For Pacifica - random quotes on Arabic and Qur'an

[Pacifica]

وحميثرا في صعيد مصر في صحراء عيذاب، وبها عين ماء زعاق. وهي كثيرة الضباع ​

(Est autem Humaithara in Aegypto superiore in solitudine prope Aidhab sita, fontem aquae amarae habens et hyaenis frequens.)

 

[Pacifica]

فلما بلغا حميثرا اغتسل الشيخ أبو الحسن، وصلى ركعتين، وقبضه الله عز وجل في آخر سجدة من صلاته، ودفن هناك​

Cumque eo pervenissent, toto corpore rite ablutum Patrem Alhasani bis prostratum orasse et in ultima orationis prostratione a Deo praepotenti praecellentique raptum ibique sepultum esse.

 

[Pacifica]

وقد زرت قبره وعليه تبرية مكتوب فيها اسمه ونسبه متصلا بالحسن بن علي رضي الله عنه​

OK, now what's تبرية? A gold plaque or something like that? Conjecture based on definitions I found for the تبر root.

Surely it doesn't mean "dandruff" here, the only definition dictionaries are willing to give me for تبرية, lol.

 

[interprete]

وقد زرت قبره وعليه تبرية مكتوب فيها اسمه ونسبه متصلا بالحسن بن علي رضي الله عنه​

OK, now what's تبرية? A gold plaque or something like that? Conjecture based on definitions I found for the تبر root.

Surely it doesn't mean "dandruff" here, the only definition dictionaries are willing to give me for تبرية, lol.

Strange, I can’t find it either.
As an aside, theoretically the root could also be بري because when a verb ends with a long vowel, it’s form 2 is often تفعلة (as in تسلية from سلّى يسلّي or تربية from ربّى يربّي). But I’ve checked both تبر and برى to no avail...

 

[interprete]

Spoiler: I just had to share this

 

[Pacifica]

The French book has قبرية instead of تبرية and translates it as "pierre sépulchrale".

 

[interprete]

The French book has قبرية instead of تبرية and translates it as "pierre sépulchrale".

Interesting, this already makes more sense, but I still can’t find قبرية as a noun. In theory it is an adjective... are we sure there isn’t a noun missing just before it?
At any rate if you don’t want to spend the afternoon on this, clearly it’s a tombstone or something very close to it because it then explains what is written on it.

 

[interprete]

Interestingly Russian Wiktionary has it : https://ru.wiktionary.org/wiki/قبرية
(If you click on the Russian, it redirects you to the corresponding English. I’m suprised I can find it on Russian Wiktionary but not in al-Maany nor LL nor Kazimirski.

 

[Pacifica]

In theory it is an adjective... are we sure there isn’t a noun missing just before it?

Some adjectives are used substantively with a noun implied. Is there perhaps some feminine noun meaning "slab of stone" or the like that could be implied here?

 

[interprete]

Some adjectives are used substantively with a noun implied. Is there perhaps some feminine noun meaning "slab of stone" or the like that could be implied here?

In that case it is usually considered a proper entry in dictionaries, like بحرية, كماليات and the like... so I don’t know...

 

[Pacifica]

When they're common, yes. But this one could be an unusual or idiosyncratic usage. And, well, at least the Russian Wiktionary recognized it (though for all I know maybe it got it solely from this passage).

 

[Pacifica]

Of course the passage could be corrupt as well. There's the تبرية variant, and obviously I don't know whether قبرية is original or editorial.

 

[interprete]

I wish I could find the annotated Arabic text I once shared here (I know I’ve said this countless times already), maybe it had a note just for this... but based on what we have, je ne suis pas plus avancé que toi...

 

[Pacifica]

وقد زرت قبره وعليه تبرية مكتوب فيها اسمه ونسبه متصلا بالحسن بن علي رضي الله عنه​

The stone was engraved with his name and his genealogy all the way (continuously) to al-Hasan ibn Ali? That is my guess but I'm not sure.

 

[Pacifica]

I got curious whether this would be any easier to translate into Arabic than into classical Latin. I suspected it would be. Since it's from a well-known author I Googled for a translation and found this:

أُقيمُ في الإمكان

Do you think it's good? If it is, I'd be tempted to suggest it instead of Latin, lol, because I think the best you can hope for in Latin is either something a bit awkward and non-classical or something that doesn't bear much resemblance to what Emily Dickinson wrote anymore. Though if I did suggest it, the offer would probably be rejected. Usually, when people want Latin, they want Latin, not another language that has nothing to do with it.

 

[interprete]

وقد زرت قبره وعليه تبرية مكتوب فيها اسمه ونسبه متصلا بالحسن بن علي رضي الله عنه​

The stone was engraved with his name and his genealogy all the way (continuously) to al-Hasan ibn Ali? That is my guess but I'm not sure.

Yes.

 

[interprete]

I got curious whether this would be any easier to translate into Arabic than into classical Latin. I suspected it would be. Since it's from a well-known author I Googled for a translation and found this:

أُقيمُ في الإمكان

Do you think it's good? If it is, I'd be tempted to suggest it instead of Latin, lol, because I think the best you can hope for in Latin is either something a bit awkward and non-classical or something that doesn't bear much resemblance to what Emily Dickinson wrote anymore. Though if I did suggest it, the offer would probably be rejected. Usually, when people want Latin, they want Latin, not another language that has nothing to do with it.

Given that I would not have understood the meaning of the English original without the explanation provided by the author, I have pretty strong reservations as to whether an Arab would understand what is meant by أقيم في الإمكان.
By the way, why not potestas in Latin for possibility?

 

[interprete]

Also أقيم to me is more like ’I reside’, to dwell would rather be أسكن or simply أعيش

 

[Pacifica]

Given that I would not have understood the meaning of the English original without the explanation provided by the author, I have pretty strong reservations as to whether an Arab would understand what is meant by أقيم في الإمكان.

If it's just a matter of not understanding it out of context that's probably not an issue because, as you said, the English original is like that, too.

By the way, why not potestas in Latin for possibility?

That has since been suggested by someone on that thread. But it's more like "power". That sometimes comes close to "possibility", of course, but I don't think it (or any classical word) really conveys the precise meaning of "possibility" in this context.

 

[interprete]

If it's just a matter of not understanding it out of context that's probably not an issue because, as you said, the English original is like that, too.

Then I’d preferably use أسكن but that’s just my personal, flawed gut feeling.