Arabic Proverbs
arabicproverbs.bsky.social
Arabic Proverbs
@arabicproverbs.bsky.social
Mostly translations of al-Maydānī's (d. 1124) Proverbs (مجمع الأمثال)

by Nathaniel Miller (PhD Arabic Literature), author of The Emergence of Arabic Poetry (Penn Press, 2024).

All screenshots are from the ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd edition.
Even better!
February 5, 2026 at 8:29 PM
Perhaps more accurately rendered as "How close are his sipper and his fart-hole!"
February 5, 2026 at 6:47 PM
Reposted by Arabic Proverbs
i'm sure you've checked them out, but the excerpts from al-Zaǧǧālī and Alonso del Castillo's collections of proverbs in Corriente's 2013 Andalusi Arabic grammar are really fun

yaʕṭí Alláh alfúl liman ma ʕíndu iḍrasáyn
'God gives beans to those who have no teeth'
February 2, 2026 at 9:32 PM
Woops the transliteration of the first line should be

inna baniyya ṣibyatun ṣayfiyyūn
January 30, 2026 at 4:40 AM
The tradeoff in the translation is that the summer of one's life sounds like it means the prime of one's life, which isn't the case, but I like the way it sounds and hopefully the contrast with spring makes the speaker's age apparent.
January 30, 2026 at 4:38 AM
The two words that rhyme here are interesting.

ṣayfiyyūn means sons born to someone in their old age but it comes from the word ṣayf (summer), hence my translation

ribʿiyyūn means sons born in one's youth but derives from rabīʿ (spring).
January 30, 2026 at 4:38 AM
Transliteration:

inna s-salāmata minhā tarku mā fīhā
January 26, 2026 at 3:19 PM
Reposted by Arabic Proverbs
"Fart in the mosque and you will be famous."

This is said of one who is eager to gain a reputation even if it is a bad one.
January 26, 2026 at 2:48 AM
It would be nice if that were true.
January 26, 2026 at 1:32 AM
b. Al-Maydānī says the proverb would make more sense if we read miʿrāḍ as "hint", so the meaning would then be that one may insinuate that something is the case without outright lies.
January 25, 2026 at 5:03 PM
Depending on how one reads the word miʿrāḍ (pl. maʿārīḍi) this either means that:

a. In the normal course of speech you can avoid subjects you might feel compelled to lie about. This follows the usual sense of miʿrāḍ.
January 25, 2026 at 5:03 PM