by Ahdaf Soueif
ummi: my mother.
uqal (also ugal): the black cord circle worn on the crown of the head over a kufiyya.
wa (also we and w’): and.
W’ mit bosa: and a hundred kisses.
wadi: valley [of].
walla ma: or not. Derogatory, dismissive, ‘it makes no difference’ — like the use of the prefix ‘shm’ in Jewish-American parlance.
waqf: a trust.
ya: vocative instrument — optional if the vocative phrase is at the beginning of the utterance, obligatory if it is in the middle.
Yafa: Palestinian coastal town. English: Jaffa.
ya-fandim: sir (abbreviated ya afandi).
yakhti (ya okhti): my sister.
yalla: hurry, let’s go.
yama: an indication of great quantity, as in ‘yama I told him, but he wouldn’t listen’.
yani: an interjection. Literally ‘it means’. But used like ‘you know’ and ‘almost’ and ‘so-so’.
Yasu al-Masih: Jesus, the Christ. Specific to Christ, as opposed to ’Isa which is Jesus as a common name.
zaffa: wedding procession.
zagharid: ululations, joy-cries, celebrating a happy event. Made exclusively by women. Singular: zaghruda.
zarafa: giraffe.
Ismail Basha Sabri’s poems:
‘Take your fill …’:
Tazawwada min al-aqmari qabla ufuliha
li-dhulmati ayami-l-furaqi wa tuliha
to;
A-anta razinun ayyuha al-qalbu fi ghadin
kaahdika am sarin waraa humuliha?
‘Leave off your coyness …’:
Khalli sududak we hagrak
W-itfi lahibi we wagdi
Sait wisalak we urbak
aghla min el-umr andi
laglak hagarni manami
we fik gafeit kulle saheb
we lagl urbak we waslak
sahibt gheir el-habayib
ALSO BY AHDAF SOUEIF
IN THE EYE OF THE SUN
Set amidst the turmoil of contemporary Middle Eastern politics, this vivid and highly acclaimed novel is an intimate look into the lives of Arab women today. Here, a woman who grows up among the Egyptian elite marries a Westernized husband, and, while pursuing graduate study, becomes embroiled in a love affair with an uncouth Englishman.
Fiction/Literature/0-385-72037-8
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