Glossary entry (derived from question below)
Sep 19, 2001 13:51
22 yrs ago
2 viewers *
Arabic term
Laura Benson
M O I
Arabic to English
Art/Literary
I have a symbol I think is arabic. It is an M type character with two dots under the valley, an attached O then an I with an S type symbol above it. Looks like "Moi" with the dots under the M and an S over the i.
Proposed translations
(English)
| 4 | أمي My Mother |
Fuad Yahya
|
| 5 | Addendum |
Fuad Yahya
|
| 4 | Addendum 2 |
Fuad Yahya
|
| 4 | "Amen!" or "Ameen" |
Fuad Yahya
|
Proposed translations
40 mins
Selected
أمي My Mother
Your description is impressive. My best guess is that the word you are describing is UMMI أمي
Dressed up in all of its diacritics (small strokes above and below the letters, indicating short vowels and other pronunciaion hints), the word should look like أُمِّي
The word means "my mother."
Fuad
Dressed up in all of its diacritics (small strokes above and below the letters, indicating short vowels and other pronunciaion hints), the word should look like أُمِّي
The word means "my mother."
Fuad
1 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "I created cards of encouragement to send to NY and DC and a man signed the cards with only that symbol. I was curious as to what it means. While you gave me different answers, I am comfortable that it seems to mean some kind of good wishes or a name. Thank you for taking the time and I'm sorry it took me a couple of days to respond to your answer.
LB"
1 hr
Addendum
Just to tie up some loose ends:
1. I hope that your computer is set up to display Arabic text, so you can compare the word I wrote with the word you have in front of you. If your computer is not set up for that, let us know so we can advise you on how to do it.
2. How the word will appear on your screen is font-dependent, so it may not look exactly identical to the word you are inquiring about. On my screen, Arabic text in ProZ.com pages looks rather sylized, not like ordinary script one sees in main bodies of text.
3. Arabic reads right to left, so what you described as a first character (M-like shape) is actually the last letter (an I-type vowel), while the right-most character (looks like an I with a tiny sympmol on top) is the first letter (a glottal stop). The O-shaped letter in the middle is the Arabic equivalent of M.
3. Except for an intensive diacritic on top of the last letter (the M-shaped letter), The word UMMI ("my mother")
أُمِّي
looks almost identical to the word UMMIYY ("illiterate")
أُمِّيّ
Since diacritics are often not written in, I thought I point this possibility out, just in case this might be the intended meaning. Of course, one cannot tell without full context.
Fuad
1. I hope that your computer is set up to display Arabic text, so you can compare the word I wrote with the word you have in front of you. If your computer is not set up for that, let us know so we can advise you on how to do it.
2. How the word will appear on your screen is font-dependent, so it may not look exactly identical to the word you are inquiring about. On my screen, Arabic text in ProZ.com pages looks rather sylized, not like ordinary script one sees in main bodies of text.
3. Arabic reads right to left, so what you described as a first character (M-like shape) is actually the last letter (an I-type vowel), while the right-most character (looks like an I with a tiny sympmol on top) is the first letter (a glottal stop). The O-shaped letter in the middle is the Arabic equivalent of M.
3. Except for an intensive diacritic on top of the last letter (the M-shaped letter), The word UMMI ("my mother")
أُمِّي
looks almost identical to the word UMMIYY ("illiterate")
أُمِّيّ
Since diacritics are often not written in, I thought I point this possibility out, just in case this might be the intended meaning. Of course, one cannot tell without full context.
Fuad
1 day 3 hrs
Addendum 2
Today a ProZ.com user posted a question requesting help writing the name Amy in Arabic letter. While I was writing my answer, my thoughts went back to your question. It occurred to me that the symbol you have may be somebody's attempt to write the name Amy in Arabic letters.
It would not be a very accurate rendition, but close. The name Amy is not easy to represent in Arabic letters because of the initial vowel sound. My best approximation of Amy would be أيـمي
As you can see, it is slightly different from what you have, but I just could not help notice the similarity.
Fuad
It would not be a very accurate rendition, but close. The name Amy is not easy to represent in Arabic letters because of the initial vowel sound. My best approximation of Amy would be أيـمي
As you can see, it is slightly different from what you have, but I just could not help notice the similarity.
Fuad
2 days 4 hrs
"Amen!" or "Ameen"
This almost never fails on ProZ. The routine (I am tempted to say, "the ritual") goes like this:
- A question is posted. Very little context is provided.
- Pros rev up their guessing machines, coming up with amazing theories about what might have been meant. Creativity soars, but no real hits.
- Finally the asker selects an answer, not because the answer answered anything close, but to show appreciation for the effort. A gracious thank you note is posted in which the basic facts of the case are finally divulged.
- The pros wonder, "Where was this information when we needed it?"
Now that we have been let in on the background, the most likely explanations (yes, more than one) are:
1. "Amen!" This may be your correspondent's response to something you included in the cards that you created (a prayer, perhaps).
- "Ameen" (a personal name). That would be the man's signature.
I hope that ProZ.com notifies askers of post-closure comments so that you get to see this posting.
Fuad
- A question is posted. Very little context is provided.
- Pros rev up their guessing machines, coming up with amazing theories about what might have been meant. Creativity soars, but no real hits.
- Finally the asker selects an answer, not because the answer answered anything close, but to show appreciation for the effort. A gracious thank you note is posted in which the basic facts of the case are finally divulged.
- The pros wonder, "Where was this information when we needed it?"
Now that we have been let in on the background, the most likely explanations (yes, more than one) are:
1. "Amen!" This may be your correspondent's response to something you included in the cards that you created (a prayer, perhaps).
- "Ameen" (a personal name). That would be the man's signature.
I hope that ProZ.com notifies askers of post-closure comments so that you get to see this posting.
Fuad
Discussion