ABU DHABI // Ever been stuck for words when it comes to greeting an Emirati in the rain, or congratulating the winner of a camel race?
Have you been bewildered after a UAE national has addressed a five-year-old boy with the title "father"?
Your dilemmas will soon be resolved. The author of a book on Abu Dhabi terms has expanded it for a second edition to be out next year.
Local Language lists Arabian Gulf and Abu Dhabi terms collected by Aisha Al Rumaithi over a year of sitting with elders.
Its seven sections include a list of Emirati colours and nicknames, and other peculiarities of the language such as those listed above.
"When our director asked me to work on this I tried my best," said Ms Al Rumaithi, the head of training and development at the Women's Union, which commissioned and published the book in August. "Of course, inshallah, there will be a second edition that will be longer than this."
The book offers a glimpse into Emirati culture through its language. It begins with a long section on expressions of hospitality, or what Ms Al Rumaithi calls "the quantity of the welcome", and ends with words borrowed from Urdu, Swahili, Farsi and English.
It holds an extensive vocabulary for the welcomer and the welcomed. The idea of hospitality is captured by the local word "igrab", a concept that roughly translates as "welcome, be and share with me".
In a country where men left home for months at a time to work at sea, goodbyes are equally poetic. Ms Al Rumaithi lists no fewer than six sentiments for the departing traveller.
Emirati colours hint at the products of trade. There is kurkumi, the colour of the turmeric; qahwi, coffee; neeli, an indigo stone used to whiten clothing or the face; and amlah, the colourless grey of an old white kandora.
"That means it looks very old and there is no colour in it - not dark, not light," Ms Al Rumaithi said.
Professions are associated with land, sea, survival and beauty: there are racing camel trainers, rope haulers, pearl merchants, porters who carry water to boats, porters who carry water to the houses, hairdressers, henna artists and ear piercers.
Ms Al Rumaithi, in her 40s, chose to document words still commonly used by her generation but which are at a risk of disappearing.
Shaima Al Sayed, an Emirati Arabic language teacher from Ajman, said many Emirati words were endangered.
"For this generation it's uncommon for youth not to know English," Ms Al Sayed said.
"It's become OK if you don't speak Arabic, but in the last year and a half there's become this sort of awareness among Emiratis regarding national identity that Sheikh Khalifa and Sheikh Mohammed have been trying to concentrate on, and part of that is the language.
"So the generations, the ones that have not been able to perfect their Arabic, have found themselves stuck because they've lost their Arabic. Now I do have a few who come to me because they can't express themselves any more."
The book is not an academic work. Ms Al Rumaithi does not explain word origins, where words should be used or whether they are current or archaic.
All interviews were conducted in Abu Dhabi city and there is no mention of the Arabic dialects of the mountains. And there is little of the enormous vocabulary relating to camels, falconry and music.
"This book is not from the museum, this is from our life," said Fatima Al Roumaithi,a friend of Ms Al Rumaithi.
"This is our accent, this is our language. Until now the people who are our age or a little younger than us, they still use this language but people who are younger, in their 20s, no."
The book could help to document the shifting trends of Arabic in Abu Dhabi.
"Concentrating on these expressions and collecting it for a young generation is a good thing," said Dr Latifa Al Najjar, an Arabic-language professor at UAE University in Dubai. "It's important."
"I don't know what will happen in the future. Maybe it will be like Standard Arabic - some of the words will be without meaning, sentences will disappear."
The second edition may be published in English, or with a CD so people can hear pronunciation. Ms Al Rumaithi hopes to expand it to include sections on time and different Emirati dialects.
The book is available for free from the Women's Union. Ms Al Rumaithi can also be contacted at www.wu.gov.ae .
azacharias@thenational.ae
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UAE%20Warriors%2045%20Results
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The years Ramadan fell in May
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
TOUCH RULES
Touch is derived from rugby league. Teams consist of up to 14 players with a maximum of six on the field at any time.
Teams can make as many substitutions as they want during the 40 minute matches.
Similar to rugby league, the attacking team has six attempts - or touches - before possession changes over.
A touch is any contact between the player with the ball and a defender, and must be with minimum force.
After a touch the player performs a “roll-ball” - similar to the play-the-ball in league - stepping over or rolling the ball between the feet.
At the roll-ball, the defenders have to retreat a minimum of five metres.
A touchdown is scored when an attacking player places the ball on or over the score-line.
Pari
Produced by: Clean Slate Films (Anushka Sharma, Karnesh Sharma) & KriArj Entertainment
Director: Prosit Roy
Starring: Anushka Sharma, Parambrata Chattopadhyay, Ritabhari Chakraborty, Rajat Kapoor, Mansi Multani
Three stars
MATCH INFO
League Cup, last 16
Manchester City v Southampton, Tuesday, 11.45pm (UAE)
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl
Power: 153hp at 6,000rpm
Torque: 200Nm at 4,000rpm
Transmission: 6-speed auto
Price: Dh99,000
On sale: now
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Revibe%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202022%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Hamza%20Iraqui%20and%20Abdessamad%20Ben%20Zakour%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20UAE%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Refurbished%20electronics%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunds%20raised%20so%20far%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%2410m%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFlat6Labs%2C%20Resonance%20and%20various%20others%0D%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
The specs: 2017 Porsche 718 Cayman
Price, base / as tested Dh222,500 / Dh296,870
Engine 2.0L, flat four-cylinder
Transmission Seven-speed PDK
Power 300hp @ 6,500rpm
Torque 380hp @ 1,950rpm
Fuel economy, combined 6.9L / 100km
Recent winners
2002 Giselle Khoury (Colombia)
2004 Nathalie Nasralla (France)
2005 Catherine Abboud (Oceania)
2007 Grace Bijjani (Mexico)
2008 Carina El-Keddissi (Brazil)
2009 Sara Mansour (Brazil)
2010 Daniella Rahme (Australia)
2011 Maria Farah (Canada)
2012 Cynthia Moukarzel (Kuwait)
2013 Layla Yarak (Australia)
2014 Lia Saad (UAE)
2015 Cynthia Farah (Australia)
2016 Yosmely Massaad (Venezuela)
2017 Dima Safi (Ivory Coast)
2018 Rachel Younan (Australia)
THE DRAFT
The final phase of player recruitment for the T10 League has taken place, with UAE and Indian players being drafted to each of the eight teams.
Bengal Tigers
UAE players: Chirag Suri, Mohammed Usman
Indian: Zaheer Khan
Karachians
UAE players: Ahmed Raza, Ghulam Shabber
Indian: Pravin Tambe
Kerala Kings
UAE players: Mohammed Naveed, Abdul Shakoor
Indian: RS Sodhi
Maratha Arabians
UAE players: Zahoor Khan, Amir Hayat
Indian: S Badrinath
Northern Warriors
UAE players: Imran Haider, Rahul Bhatia
Indian: Amitoze Singh
Pakhtoons
UAE players: Hafiz Kaleem, Sheer Walli
Indian: RP Singh
Punjabi Legends
UAE players: Shaiman Anwar, Sandy Singh
Indian: Praveen Kumar
Rajputs
UAE players: Rohan Mustafa, Ashfaq Ahmed
Indian: Munaf Patel
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
A State of Passion
Directors: Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi
Stars: Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah
Rating: 4/5
Ultra processed foods
- Carbonated drinks, sweet or savoury packaged snacks, confectionery, mass-produced packaged breads and buns
- margarines and spreads; cookies, biscuits, pastries, cakes, and cake mixes, breakfast cereals, cereal and energy bars;
- energy drinks, milk drinks, fruit yoghurts and fruit drinks, cocoa drinks, meat and chicken extracts and instant sauces
- infant formulas and follow-on milks, health and slimming products such as powdered or fortified meal and dish substitutes,
- many ready-to-heat products including pre-prepared pies and pasta and pizza dishes, poultry and fish nuggets and sticks, sausages, burgers, hot dogs, and other reconstituted meat products, powdered and packaged instant soups, noodles and desserts.
Western Region Asia Cup Qualifier
Results
UAE beat Saudi Arabia by 12 runs
Kuwait beat Iran by eight wickets
Oman beat Maldives by 10 wickets
Bahrain beat Qatar by six wickets
Semi-finals
UAE v Qatar
Bahrain v Kuwait
The Kites
Romain Gary
Penguin Modern Classics