Tag Archives: vocabulary

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”

Using إيّا and an Object Pronoun

مُقابَلة root: ق-ب-ل / noun / plural: مُقابَلات / definition: interview I woke up very early on Monday morning to a sprawling breakout across my forehead and scratches across my chest that weren’t there the night before—two signs telling me I was stressed. Not that I didn’t know it, because I had a 7:30am interviewContinue reading “Using إيّا and an Object Pronoun”

Five Arabic Words Meaning “Nightmare”

فَوْضى root: ف-و-ض / noun / definition: chaos I’ve just emailed a wonderfully chaotic draft of a PhD chapter to my supervisor who, if he’s reading this post, might scoff at the word “wonderfully” coming anywhere near the mention of that calamitous document—the second half of which is a roaring pandemonium of red font andContinue reading “Five Arabic Words Meaning “Nightmare””

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 Words for “Perhaps”

أَمَل root: ء-م-ل / noun / plural: آمال / definition: hope I’ve been feeling a sense of peace recently that had remained elusive for a while. Or maybe I mean a sense of relief. Perhaps it’s to do with the fact that some internal pressure has been lifted, and my mind isn’t beating me upContinue reading “Arabic Words for “Perhaps””

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”