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Too many place words begin with "ma"
Categories: linguistics, study
Date: 18 June 2008 03:08:09
In Arabic for my liking that is. For example:
- ﻣﺼﻨﻊ [maSna'] - factory
- ﻣﺤﻞ [maHall] - store
- ﻣﺴﺮﺢ [masraH] - theatre
- ﻣﻜﺗﺐ [maktab] - office
- ﻣﻄﺎﺮ [maTaar] - airport
- ﻣﺪﺭﺳﺔ [madrasa] - school
- ﻣﻄﻌﻢ [maT'am] - restaurant
- ﻣﺤﻄﺔ [maHaTTa] - station
- ﻣﺘﺤﻒ [matHaf] - museum
The "ma" sound in Arabic, if I recall our teacher correctly, indicates the place at which something is done, which does explain the Arabic language's love of the "ma" at the beginning of place names. But I only have a small brain, so can you blame me for getting a tad confused between airport and restaurant or factory and theatre?
One word I will recall for a while, in fact I believe the 8 of us in the class will: ﺷﺮﻛﺔ [sharika] - company or business. Why will we remember it? One fellow said it as 'Shakira'. :)