Oriental.Occidental.
faفfaڢ
kafقkafڧ

Among the Western Arabs, the ancient Arabic figures are used, viz. 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9: they often write 100 thus, 1 . .-200, 2 . .

To explain the force of the synonymous letters on paper would be impossible; the reader, however, may form some idea of the indispensable necessity of knowing the distinction by the few words here selected, which to one unaccustomed to hear the Arabic language spoken, would appear similar and undistinguishable.

ENGLISH.ARABIC.ARABIC.
Rendered as near to European pronunciation as the English Alphabet will admit.
A horseAoudعودْ
WoodAwadاعوادْ
To repeatAoudعَودْ
FishHoutحُوتْ
A gunMokhallaامُكْحلَ
A foolish womanMokeelaمُخيلهَ
A frying-panMakeelaمَڧلُ
A lionSebahاَّلسبعْ
MorningSebahاَّلصبحْ
SeventhSebahاَّلسبعْ
HatredHassedاحسَدْ
HarvestHassedاحصدْ
LearningAlem, or El Alemالعالمْ or عالمْ
A flagEl Alemالاعلامْ
Granulated pasteKuscasoeكسكْسُ
The dish it is made inKuscasكسكاسْ
HeartKul’bڧلبْ
DogKil’bكلبْ
MouldKal’bڧالبْ
CaptainRiceالرُايسُ
FeathersRishالرُيش
MudRisالغيسْ
SmellShimالشُمْ
PoisonSimألسمْ[168]
AbsentR’gaibالغايبْ
Butter milkRaibالرَّايبْ
WhiteBëadاْبيضْ
A blackEl Abdالعبدْ
EggsBaidالبَيضْ
Afar-offBaidابْعيدْ
A pigHelloofحلوڢْ
An oathHellefاحلڢْ
Feed for horsesAlfالعّلڢ
A thousandAlfالڢْ

It is difficult for any one who has not accurately studied the Arabic language, to imagine the many errors which an European commits in speaking it, when self-taught, or even when taught in Europe. Soon after my arrival in Africa, when I had not attained the age of eighteen, I happened one day to be in the house of an European gentleman who had then been in the country twenty years; an Arab of the province of Tedla came in, when the former (at all times desirous of exhibiting his knowledge of their language) addressed him, and after making a long speech, the Arab very coolly replied, “I entreat thee to speak Arabic, that I may understand thee (tkillem Eaudie b’lorbea besh en fhemik).” This was interpreted to me by a friend, who was present, and it made such a strong impression on my mind, that I resolved to apply myself assiduously to discover the reason why a person who spoke the language tolerably quick, should be altogether so little understood, and I was some time afterwards, by making various observations and trials, convinced that the deficiency originated in the inaccuracy of the application of the synonymous letters.

The ain ع and the غ r’gain cannot be accurately pronounced by Europeans, who have not studied the language grammatically when young, and under a native; I have, however, heard an Irishman,[169] who did not understand it grammatically, but had acquired it by ear, pronounce the latter equally as correct as any Arabian; but this was a rare instance. He was in England whilst Elfie Bey was here, who, as I was afterwards informed, had declared, that he was the only European whose Arabic he could easily understand. The aspirated h, and the hard s, in the word for morning (sebah), are so much like their synonymes, that few Europeans can discern the difference; the one is consequently often mistaken for the other; and I have known a beautiful sentence absolutely perverted through an inaccuracy of this kind. In the words rendered Hatred and Harvest, the two synonymes of س and ص or s hard and s soft, are indiscriminately used by Europeans in their Arabic conversations, a circumstance sufficient to do away the force and meaning of any sentence or discourse.

The poetry as well as prose of the Arabians is well known, and has been so often discussed by learned men, that it would be irrelevant here to expatiate on the subject; but as the following description of the noblest passion of the human breast cannot but be interesting to the generality of readers, and without any exception to the fair sex, I will transcribe it.

“Love (العشك) beginneth in contemplation, passeth to meditation; hence proceeds desire; then the spark bursts forth into a flame, the head swims, the body wastes, and the soul turns giddy. If we look on the bright side of love, we must acknowledge that it has at least one advantage; it annihilates pride and immoderate self-love: true love, whose aim is the happiness and equality of the beloved object, being incompatible with those feelings.

“Lust is so different from true love (العشك), and so far from a perfection, that it is always a species of punishment sent by God, because man has abandoned the path of his pure love.”

In their epistolary writing, the Arabs have generally a regular and particular style, beginning and ending all their letters with the name of God, symbolically, because God is the beginning and end of all things. The following short specimen will illustrate this: