Tag Archives: vocabulary

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”

Five Dual Nouns Meaning “the Sun and the Moon”

قَمَر root: ق-م-ر / noun / plural: أَقمار / definition: moon, satellite We usually use dual nouns in Arabic to refer to two of the same thing. Like يَومان, “two days”, and مَكتَبَتان, “two libraries”. But sometimes, the dual is used to refer to two things that are usually mentioned together—like the Sun and theContinue reading “Five Dual Nouns Meaning “the Sun and the Moon””

Miscellaneous Advanced Phrases for Arabic Essays

مُتَفَرِّقات root:ف-ر-ق / plural noun / definition: miscellaneous things For the first time since my undergraduate degree and during this break from teaching, I’m really experiencing the full joy of studying again. And that document of notes I mentioned in Night-time Ramblings of an Arabic PhD Student? Well, it’s now got over 20 thousand words andContinue reading “Miscellaneous Advanced Phrases for Arabic Essays”

Night-time Ramblings of an Arabic PhD Student

إنتاجيّة root: ن-ت-ج / noun / definition: productivity Ten thousand words. Of notes. I think it was easier to understand that one A-Level Physics class I had when my teacher was explaining how light moves, yes, in straight lines but, oh no, it actually takes every possible route to reach anything (I still don’t getContinue reading “Night-time Ramblings of an Arabic PhD Student”

Arabic-Akkadian Observations: talmīd, تِلميذ, and a Lost Root

مَهرَقان root: ه-ر-ق / noun / definition: ocean, related to “spill” Yesterday, the two writing prompts my friend messaged me triggered a flood—okay, more like a small spill—of creativity. Inspiration at last! (“This could be a line in a novel,” she said, “Save the sentence”!) And something else, a certain Akkadian word, inspired me recentlyContinue reading “Arabic-Akkadian Observations: talmīd, تِلميذ, and a Lost Root”

The مِـ of Tools

آلة root: ء-و-ل / noun / plural: آلات / definition: tool, instrument, device Last week, we explored ten Arabic words for “refuge” which all followed one of the place and time noun patterns (مَفعَل or مَفعَلة or مَفعِل). Today, I thought we’d cover another group of patterns—this time for nouns referring to tools (collectively: اسمContinue reading “The مِـ of Tools”