Adventures in the Arabic Dictionary

Jan 12

Jan 12 Woven air

Ian Larson

Out of context

On fine muslin, sartorial word origins, and the sensual tension of revealing while concealing.

Aug 17

Aug 17 The Christian Fig

Ian Larson

Out of context

The abundance of names for the humble prickly pear offers a lesson on the fruits of intercultural contact and the lasting influence shipwreck, captivity, and feelings of colonial superiority.

Jun 30

Jun 30 A Dog's Tail is Never Straight

Ian Larson

Mother Tongue

The lazy and incorrigible are never cured of their bad habits.

Aug 18

Aug 18 To journey

Ian Larson

Redefined

On travel and veils of ignorance

Aug 8

Aug 8 God, ants, and circuitous destruction

Ian Larson

Out of context

On the meandering and mysterious expressions of divine will

Jul 27

Jul 27 The slave of a sheikh

Ian Larson

Out of context

Sheikhs, patronage, slaves, and dogs

Jul 11

Jul 11 Deadly fruits, pt. 1

Ian Larson

Mother Tongue

Fruits that kill

Jul 1

Jul 1 A book only a pedant could love

Ian Larson

Histories

Classical Arabic, dusty grammars, and the pedant’s conversational non-starter

Jun 21

Jun 21 The nobility of sugar

Ian Larson

Out of context

A snatch of poetry fit for the summer solstice

Jun 11

Jun 11 Knockin’ on heaven’s door

Ian Larson

Out of context

Fortune and the bold

May 28

May 28 Potsherds and preparation

Ian Larson

Out of context

Calligraphy and the transfiguration of banal sentiment into high art

May 22

May 22 Abu Nuwas, wine, and woe: a new translation

Ian Larson

In translation

On Arabic under the Abbasids, with a new translation of a classic poem

Apr 16

Apr 16 Parting as birds do

Ian Larson

Out of context

Apr 15

Apr 15 Praising and killing

Ian Larson

Histories

The acute danger of too-pointed praise

Mar 17

Mar 17 ṭāwūs

Ian Larson

Redefined

On peacocks and verdant lands in which every kind of plant flowers

Mar 8

Mar 8 The moon and the stars

Ian Larson

Out of context

Perspective and celestial immanence

Feb 24

Feb 24 Vagabond poetry

Ian Larson

The poem

Self-aggrandizing poetry and the libertarian aesthetic

Feb 18

Feb 18 Con Air, and why we write

Ian Larson

Lughawi

On the difference between what and why

Feb 14

Feb 14 Writing on the wall

Ian Larson

Histories

Writing and the pictorial arts

Jan 30

Jan 30 bāšara

Ian Larson

Redefined

Skin to skin

And say: My lord, increase me knowledge-wise

Jan 12 Woven air

Aug 17 The Christian Fig

Jun 30 A Dog's Tail is Never Straight

Aug 18 To journey

Aug 8 God, ants, and circuitous destruction

Jul 27 The slave of a sheikh

Jul 11 Deadly fruits, pt. 1

Jul 1 A book only a pedant could love

Jun 21 The nobility of sugar

Jun 11 Knockin’ on heaven’s door

May 28 Potsherds and preparation

May 22 Abu Nuwas, wine, and woe: a new translation

Apr 16 Parting as birds do

Apr 15 Praising and killing

Mar 17 ṭāwūs

Mar 8 The moon and the stars

Feb 24 Vagabond poetry

Feb 18 Con Air, and why we write

Feb 14 Writing on the wall

Jan 30 bāšara

*

For the love of language, and sometimes Arabic.