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
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.
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.
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