Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah & Meccah — Volume 2 by Sir Richard Francis Burton
page 32 of 559 (05%)
page 32 of 559 (05%)
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[FN#42] Burckhardts Travels in Arabia, vol. ii. p. 174.
[FN#43] Of which I have given an account in chapter xvi. [FN#44] The only abnormal sound amongst the consonants heard here and in Al-Hijaz generally is the pronouncing of k (A[rabic]) a hard gfor instance, Guran for Kuran (a Koran), and Haggi or Hakki (my right). This g, however, is pronounced deep in the throat, and does not resemble the corrupt Egyptian pronunciation of the jim (j, [Arabic]), a letter which the Copts knew not, and which their modern descendants cannot articulate. In Al-Hijaz, the only abnormal sounds amongst the vowels are o for u, as Khokh, a peach, and [Arabic] for [Arabic], as Ohod for Uhud. The two short vowels fath and kasr are correctly pronounced, the former never becoming a short e, as in Egypt (El for Al and Yemen for Yaman), or a short i, as in Syria (min for man who? &c.) These vowels, however, are differently articulated in every part of the Arab world. So says St. Jerome of the Hebrew: Nec refert atrum Salem aut Salim nominetur; cum vocalibus in medio literis perraro utantur Hebraei; et pro voluntate lectorum, ac varietate regionum, eadem verba diversis sonis atque accentibus proferantur. [FN#45] e.g., Ant Zarabtthou struckedstfor Zarabta. The final vowel, suffering apocope, would leave Zarabt equally applicable to the first person singular and the second person singular masculine. [p.28]CHAPTER XXII. A VISIT TO THE SAINTS CEMETERY. A splendid comet, blazing in the western sky, had aroused the apprehensions of the Madani. They all fell to predicting the usual disasterswar, famine, and pestilence,it being still an article of Moslem belief that the Dread Star foreshows all manner of calamities. Men |
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