@quietstuff.bsky.social
Pinned
semitic linguistics bonanza
root of "name" in arabic; god of the hebrew bible and all that; daughter 🦇; roman jewish guy that proposed a bunch of nations descended from 35 down; farming thing with a bajillion names. baydar, ʔand...
crosshare.org
i made a crossword this year 🫡 i don't think it's solvable but it should be fun
Reposted
Haha, this is hilarious editorializing
November 25, 2025 at 9:23 PM
Haha, this is hilarious editorializing
Reposted
As an example, in Leila Murad's famous song satirizing classical Arabic grammar:
ان جاء زيدٌ او حضر عمرو
طب و احنا مالنا ان شٱلله ما حضرو
0:40
youtu.be/ROFw6yG-msk?...
ان جاء زيدٌ او حضر عمرو
طب و احنا مالنا ان شٱلله ما حضرو
0:40
youtu.be/ROFw6yG-msk?...
أغنية أبجد هوز لليلى مراد من كلمات حسين السيد ولحن محمد عبد الوهاب ( فيلم غزل البنات )
YouTube video by Dr. Hussein Kandiel - قناة العصر الذهبى لفن زمان
youtu.be
November 24, 2025 at 7:43 PM
As an example, in Leila Murad's famous song satirizing classical Arabic grammar:
ان جاء زيدٌ او حضر عمرو
طب و احنا مالنا ان شٱلله ما حضرو
0:40
youtu.be/ROFw6yG-msk?...
ان جاء زيدٌ او حضر عمرو
طب و احنا مالنا ان شٱلله ما حضرو
0:40
youtu.be/ROFw6yG-msk?...
Reposted
reading georges sakr thanks to @shjsat.bsky.social, this has me grinning it's a great insight and it made me sad that he didn't dwell bc you absolutely could be insane enough to come up with a dialect (or at least social) taxonomy based 100% on orthographic choices
(tayeb, eshi are diff words imo)
(tayeb, eshi are diff words imo)
November 19, 2025 at 8:35 AM
reading georges sakr thanks to @shjsat.bsky.social, this has me grinning it's a great insight and it made me sad that he didn't dwell bc you absolutely could be insane enough to come up with a dialect (or at least social) taxonomy based 100% on orthographic choices
(tayeb, eshi are diff words imo)
(tayeb, eshi are diff words imo)
Reposted
Thanks google very useful
November 18, 2025 at 6:33 PM
Thanks google very useful
i have no idea where this lies on the spectrum of weird to cool but i think the universe is telling me i need to read @rebeccamakkai.bsky.social books (both of these ive run into organically!!)
![screenshot of wikipedia:
Early life and education
Makkai grew up in Lake Bluff, Illinois. [1] She is the daughter of linguistics professors Valerie Becker Makkai and Ádám Makkai [hu], a refugee to the US following the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. Her paternal grandmother, Rózsa](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:5gvygd24ilrqmbgsii2zzp3v/bafkreiewv6hnhps5jn5gka6luuvz4dy55knq4kxpkwtw7l6lcqi75hzssm@jpeg)
November 17, 2025 at 7:45 AM
i have no idea where this lies on the spectrum of weird to cool but i think the universe is telling me i need to read @rebeccamakkai.bsky.social books (both of these ive run into organically!!)
so greengages have an ungodly number of lebanese names: jrink jirank janērik jarēnik jararank jinarlik jaranyak and also -g instead of -k…
even in fusha wiktionary lists jānarik jārink jārīnik ja(a)nīrik
it's said to be from ottoman "can eriği" but it's never sat right with me
if you start/
even in fusha wiktionary lists jānarik jārink jārīnik ja(a)nīrik
it's said to be from ottoman "can eriği" but it's never sat right with me
if you start/
…am i insane or does [...]de-la-reine-c[...] /də-la-rɛn-k/ match جررنك ǧararank
(the d -> j makes me think portuguese although of course there's no "de la" in portuguese...) (also if the plum was named after her during her lifetime it could be old enough to support crazy sound shifts over time…?)
(the d -> j makes me think portuguese although of course there's no "de la" in portuguese...) (also if the plum was named after her during her lifetime it could be old enough to support crazy sound shifts over time…?)
![screenshot of wiktionary entry:
French
Etymology
Earlier prune de la Reine Claude, named after Queen Claude (1499–1524).
Pronunciation
• IPA(key): /ʁɛn.klod/
Audio (France (Lyon)): [playable audio file]
Noun
reine-claude f (plural reines-claudes)
1. greengage (plum with greenish-yellow flesh and skin)](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:5gvygd24ilrqmbgsii2zzp3v/bafkreihtd3rtyxe4d6mfwwltue7vwokqqoo2qvjplzaspmcyzcf6g74cii@jpeg)
November 16, 2025 at 7:59 AM
so greengages have an ungodly number of lebanese names: jrink jirank janērik jarēnik jararank jinarlik jaranyak and also -g instead of -k…
even in fusha wiktionary lists jānarik jārink jārīnik ja(a)nīrik
it's said to be from ottoman "can eriği" but it's never sat right with me
if you start/
even in fusha wiktionary lists jānarik jārink jārīnik ja(a)nīrik
it's said to be from ottoman "can eriği" but it's never sat right with me
if you start/
Biggest We're So Back/It's So Over Moment Of 2025
s;ljkdf i forget if i've posted this but if you search henri fleisch on youtube you come across a channel that's actually posted some of his otherwise-never-archived magnetophone recordings
& i only realized today that we actually know one of them:
s;ljkdf i forget if i've posted this but if you search henri fleisch on youtube you come across a channel that's actually posted some of his otherwise-never-archived magnetophone recordings
& i only realized today that we actually know one of them:
CD 9 1/2 Enregistrement d'Henri Fleisch : Textes poétiques interprétés par Antoun Dumyt
YouTube video by Violaine Trentesaux Mochizuki
www.youtube.com
November 16, 2025 at 3:29 AM
Biggest We're So Back/It's So Over Moment Of 2025
s;ljkdf i forget if i've posted this but if you search henri fleisch on youtube you come across a channel that's actually posted some of his otherwise-never-archived magnetophone recordings
& i only realized today that we actually know one of them:
s;ljkdf i forget if i've posted this but if you search henri fleisch on youtube you come across a channel that's actually posted some of his otherwise-never-archived magnetophone recordings
& i only realized today that we actually know one of them:
feghali 1919 has interesting remarks on q. his classical q almost seems like [kʼ] but he's prob describing [kˤ] lol
for kfarabida he describes what i understand as the emphatic ʔ that i tried (middlingly successfully) to historicize below
and then [q] in some villages, notably different from [kˤ]?
for kfarabida he describes what i understand as the emphatic ʔ that i tried (middlingly successfully) to historicize below
and then [q] in some villages, notably different from [kˤ]?
November 15, 2025 at 10:00 PM
feghali 1919 has interesting remarks on q. his classical q almost seems like [kʼ] but he's prob describing [kˤ] lol
for kfarabida he describes what i understand as the emphatic ʔ that i tried (middlingly successfully) to historicize below
and then [q] in some villages, notably different from [kˤ]?
for kfarabida he describes what i understand as the emphatic ʔ that i tried (middlingly successfully) to historicize below
and then [q] in some villages, notably different from [kˤ]?
it actually scares me how much of a work of art this book is. and he was like the first person to ever do it. you can't just win the game before anyone else has even played what
ok and very pretty typesetting from michel feghali (1919) le parler arabe de kfàr‘abîda upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/co...
November 15, 2025 at 7:59 AM
it actually scares me how much of a work of art this book is. and he was like the first person to ever do it. you can't just win the game before anyone else has even played what
i only JUST realized that anis frayha's dictionary has a traditional rhyming title
muʕjamu l-ʔalfāð̣i l-ʕāmmiyyah
fi l-lahjati l-lubnāniyyah
(unlike in english: "a dictionary of non-classical vocables in the spoken arabic of lebanon")
but how are you supposed to read the arabic title ʔiʕrāb-wise…?
muʕjamu l-ʔalfāð̣i l-ʕāmmiyyah
fi l-lahjati l-lubnāniyyah
(unlike in english: "a dictionary of non-classical vocables in the spoken arabic of lebanon")
but how are you supposed to read the arabic title ʔiʕrāb-wise…?
November 14, 2025 at 9:39 PM
i only JUST realized that anis frayha's dictionary has a traditional rhyming title
muʕjamu l-ʔalfāð̣i l-ʕāmmiyyah
fi l-lahjati l-lubnāniyyah
(unlike in english: "a dictionary of non-classical vocables in the spoken arabic of lebanon")
but how are you supposed to read the arabic title ʔiʕrāb-wise…?
muʕjamu l-ʔalfāð̣i l-ʕāmmiyyah
fi l-lahjati l-lubnāniyyah
(unlike in english: "a dictionary of non-classical vocables in the spoken arabic of lebanon")
but how are you supposed to read the arabic title ʔiʕrāb-wise…?
Reposted
November 14, 2025 at 4:28 PM
?!! turkmen?? in lebanon?
i searched 'pardom kurdish' and this second paper came up w/ some info...
1st paper: www.academia.edu/34066397/Dia...
2nd paper: www.jstor.org/stable/10.13...
i searched 'pardom kurdish' and this second paper came up w/ some info...
1st paper: www.academia.edu/34066397/Dia...
2nd paper: www.jstor.org/stable/10.13...
November 13, 2025 at 10:47 PM
?!! turkmen?? in lebanon?
i searched 'pardom kurdish' and this second paper came up w/ some info...
1st paper: www.academia.edu/34066397/Dia...
2nd paper: www.jstor.org/stable/10.13...
i searched 'pardom kurdish' and this second paper came up w/ some info...
1st paper: www.academia.edu/34066397/Dia...
2nd paper: www.jstor.org/stable/10.13...
Reposted
more (my goodness)
i'm not sure what bensaria meant by "excluding the work of [...] makki, there is no study of a lebanese mountain dialect outside the mount lebanon district" since makki's work wasn't on a mountain dialect anyway
i have so much emailing to do if i want to find even half of my †'s
i'm not sure what bensaria meant by "excluding the work of [...] makki, there is no study of a lebanese mountain dialect outside the mount lebanon district" since makki's work wasn't on a mountain dialect anyway
i have so much emailing to do if i want to find even half of my †'s
![Note: Texts I don’t have are marked † if inaccessible, else *. Specific towns and localities are bolded.
North:
1. Akkar; Mahmut Ağbaht:
a. Shaykhtaba, monograph with texts (2024)
b. † Bʔarzla (to be published)
2. † Bcharri, Henri Bensaria (2012) [8]
3. Bishmizzin, monograph with texts; Michel Jiha (1964)
4. † Danniyeh, محمد سعيد سلطان Muḥammad Saʕīd Sulṭān (1975) [9]
5. Kfar‘abida, monograph sans texts; Michel T. Feghali (1919)
6. Tripoli:
a. Monograph with texts; Hassan el-Hajjé (1954)
b. † Etymological notes; محمد قاسم Muḥammad Qāsim (1995, 1996)
c. Brief sketch and comparison to Fuṣḥā; Mounif S. Moussa (1998)
7. Henri Fleisch (repub. 1974):
a. Kfarsghab, sketch with texts
b. Texts alone, usually with some exposition: Zgharta, Sir el-Danniyye, Kfar Dlaqous, Bziza, Qnat, Chatine, Hadchit
Mount Lebanon:
1. Aley:
a. † Aley, phonology; كمال بشر Kamal Bishr (unknown date, a. 1998) [9]
b. † Chanaay, Druze phonology and verbal morphology; Abdoul Fattah Zein (1981)
2. Baabda:
a. † Hadath, unknown master’s thesis; Mireille Dib-Yordanov (1994)
b. Ras al-Matn; Anis K. Frayha:
i. Quadriliteral verb list (1938)
ii. Dictionary (1947)
iii. Proverb dictionary (1953)
iv. Learner’s textbook (1958)
v. Updated proverb dictionary (1974)
3. Chouf:
a. † Druze phonology; Souha F. Riman (2008)
b. † Mazboud, monograph on phonology, morphology, syntax; Talal Tohme (1989)
4. Keserwan [10]:
a. Zeitoun, syntax of negation; Natalie M. Khairallah (2014)
5. Matn:
a. Baskinta, monograph sans texts; Farida Abu Haidar (1970)
6. Henri Fleisch (repub. 1974):
a. Maâsser Beit ed-Dîne, sketch of verbal morphology
b. Chhîm, sketch with texts
footnotes:
[8] Bensaria presented on this at the 2015 Arabic Linguistics Forum, for which an abstract is available online.
[9] Mentioned without a full citation in Moussa (1998)’s introduction to his Tripoli article.
[10] No longer part of the Mount Lebanon Governorate as of the 2017 creation of the Keserwan–Jbeil Governorate.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:5gvygd24ilrqmbgsii2zzp3v/bafkreidmw3gsmenorte3albjgo2pinzf3x3wmpkzve5ce3hxqumrqkrjba@jpeg)
![c. Texts: Antoûra, el-Khanchâra, Aïn Kharroûbé, Beit Chbâb, Ba‘abdât, Qornet Chahouâne, Tarchîch, el-Mtaïne, el-Qa‘qour, Hammâna, Dfoûn, Dardourît, Deir el-Qamar, Jall el-Dîb
Beqaa:
1. † Baalbek, phonology; Khadijah M. Lakkis (2014)
2. † Deir el-Ahmar; Henri Bensaria (2012) [9]
3. Henri Fleisch (1974):
a. Zahle, sketch with texts (1946)
South:
1. Zrarieh, grammar sketch with texts; Jussi Aro (1979)
2. Bint Jbeil, monograph sans texts; Elrabih M. Mekki (1983)
3. Khirbet Salem [11]:
a. † Collection of 1,500 proverbs; عبد الحسن سعد ʕabd al-Ḥasan Saʕad (a. 1964) [12]
b. Verbal morphology, and a phonological sketch; Henri Fleisch (1974)
c. † Monograph; Henri Fleisch (never completed, d. 1985) [13]
4. Henri Fleisch (never published):
a. † Texts: Harouf, Zrarieh, el-Khiam, Khirbet Salem [14]
5. Other:
a. Etymological dictionary; Ahmad Rida (1981)
b. * Etymological encyclopedia; Fayez Tarhini (2016)
Beirut:
1. Moussaytbeh, sociolinguistics; Nader Srage (1997)
2. † Ras Beirut (Ain al-Mraiseh), sociolinguistics; Samia Naïm-Sanbar (1985)
3. Christian Beiruti, stories and some phonological notes; Henry M. Huxley (1902)
4. General overview (brief); Jonathan Owens (2006) for the EALL
5. General overview with texts; Alexander Hourani (2005)
6. Grammar, and later a vocabulary textbook; Raphael Nakhla (1937, 1938)
7. Phonology; Emmanuel Mattsson (1911)
8. Phonology; Ghassan F. Haddad (1984)
9. Verbal aspect, tense, and action; Stefan Bruweleit (2015)
footnotes:
[11] I know the village as خِرْبِة سِلم ḵerbet selm with a kasra and would prefer the spelling ⟨Silm⟩, ⟨Selm⟩, or ⟨Selem⟩, but Fleisch has ⟨Salem⟩. Moreover, his Arabic spelling is خِربِة إسْلِم ḵirbit ʔislim! He sources the Arabic from the Répertoire alphabétique des noms de lieux habités (Service Géographique, 1945), and I don’t know where they got it from. His foreword (ibid, p. X) actually has a note about this spelling, but I got lost understanding the French.
[continued on next pic]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:5gvygd24ilrqmbgsii2zzp3v/bafkreifskqavivyiwa5ahifh3ovtzuomtuvkg3fil3ugxyglynlliqjcq4@jpeg)
![screenshot of the google books page for Le parler arabe de Mazboud (Liban): phonologie, morphologie, éléments de syntaxe by Talal Tohme (1989). the book is unavailable to read but there's some info about it, and i've circled the bit that says it's 1,096 pages and annotated it with "??!!!"
footnotes from last pic, continued:
[12] Mentioned without a specific citation in Fleisch (1974, p. 313)’s introduction to his 1964 Khirbet Salem study.
[13] In the foreword (Fleisch 1974, p. X), he says the book’s preliminary notes on Khirbet Salem were meant to be part of a larger monograph, « déjà avancée, que l’auteur espere un jour achever » (‘already well underway, which the author hopes to one day complete’). Sadly I see nothing between then and his passing in 1985. Reminds me of his assessment of the French–Arabic dictionary of J. Harfouche he makes occasional reference to: ‘malheureusement incomplet’ (ibid, p. 146).
[14] This is moreover from the foreword to the original Khirbet Salem study presented later in the book. He says that he made four ‘inquests by magnetophone’ in the Southern villages of Harouf, Zrarieh, el-Khiam, and Khirbet Salem itself (Fleisch 1974, p. 313). I tried emailing the Bibliothèque Orientale in Lebanon to inquire about any traces of them…
[15] Only discusses possible Arabic-internal etymologies.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:5gvygd24ilrqmbgsii2zzp3v/bafkreie7hdxp4g6dvwqpnntelpjrzfcrkmai3w5ploavsbq4jnnqetm6bi@jpeg)
![pdf screenshot:
First notes on the Lebanese dialects of Bšarre and Dayr ǝl-Aḥmar
Henri Bensaria
INALCO, Paris
The main aim of this talk is to present the primary results of an ongoing research project that
focuses on the Lebanese dialects of Bšarre and Dayr ǝl-Aḥmar. These villages are located on
the opposite sides of the Mount Lebanon range in the northern district, close to Ornǝt ǝs
Sawda, the highest point in the country.
Despite the large number of linguistic studies on Lebanese Arabic, one notices that they
disproportionately deal with certain survey points while other parts remain largely
uninvestigated. The majority of them concern the Mount-Lebanon district: Abu Haidar
(1979), El Zein (1981), Naim-Sanbar (1985), Tohme (1989), Dib-Yordanov (1994), and
Germanos (2009), while other Lebanese regions are neglected. Excluding the work of Henri
Fleisch (1974) and El-Rabih Massoud Makki (1983) there is no study of a Lebanese
mountain dialect outside the Mount-Lebanon district.
The villages of Bšarre and Dayr ǝl-Aḥmar are inhabited by Christian Maronites with various
tribal links connecting the two villages. In addition to this, they share a similar way of life
and common linguistic features. It appears however that there are a number of differences
that can be attributed to the influence of the Bekaa Valley in the case of Dayr ǝlAḥmar,
whereas Bšarre is under the influence of the Qādīšā Valley. I propose therefore (1) to present
the major linguistic characteristics of these two villages and highlight the features that
distinguish them from the regional koine as spoken in Beirut, (2) the phonological,
morphosyntactical differences between the two villages’ varieties and (3) an attempt to link
these differences to the varieties spoken in the Biqāʿ and Qādīšā Valleys. Examples:
/a/ > /o/ and /ā/ > /ō/
(1) ḍ-ḍāyf ǝmʿazzaz u-mkaṛṛöm ǝnd-nö.
DEF-guest cherished and-honoured at-1p
We cherish and honour the guest.
[continued below]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:5gvygd24ilrqmbgsii2zzp3v/bafkreiez74boz3meun4js7ses562moeqrk4ye75ldtht4ojtftpxnug72m@jpeg)
November 13, 2025 at 9:51 PM
more (my goodness)
i'm not sure what bensaria meant by "excluding the work of [...] makki, there is no study of a lebanese mountain dialect outside the mount lebanon district" since makki's work wasn't on a mountain dialect anyway
i have so much emailing to do if i want to find even half of my †'s
i'm not sure what bensaria meant by "excluding the work of [...] makki, there is no study of a lebanese mountain dialect outside the mount lebanon district" since makki's work wasn't on a mountain dialect anyway
i have so much emailing to do if i want to find even half of my †'s
the south lebanese village of zrarieh was basically the same as my family's ~nearby village during jussi aro's visit from finland in the 1970s (basically the same generation of speakers as those i learned arabic from)
November 12, 2025 at 3:33 AM
the south lebanese village of zrarieh was basically the same as my family's ~nearby village during jussi aro's visit from finland in the 1970s (basically the same generation of speakers as those i learned arabic from)
Reposted
respectful, euphemistic terms of address from tripoli 1954 (altho due to the subject matter probably found across lebanon)
ḥåḍərtak حضْرتك, "your presence": to anyone
janǟbak جنابك, "your sides (kinda)/vicinity?": to anyone
saɛå̄ttak سعادتك, "your happiness": to a bey, pasha, or high-ranking official
ḥåḍərtak حضْرتك, "your presence": to anyone
janǟbak جنابك, "your sides (kinda)/vicinity?": to anyone
saɛå̄ttak سعادتك, "your happiness": to a bey, pasha, or high-ranking official
November 10, 2025 at 4:54 AM
respectful, euphemistic terms of address from tripoli 1954 (altho due to the subject matter probably found across lebanon)
ḥåḍərtak حضْرتك, "your presence": to anyone
janǟbak جنابك, "your sides (kinda)/vicinity?": to anyone
saɛå̄ttak سعادتك, "your happiness": to a bey, pasha, or high-ranking official
ḥåḍərtak حضْرتك, "your presence": to anyone
janǟbak جنابك, "your sides (kinda)/vicinity?": to anyone
saɛå̄ttak سعادتك, "your happiness": to a bey, pasha, or high-ranking official
the word اللي lli, usually a relativizer (الزلمة اللي هون l-zalame lli hōn "the man that's here"), has a weird alternate usage: منيح اللي جيت mnīḥ lli jīt "good that you came"
i was proud of the og idea in the 2nd pic - BUT what prob actually happened (3rd pic) is so cool
(forgive clunky writing!)
i was proud of the og idea in the 2nd pic - BUT what prob actually happened (3rd pic) is so cool
(forgive clunky writing!)
![screenshot of the following wiktionary etymology with a mythbusters sorta "BUSTED" stamp overlaid on top:
Etymology 2:
Difficult to understand as an extension of the above [i.e. the relativizer اللي] due to the differences in syntax. Instead, perhaps a construction like *مْلِيح إِن (*mlīḥ ʔin, literally “good that”) underwent assimilation to become *مْلِيح ال (*mlīḥ (ʔ)il, “good that”), where the resulting *ال (*(ʔ)il) was reanalyzed as اللي (lli)'s byform ال (l-). This reanalysis would have allowed all other byforms, including اللي (lli) itself, to be used in this construction. Only later would the construction have spread to allow for adjectives other than مْلِيح (mlīḥ, “good”) as described in the usage note below.
Both terms of the proposed original *مْلِيح إِن (*mlīḥ ʔin, literally “good that”) are now unorthodox: مْلِيح (mlīḥ) is an archaic or rural form of what is now predominantly مْنِيح (mnīḥ, “good”), and a bare إِنْ (ʔin, “that”, complementizer) is absent from most Levantine varieties today in favor of a form with a fused expletive pronoun, إِنُّو (ʔinno). This reanalysis would have occurred before both of these terms fell from prominence. (Note, however, that Henri Fleisch recorded multiple Lebanese varieties that retained forms like إِنْ (ʔin) in his 1946–1974 studies of Lebanese Arabic.)
An alternative possibility is that the original phrase was already *مْنِيح إِن (*mnīḥ ʔin, literally “good that”) and that it shifted to *مْنِيح ال (*mnīḥ (ʔ)il, “good that”) in the process of dissimilation rather than assimilation.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:5gvygd24ilrqmbgsii2zzp3v/bafkreigj6t6uuvdk2jm2olanmr53vjuxusde2y4uy3iql4rtz23qy6d6sa@jpeg)
![screenshot of wiktionary quotation. the words اللي and illi are highlighted and bolded:
1902, Henry Minor Huxley, “Syrian Songs, Proverbs, and Stories: Collected, Translated, and Annotated”, in Journal of the American Oriental Society[1], volume 23 (overall work in English), Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts: American Oriental Society, passage #103, pages 242–244:
الوزير علّم مرة حتّى توقف على الدرب وصارت تسبّ وتقول الحمد للّه اللي مات الشيخ الفاخوري يخرب بيته اللّه يغمّق له عمره ما يرجع. قال لها لو كنت مش ميّت كنت بقوم ليكي.
l-wazīr ʕallam mara ḥatta tūʔaf ʕala d-darb w ṣārit tasibb w tʔūl l-ḥumdilla illi māt š-šayḵ l-fāḵūri yaḵrub baytu ʔaḷḷa yiḡammiʔlu ʕomru ma yərjaʕ. ʔallha law kunt muš mayyit kunt baʔūm layki.
[original: il-wezîr 3allem mara ḥɒtta tûʾaf 3ala'd-derb ū-ṣârit tesibb witʾûl il-ḥomd ílla illī mä̂t iš-šêḫ il-fāḫûrī yaḫrub bêtu ɒlla yiǧɒmmíʾlū 3omrū ma yörja3. ʾallha lau kunt muš mêyit kunt beʾ̂ūm lêki.]
The vizîr instructed a woman to stand on the road; she began to curse and say, "Praise be to God that he who has died is the jar-maker, (who was) an elder. May his house be destroyed; may God make his grave deep, and may his life not return." The jar-maker replied, "Were I not dead, I would rise against you!"
The given English translation is Huxley's. He somewhat misunderstands the expression عُمْرُه مَا يِرْجَع (ʕumro ma yirjaʕ, “may he never return for his entire life”, used this way even though the sheikh is allegedly already dead). It is unknown whether he similarly misunderstood the expression with اللي (lli), which in modern times would be understood as الحمدالله اللي مات الشيخ (l-ḥamdilla lli māt š-šayḵ, “thank God that the sheikh died”), or if it had indeed not yet undergone the reanalysis in question in 1902.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:5gvygd24ilrqmbgsii2zzp3v/bafkreihjnaws7q4u5yskyfed7pkq62ns3yh5qd57mvde6ghn4tq2clkv6q@jpeg)
November 9, 2025 at 9:21 PM
the word اللي lli, usually a relativizer (الزلمة اللي هون l-zalame lli hōn "the man that's here"), has a weird alternate usage: منيح اللي جيت mnīḥ lli jīt "good that you came"
i was proud of the og idea in the 2nd pic - BUT what prob actually happened (3rd pic) is so cool
(forgive clunky writing!)
i was proud of the og idea in the 2nd pic - BUT what prob actually happened (3rd pic) is so cool
(forgive clunky writing!)
if u reduce someone's workload you are literally "cutting out" part of that workload for them how am i supposed to understand the passive voice as the exact opposite 😭
i still understand "has their work cut out for them" as the opposite of what it's supposed to mean and i don't think i'm ever going to be able to get it right
November 9, 2025 at 2:11 AM
if u reduce someone's workload you are literally "cutting out" part of that workload for them how am i supposed to understand the passive voice as the exact opposite 😭
tried to get some work done on the bus and got completely sniped by two ppl sitting somewhere behind me speaking a language that i swear has ʕ and õ# that i can't pick up on anything else from
November 8, 2025 at 11:55 PM
tried to get some work done on the bus and got completely sniped by two ppl sitting somewhere behind me speaking a language that i swear has ʕ and õ# that i can't pick up on anything else from
there's a sort of r-like, *maybe* retroflex pronunciation of d found throughout south lebanon, you can hear it in the vid in the last post
anecdotally i think i've heard it (+ for other voiced coronals) from east leb too
to that point here are fleisch's 1946 notes on zahle… what is dâl niṭʿiyya?
anecdotally i think i've heard it (+ for other voiced coronals) from east leb too
to that point here are fleisch's 1946 notes on zahle… what is dâl niṭʿiyya?
November 8, 2025 at 7:59 PM
there's a sort of r-like, *maybe* retroflex pronunciation of d found throughout south lebanon, you can hear it in the vid in the last post
anecdotally i think i've heard it (+ for other voiced coronals) from east leb too
to that point here are fleisch's 1946 notes on zahle… what is dâl niṭʿiyya?
anecdotally i think i've heard it (+ for other voiced coronals) from east leb too
to that point here are fleisch's 1946 notes on zahle… what is dâl niṭʿiyya?
writers block but i literally just need to finish annotating a paragraph i don't even need to come up with any ideas
November 8, 2025 at 4:43 AM
writers block but i literally just need to finish annotating a paragraph i don't even need to come up with any ideas
here i will yap abt خِتْيَار xityār, خِتْيَارة xityāra, عَجُوز ʕajūz, and عَجُوزِة ʕajūze
1) the most common levantine word for 'old man' is خِتْيَار xityār
it's a resolution of the weird onset of some form like *خْتْيَار *xtyār, from *خْتِيَار *xtiyār, the form that underlies the arabic word اِخْتِيَار ixtiyār 'choice'
1) the most common levantine word for 'old man' is خِتْيَار xityār
it's a resolution of the weird onset of some form like *خْتْيَار *xtyār, from *خْتِيَار *xtiyār, the form that underlies the arabic word اِخْتِيَار ixtiyār 'choice'
November 8, 2025 at 4:30 AM
here i will yap abt خِتْيَار xityār, خِتْيَارة xityāra, عَجُوز ʕajūz, and عَجُوزِة ʕajūze
1) the most common levantine word for 'old man' is خِتْيَار xityār
it's a resolution of the weird onset of some form like *خْتْيَار *xtyār, from *خْتِيَار *xtiyār, the form that underlies the arabic word اِخْتِيَار ixtiyār 'choice'
1) the most common levantine word for 'old man' is خِتْيَار xityār
it's a resolution of the weird onset of some form like *خْتْيَار *xtyār, from *خْتِيَار *xtiyār, the form that underlies the arabic word اِخْتِيَار ixtiyār 'choice'
i read el-hajjé 1954 le parler arabe du tripoli liban (left) first and had insane deja vu the instant i saw nakhla 1937 grammaire du dialecte libano-syrien (right)
el-hajjé does have nakhla in his bibliography so i guess he used him as a guide for this part kinda, the rest of the chapter diverges
el-hajjé does have nakhla in his bibliography so i guess he used him as a guide for this part kinda, the rest of the chapter diverges
November 8, 2025 at 3:18 AM
i read el-hajjé 1954 le parler arabe du tripoli liban (left) first and had insane deja vu the instant i saw nakhla 1937 grammaire du dialecte libano-syrien (right)
el-hajjé does have nakhla in his bibliography so i guess he used him as a guide for this part kinda, the rest of the chapter diverges
el-hajjé does have nakhla in his bibliography so i guess he used him as a guide for this part kinda, the rest of the chapter diverges
