Interesting pronunciation challenge.
For Pacifica - random quotes on Arabic and Qur'an
- Thread starter Bestiola
- Start date
Suddenly it sounds like it's no longer ibn Battuta but rather his scribe speaking
I was thinking the same thing... I would fail, no doubt.
There, too, I had the same thought!Suddenly it sounds like it's no longer ibn Battuta but rather his scribe speaking
فهي الفريدة في تجلى سناها، والخريدة تجلى في حلاها
Laborious deciphering here. As often, I'm not even sure I'm getting the right definitions for the words.
Let me start with what I think might be a very literal translation: "it is unique in the showing of its gleam, and chaste in showing in her ornaments."
Now let me try a conjecture as to what it could really mean: "it gleams all over like no other city, but there's a certain modesty in its ornaments (it's elegant like a beautiful virgin, not garish like a whore)"?
Laborious deciphering here. As often, I'm not even sure I'm getting the right definitions for the words.
Let me start with what I think might be a very literal translation: "it is unique in the showing of its gleam, and chaste in showing in her ornaments."
Now let me try a conjecture as to what it could really mean: "it gleams all over like no other city, but there's a certain modesty in its ornaments (it's elegant like a beautiful virgin, not garish like a whore)"?
Looking it up I found this, which probably has more answers than I could ever provide.
One useful point which you may have noticed already is that sadly final ي's are often typed ى out of negligence, especially online, so it's useful to be on the lookout for those (even the reverse sometimes happens with ي instead of ى).
I would tend to trust Mahaodeh and Djara when they say it may be poetic license for تتجلى, although it could also be read تُجلى as Ghabi mentioned, but in both cases you get the same passive meaning.
I don't know... why would المغرب be treated as a feminine?
زها seems to have a few transitive meanings in CA, the only one I've found which could plausibly fit here would be this:
والجامعة لمفترق المحاسن
The general idea likely is that Alexandria combines all beauties/virtues. But how does the phrase work exactly? I can't find a definition for the verb جمع with ل, but perhaps الجامعة is being used as a noun: "(Alexandria is) the meeting point for the crossroad of (all) beauties/virtues"... maybe? It sounds redundant, though. If the ل doesn't preclude الجامعة from being a participle with one of the usually transitive senses of the verb, then perhaps the meaning is "containing the crossroad of all virtues (i.e. Alexandria contains the point where all virtues meet, like at a crossroads)".
The general idea likely is that Alexandria combines all beauties/virtues. But how does the phrase work exactly? I can't find a definition for the verb جمع with ل, but perhaps الجامعة is being used as a noun: "(Alexandria is) the meeting point for the crossroad of (all) beauties/virtues"... maybe? It sounds redundant, though. If the ل doesn't preclude الجامعة from being a participle with one of the usually transitive senses of the verb, then perhaps the meaning is "containing the crossroad of all virtues (i.e. Alexandria contains the point where all virtues meet, like at a crossroads)".
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مفترق does mean crossroad in the sense that what it literally describes amounts to a crossroads. But literally it is a substantivized past participle meaning "dispersed" or "scattered" or "going in various directions", hence "crossroads" when applied to roads. Here it is the 'opposite' of جامع which as you say here is a present participle.
The ل is needed because جامعة is preceded by an article, and the same word can't be defined twice so you can't just add مفترق as an إضافة.
So the idea is that Alexandria regroups a scattering of virtues, i.e. attracts only the best, from the far reaches of the world.
Because of the article, an إضافة didn't even occur to me, but I was thinking the participle might have taken a direct object. Is that also impossible when a participle is definite?
Nice!
I hadn't thought of it, but now that you mention it, I think it wouldn't sound wrong, just very classical. The ل sequence sounds much more common (and thus maybe less literary, I don't know).
Something like that, I guess. اختلاء also has the meaning of being alone with your lover or husband or wife, so maybe the idea is that every wonder secludes itself with/in Alexandria. It's a bit strange but that's the least strange I can think of.
فهي الفريدة في تجلى سناها، والخريدة تجلى في حلاها، الزاهية بجمالها المغرب، والجامعة لمفترق المحاسن، لتوسطها بين المشرق والمغرب، فكل بديعة بها اختلاؤها، وكل طرفة فإليها انتهاؤها
Alexandria, quasi ostenso margarita splendore, tamquam virgo se revelans exornata, Occasum venustate sua decorat, et cum sit media inter Ortum Occasumque sita, diversas undique virtutes colligit. In eam namque omnia mirabilia secedunt, perveniunt omnia rara.
وقد وصفها الناس فأطنبوا، وصنفوا في عجائبها فأغربوا وحسب المشرف إلى ذلك ما سطره أبو عبيد في كتاب المسالك
I'm not sure about the underlined bit. Is it something like"[what Abu Ubaid wrote in his book] is considered the best overview of the topic"?
I'm not sure about the underlined bit. Is it something like"[what Abu Ubaid wrote in his book] is considered the best overview of the topic"?
Me neither. I've never seen مشرف followed by anything other than على, and I've just looked it up and couldn't find a single instance of مشرف إلى in the dictionaries. Otherwise it could mean: and what Abu Ubaid wrote is sufficient (حَسَبَ) for whoever looks into the matter, but even that's a pretty loose interpretation because مشرف is usually someone who oversees something.
So I found a variant reading here: https://al-maktaba.org/book/11769/157 which has المتشوّف إلى instead, and this must be right because it makes perfect sense while مشرف إلى only does by an implausible stretch.
Hm, the only definitions I found for that verb are things like "to count, compute, reckon, consider".