Writing / Tamer Tageldin
Arabic often reveals how much meaning sits behind the name of a space. Words carry not only objects, but traces of use, behaviour and social meaning.
Arabic often reveals how much meaning sits behind the name of a space. Words carry not only objects, but traces of use, behaviour and social meaning.
A majlis becomes a reception room, yet majlis is tied to sitting, gathering and receiving. A mashrabiya becomes a screen, a souq a market, a sikka an alley, a liwan a veranda, a sahn a courtyard, a riwaq an arcade, and a baraha an open space. The translations are technically correct but architecturally thinner
English identifies the type. Arabic retains more of the relationships around it: how space is occupied, how people gather, move, separate and maintain privacy
Moving between both languages makes those gaps easier to notice
One describes the architecture. The other retains more of the life that produced it
