I have a cartoon figure on each shoulder; one whispers “you aren’t” in my ear and the other whispers “you’re not” in my ear. I don’t know which is the devil. If you aren’t swayed by this contrived tease, you’re not likely to read further.
***
The prefaces to Wright’s Grammar of the Arabic Language are dated 1874 and 1896, which situates it in time. I want to give you a flavor of this monument in its English aspect. I hope you’ll savor Wright’s majestic pedantry (still helpful to the student), and marvel with me at how weirdly granular and specific it is for a language to have (or have had) a word for “fat, lazy, old woman,” in the first place, plus a way to make it diminutive.
***
The Arabic word for quince (the fruit)
[safarjal-un]
turns into this
[sufairij-un]
when it’s made diminutive (little quince). It illustrates the rule for forming the diminutive of quinqueliterals:
“When the noun contains five letters, of which the fourth is strong, or more than five, the diminutive [fuƸaiƸil-un] is commonly formed from the first four, and the rest are rejected.”
(Wright, p. 168)
[fuƸaiƸil-un] — template for the diminutive of qinqueliterals.
But exceptions to the rule include the term for a fat, lazy, old woman:
[jaḥmariš-un]
A little fat, lazy, old woman can be either this:
[juḥaimir-un]
or this:
[juḥairiš-un].
Wright states that the diminutive is used “not merely in its literal sense,… but also to express endearment… or contempt…, and even enhancement….”
I live in Texas and devote much of my time to easel painting on an amateur basis. I stream a lot of music, mostly jazz, throughout the day. I like to read and memorize poetry.
EthicalDative 
‘Little Fat, Lazy, Old Woman’
I have a cartoon figure on each shoulder; one whispers “you aren’t” in my ear and the other whispers “you’re not” in my ear. I don’t know which is the devil. If you aren’t swayed by this contrived tease, you’re not likely to read further.
***
The prefaces to Wright’s Grammar of the Arabic Language are dated 1874 and 1896, which situates it in time. I want to give you a flavor of this monument in its English aspect. I hope you’ll savor Wright’s majestic pedantry (still helpful to the student), and marvel with me at how weirdly granular and specific it is for a language to have (or have had) a word for “fat, lazy, old woman,” in the first place, plus a way to make it diminutive.
***
The Arabic word for quince (the fruit)
turns into this
when it’s made diminutive (little quince). It illustrates the rule for forming the diminutive of quinqueliterals:
But exceptions to the rule include the term for a fat, lazy, old woman:
A little fat, lazy, old woman can be either this:
or this:
Wright states that the diminutive is used “not merely in its literal sense,… but also to express endearment… or contempt…, and even enhancement….”
(c) 2022 JMN — EthicalDative. All rights reserved
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About JMN
I live in Texas and devote much of my time to easel painting on an amateur basis. I stream a lot of music, mostly jazz, throughout the day. I like to read and memorize poetry.