On the Border Between Two Languages

Worldpress ^ | May 4, 2008 | Ofri Ilani

[forkinsocket]

Ten years ago, when Dr. David Sagiv began preparing the Arabic-Hebrew Hebrew-Arabic dictionary he recently completed, he was more optimistic than he is today. At that time, he and his wife, Marcelle, would go every year to Cairo, where he had established contact with some of the most important intellectuals in Egypt. The shelves of his bookcase in Jerusalem are filled with Arabic books, some of which contain dedications from Egyptian authors. For several years, it seemed as though cultural relations between Israel and Egypt were gradually being woven. But in the last few years, since the Al-Aqsa Intifada broke out, David and Marcelle Sagiv no longer visit Egypt.

"Today we are less in touch with our friends in Egypt," Sagiv says. "There is a serious process of deterioration in ties. Perhaps it is their fault, perhaps it is ours, but it is not a good thing. One needs someone crazy, like me, who will swim against the stream and publish a dictionary with the aim of getting the two cultures closer."

Sagiv, who was born in Iraq, has been compiling dictionaries for decades, as well as teaching Arabic language and translating literary works from Arabic into Hebrew. In 1985, he published a Hebrew-Arabic dictionary in two volumes, which became a must-have object on the bookshelf of any Israeli who deals with the Arabic language. Sagiv's new dictionary, which has more than 1,000 pages, is the most comprehensive dictionary that contains in one volume both an Arabic-Hebrew and a Hebrew-Arabic dictionary. "It weighs a ton," he says, holding the heavy volume in his hand.

[forkinsocket]

.

[goldstategop]

Hebrew and Arabic are semitic languages but belong to different families. Arabic belongs to the non-Canaanite group of semitic languages and Hebrew belongs to the Canaanite group of semitic languages. They share a common ancestor but they are not mutually intelligible.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[ccmay]

Perhaps it is their fault, perhaps it is ours, but it is not a good thing.

Gee let's see.... Oh yeah. THEIR FAULT.

-ccm