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Sami Jiries
@samijiries.bsky.social
phd student in semitic languages/linguistics || sociolinguistics of levantine arabic and arabic-aramaic language contact || he/him هُوِّه/ـُه || 🇵🇸🌈
68 followers20 following36 posts
SJsamijiries.bsky.social

I came across a Middle East travel diary by a German traveler named Ulrich J. Seetzen. In April 1805, he visited a Syrian town called Laṭmīn where people hated "Franks" (aka Europeans) so he constantly had insults thrown at him. Modern Arabic speakers may recognize them.

German text that describes Ulrich J. Seetzen's experience in Latmin, Syria, with key excerpt: Ich thue Alles, um meine Leute bey guter Laune zu erhalten; allein ihr Hass gegen die Franken muss ausserordentlich seyn, und ich muss beständig eine Menge Schimpfwörter hören. Indessen sind sie aber auch unter sich mit starken Worten nicht geizig, und daher verlieren ihre Schimpfwörte: Aib ala schuirrbak, Kelp ibn el Kelb, Tarihj u. s. w., vieles von ihrem Gehalte.
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SJsamijiries.bsky.social

He mentions three of them: Aib ala schuirrbak, Kelp ibn el Kelb, and Tarihj. The first is عيب على شواربك ʕayb ʕala šwērb-ak meaning 'shame on you (lit. your mustache).' The ‹i› in mustache schuirrbak likely reflects vowel raising: so šwērǝb not šwārǝb.

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SJ
Sami Jiries
@samijiries.bsky.social
phd student in semitic languages/linguistics || sociolinguistics of levantine arabic and arabic-aramaic language contact || he/him هُوِّه/ـُه || 🇵🇸🌈
68 followers20 following36 posts