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Alexander Jabbari Profile picture
Alexander Jabbari
@yakabikaj
Professor of sundry Persianate things. Tweeting about philology (Persian, Urdu, Semitic), language, literature, history, Muslim and Jewish stuff, Marxism
May 11, 2023 • 8 tweets • 1 min read
Āsh (rhymes with 'posh') is a kind of thick soup which is a staple of Iranian cuisine. Below are some Persian expressions about āsh 👇 Image kāse dāghtar az āsh - the bowl [is] hotter than the āsh = more catholic than the pope
May 9, 2023 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
My translation of Mohammad-Taqi Bahār's introduction to his Sabkshenāsi (Stylistics, 1942) is out now in the Journal of Persianate Studies.

A short thread 🧵 about this massively influential work. 1/7 Image Stylistics was the first textbook for the new doctoral program in Persian literature at the University of Tehran. It was a groundbreaking work of philology, incorporating traditional knowledge + Orientalist linguistics. 2/7
Jan 3, 2023 • 25 tweets • 4 min read
If your new year's resolution was to learn a language, here's how to do it. 🧵 It's important to find what works for you. Here's what worked for me in my experience as both a language learner and teacher.

You can read these tips in greater detail at my blog: ajab.substack.com/p/howtolearnal…
Jul 20, 2022 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
In India "hotel" often refers to a restaurant. This is not an innovation; it's actually preserved an older sense of the word. A thread 🧵on the #etymology of "hotel" in South Asia. 1/ English hotel is from French hôtel, from Middle French hostel. The Middle French word is also the source of English hostel. In French, the circumflex (eg. ô) usually marks the historic presence of a consonant like s. Another example is forêt, which was forest in Middle French. 2/
Mar 25, 2022 • 18 tweets • 4 min read
This extremely cool video features rappers from all 31 provinces of Iran, with many regional dialects and languages represented. A thread on the video and on the politics of language in Iran. 1/ First, the video itself: 39 rappers in total, took 2 years to make. The clip I posted features Azerbaijani, Balochi, Mazandarani, & Persian, but there are so many more in the full video. Watch it here (there are Persian & English subtitles available): 2/
Jan 21, 2022 • 9 tweets • 4 min read
In many languages the queen chess piece is called by a word derived from the Persian farzān/farzīn (source of Arabic فرزان firzān, Russian ферзь ferz', Mongolian ᠪᠡᠷᠰᠡ berse, Uzbek farzin, even Middle English fers !) A thread on the #etymology of this interesting word. 1/9 This word appears as frazēn in Middle Persian sources on chess. The piece wasn't exactly the same as today's queen, but a precursor from an earlier form of chess. It could only move one square diagonally. There is disagreement as to what "frazēn" originally meant. 2/
Dec 13, 2020 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
In addition to her brilliant scholarship on Chinese Islam, Sachiko Murata (b. 1943) has led a fascinating life. A thread with autobiographical excerpts from her book The Tao of Islam. (1/5) Image Murata began her education studying family law in Japan, then went on to complete a PhD in Persian literature at the University of Tehran, and nearly completed a second one in Islamic jursiprudence (fiqh) before the revolution broke out and she came to the US. (2/5)