For Pacifica - random quotes on Arabic and Qur'an

[Bestiola]

Arabic has different forms depending on the context in which it's used

Arabic is a Central Semitic language, closely related to Aramaic and Hebrew. Standard or Classical Arabic – Fusha – is the distinct form of the language used in media, newspapers, literature and other formal settings. ‘Aamiya, which is colloquial (spoken) Arabic, has many forms that are used in ordinary conversation, and it varies from country to country, and even town to town. The different forms are used side by side to serve different functions in society.

At its core, Arabic developed through a predominantly oral and poetic tradition that flourished in the Arabian Peninsula before the emergence of Islam and a codified Arabic script. The Arabic script is widely used in art through calligraphy and it is now common to see more modern and contemporary Arabic art being produced; some of it uses a fusion of calligraphy and graffiti, known as 'calligraffiti'.

 

[Bestiola]

Arabic has sounds that don't exist in other languages

There are many differences between Arabic and English, the most obvious one being that it is written from right to left. There are also a few sounds that don’t exist in other languages, such as 'ح' , which is a ‘h’ sound as in ‘hubb’ (love). To get an idea of how this is pronounced, imagine breathing on a window pane to create a mist.

 

[Bestiola]

English has many words of Arabic origin

English has many words acquired either directly from Arabic or indirectly from Arabic words that have entered into Romance languages before passing into English. Examples include: racquet, alchemy, alcohol, algebra, algorithm, alkaline, (the article ‘al’ in Arabic denotes ‘the’), amber, arsenal, candy, coffee, cotton, ghoul, hazard, lemon, loofah, magazine, sherbet, sofa, tariff – and many more.

The algebraic letter ‘x’ that represents an unknown number, originates from the Arabic word ‘shay’ (thing), which eventually became translated to ‘xay’ in Spain, leading to its final abbreviation and use in algebra as ‘x’.

Even the number system used today was introduced to Europeans by Arab merchants.

 

[Pacifica]

The algebraic letter ‘x’ that represents an unknown number, originates from the Arabic word ‘shay’ (thing), which eventually became translated to ‘xay’ in Spain, leading to its final abbreviation and use in algebra as ‘x’.

Really? I had no idea.

 

[Bestiola]

Really? I had no idea.

I'm taking it from here: https://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/surprising-facts-about-arabic-language

 

[Pacifica]

Some Arabic-derived French slang:

clebs - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

en.wiktionary.org

fissa - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

en.wiktionary.org

flouze - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

en.wiktionary.org

toubib - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

en.wiktionary.org

 

[Pacifica]

"Flouze" comes from quite a journey: from Latin to Greek to Aramaic to Arabic to French.

 

[Terry S.]

I have a confession to make. I am harbouring an irrational prejudice against Arabic. I became interested in Arabic when I was 14/15, but I never took it any further than learning the alphabet. It was way too difficult for me. I used to wonder how much I could learn if I only studied it on the bus from uni home (not to uni - I was usually too zombified to see a book let alone read it at that time of the morning). I never put that idea to the test, but I always had hankering to try to absorb a little of it some day. Then 7/7 happened, and I was disgusted and wanted nothing whatsoever to do with such people or their feckin language. There's no need to debate this with me, I know it doesn't make sense. It's something felt rather than thought. The only good thing to come of it is, at least I now know how many Unionists and Protestants in Northern Ireland feel about Gaelic after the terrible reign of terror brought about by Sinn Féin/IRA. Their objection to Gaelic makes no sense, but it's coming from somewhere far deeper. Maybe some day you guys will win me over.

 

[Pacifica]

Arabic is hard but amazing. The things it does with morphology! I'm in love.

Then 7/7 happened

What is that? I thought perhaps you meant 9/11 but it seems an unlikely mistake to make.

 

[Terry S.]

7 July 2005 London bombings - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Terry S.]

As you might guess, I'm not much of a fan of London either but bloody murder is bloody murder whoever is the victim.

 

[EstQuodFulmineIungo]

@Pacifica But assuming one acquires a certain proficiency in Arabic, do texts like "The Conference of the Birds" become intelligible to him (in their original language)?

 

[Terry S.]

Arabic is hard but amazing. The things it does with morphology! I'm in love.

I'm sure the classical language is beautifully crafted, a bit like Enlightenment French for philosophy and great literature. I'd bet you'll never suffer from dementia, but I probably wouldn't be around to collect my winnings.

 

[Pacifica]

7 July 2005 London bombings - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Oh. I didn't remember the date of that.

@Pacifica But assuming one acquires a certain proficiency in Arabic, do texts like "The Conference of the Birds" become intelligible to him (in their original language)?

Google tells me that's in Persan, not Arabic, so probably not.

 

[Bestiola]

I have a confession to make. I am harbouring an irrational prejudice against Arabic. I became interested in Arabic when I was 14/15, but I never took it any further than learning the alphabet. It was way too difficult for me. I used to wonder how much I could learn if I only studied it on the bus from uni home (not to uni - I was usually too zombified to see a book let alone read it at that time of the morning). I never put that idea to the test, but I always had hankering to try to absorb a little of it some day. Then 7/7 happened, and I was disgusted and wanted nothing whatsoever to do with such people or their feckin language. There's no need to debate this with me, I know it doesn't make sense. It's something felt rather than thought. The only good thing to come of it is, at least I now know how many Unionists and Protestants in Northern Ireland feel about Gaelic after the terrible reign of terror brought about by Sinn Féin/IRA. Their objection to Gaelic makes no sense, but it's coming from somewhere far deeper. Maybe some day you guys will win me over.

There's this footballer from Senegal, a devout Muslim, who uses football to finance his village, constructs schools, hospitals, etc. He was so poor before he barely had shoes to play with. Now he's using his money to help his community. I don't think he's the only one:

Liverpool & Senegal’s Muslim superstar footballer Sadio Mane has been constructing school, mosque & hospital in his home country Senegal. While his teammates are enjoying their holidays he was recently seen examining the construction works going on in Bambali, Senegal.
Mane, born in April 1992 is also the skipper of Senegal’s national football team & a star player of Liverpool FC. He is constructing these civic buildings in his hometown of Bambali, where he spent most of the part of his life.

He has delivered mosque, school, hospital to his people as a give back initiative. He is also funding many charitable projects in Bambali and all over Senegal. He had reportedly donated $250,000 for the construction of schools for kids in Bambali.

Sadio, a devout Muslim refuses to comment on any of his charitable project stating that he is doing these out of sincere love towards his people and not for any publicity.

Sadio Mane identifies himself as a practicing Muslim and he is known as a very humble one. Along with his Liverpool FC teammate Mohamed Salah, he always remains in limelight because of his identity as a Muslim which he never hesitates to show off.

He is a big Muslim name in western countries because of his excellent game that he presents in almost every match. He can be seen making Du’a before the starting of each match. He also prostrates after scoring goal in every match as a post goal celebrations.

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Sadio Mané - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Bestiola]

The thing is, many people did bad stuff in the name of religion - Muslims, Christians, even Buddhists. But they also did many good things at times.

 

[Terry S.]

The thing is, many people did bad stuff in the name of religion - Muslims, Christians, even Buddhists. But they also did many good things at times.

Unquestionably true. And Arabic isn't exclusive to Muslims as a trip to Jerusalem easily confirms. I know a Scottish priest who is a biblical scholar and polyglot ancient & modern. I asked him what he was up to one day. He said he was reading some mid first millennium translations of the Gospels into Arabic. (We nicknamed him Gerry Death, because he always looked like a corpse when he emerged from his study to do normal things like eat, or pray in the chapel. I think it took him a while to come back to the real world whenever he stopped one of his ten hour shifts of reading whatever ancient text he was working on at the time.)

 

[EstQuodFulmineIungo]

Google tells me that's in Persan, not Arabic, so probably not.

Oh! Ok. I thought it was Arabic.

@Terry S. Why not Hebrew? If I had to really make an effort like that I would study that language.

I have a confession to make. I am harbouring an irrational prejudice against Arabic.

And I have an irrational confession too: me too LOL. My grandmother always said: "be wary of them because they are not baptized". So that's probably what engendered the prejudice in me. Which I recognize to be a prejudice. As for the bombing, gone are the times of Elizabeth I writing to Murad III confidentially about "stuff".

 

[Bestiola]

Unquestionably true. And Arabic isn't exclusive to Muslims as a trip to Jerusalem easily confirms. I know a Scottish priest who is a biblical scholar and polyglot ancient & modern. I asked him what he was up to one day. He said he was reading some mid first millennium translations of the Gospels into Arabic. (We nicknamed him Gerry Death, because he always looked like a corpse when he emerged from his study to do normal things like eat, or pray in the chapel. I think it took him a while to come back to the real world whenever he stopped one of his ten hour shifts of reading whatever ancient text he was working on at the time.)

Also, don't forget, thanks to the Arabs' effort, we have what we have from the ancient Greeks. While the westerners were too busy destroying and neglecting the ancient wisdom, when they weren't too busy discussing how many angels can dance on the head of a needle pin, Arabs did their best to save it

Islamic world contributions to Medieval Europe - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Terry S.]

@Terry S. Why not Hebrew? If I had to really make an effort like that I would study that language.

I've already done a bit of Hebrew, but I never kept it up. I know I need to go back to it sometime so I can read the creation accounts in the original language. I'm not saying original text as that opens a whole can of worms and I'm not out fishing.