A Dictionary of Idiomatic Expressions in written Arabic pdf download

 A Dictionary of Idiomatic Expressions in written Arabic for the reader of classical and modern texts by Mahmoud Sami Moussa

A DICTIONARY OF IDIOMATIC EXPRESSIONS

Book introduction

The author says: It was in the early 1980s when I realized the need to make‎ a dictionary, which deals with one of the most difficult areas in any language: idioms and idiomatic expressions.

 At that time I was starting my career as an instructor of Arabic as a second language at the Arabic Language Institute at the American University in Cairo, and 1 noticed that high intermediate and even advanced learners of Arabic would face difficulty in deciphering the meaning of such language features.

The literal translation of individual lexical items of an expression usually resulted in funny sentences, which aroused either laughter or embarrassment on the part of the learner. To my surprise, I also realized that a great number of native speakers of Arabic also did not understand the exact meaning of a lot of these idiomatic expressions.

 Therefore, it became clear that such a dictionary would be useful to them as well. In terms of structure, entries are arranged according to the Arabic root system.

For example, مفتاح – انفتاح استفتاح فتوح |‎ are to be found under the entry ف ت ج‎ and the roots are arranged according to the order of the Arabic alphabet.

To make it easier for the reader, entries have been cross-referenced so that the meaning can be found through more than one word in a given expression.

The entries are organized as follows: » When the expression includes a verb, this verb takes priority and if there is more than one verb in the sentence, the first verb takes priority.

 Personal names, cities, countries, animals, time references, and parts of the body also take priority.

 A literal translation of the expression is sometimes given first, and the meaning follows. This way, the reader will not be required to consult the dictionary for individual lexical items. » Some words are vocalized to avoid ambiguity.

Whenever the English have the same or a very similar idiomatic expression as the Arabic—such as ‘the walls have ears’ or ‘no smoke without fire’—‎ the translation is given without further comment.