café I can’t help but notice that, beyond my screen, my تبغدد top is drying on the heater upside down. . I’m normally the most unobservant person—my friends can tell you that. But there are some things, especially in times of stress, that I’ll notice toContinue reading “10:27, Baghdad, Page 63”

Non-Human Nouns, Human Plurals

إنْسان root: ء-ن-س / noun / definition: a human I was thinking about the root of the word إنْسان (“human”)—how ء-ن-س is associated with friendliness and familiarity, and how even the dictionary knows that humanity can be lost and corrupted if you muddle its origin (see ء-س-ن). And the humanness of language is very muchContinue reading “Non-Human Nouns, Human Plurals”

Dictionary Finds: رَحَموت

الرَّحْمة root: ر-ح-م / noun / definition: mercy I can summarise my PhD progress today by saying that I eventually won the wrestle with page numbers on my running thesis draft. Of course the developers had to make that difficult, because God forbid someone would want the numbering to start on page 3 rather thanContinue reading “Dictionary Finds: رَحَموت”

Prepositional Interrogatives: When Does عَمّا Become عَمَّ?

بَوصَلة root: ب-و-ص-ل / noun / plural: بَوصَلات / definition: a compass I wonder if it means anything that “time” is ud in Sumerian and öd in Göktürkçe. Then I think back to my friend telling me that the ancient Egyptians associated east with this life and west with the afterlife; and language and cultureContinue reading “Prepositional Interrogatives: When Does عَمّا Become عَمَّ?”

Cairene Bookshops and Un-Expectations

القاهِرة root: ق-ه-ر / proper noun, feminine form I active participle / definition: Cairo A few days ago, I was taking refuge from a chilly Cairene night in the warmth of a tiny bookshop when I got to chatting with the two men working there. One of them kindly gifted me a book he guessedContinue reading “Cairene Bookshops and Un-Expectations”

Arabic Observations: Retracing and Narrating

بُقْعة root: ب-ق-ع / noun / plural: بُقَع / definition: stain Someone noted last night that I often wear white. And a matter of minutes later, sat in that Uyghur restaurant in Central London, an orange stain of noodle sauce had menacingly bloomed on the referred-to dress, front and centre. It was tempting—in that moment—toContinue reading “Arabic Observations: Retracing and Narrating”

Step-by-Step Arabic Literature Translation #16

حَصاد root: ح-ص-د / form I verbal noun / definition: to harvest Last week left me exhausted. So I spent the weekend wearily harvesting whatever grains of energy I’d managed to sow, and trying hard to herd unwieldy guilt into the back of my mind. I’ve noticed I tend to write step-by-step literature translation postsContinue reading “Step-by-Step Arabic Literature Translation #16”