Customer Reviews

Arabic Proverbs (Bilingual Proverbs)

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Given that intriguing expressions and turns of phrase often provide a unique glimpse into any culture, such a book as this one should not only provide insightful interpretations of any given proverb, but should also be well organized and indexed. Unfortunately, this book fails completely in these latter two respects. There is no index whatsoever, and the order in which the proverbs appear is neither linguistic nor thematic (I suspect that the entries were made in the order they were gathered during the compiler's research). That is such a loss! Still, I enjoyed reading the book cover to cover, savoring not only the original proverbs (which appear in Arabic script rather than in transliterated Roman letters), but also delving into the world opened up by the anecdotes that accompanied many of the entries, as well as the fairly literal translations made. One of my favorites (p. 94): Eish arraf al-hamir fi akl al-ganzabil "What do donkeys know of preserved ginger" (Do not cast pearls before swine). One should note that the proverbs are described as being "current in Egypt" (19th century c.e.?), and thus are not entirely representative of the Arab world in general.

Arabic has a particularly rich store of proverbs, and this is a well-laid-out introduction to some of them. However, the proverbs were collected in the 19th century and they have not been updated, so this book is more useful to people interested in literary Arabic than those who want to speak it. Also, the title is a bit misleading, since only Egyptian proverbs are included. the book is well organized, and I especially appreciated that it has the Arabic script as well as a transcription.

What is really remarkable is that this is the most updated and complete collection available. An updated and expanded version would be an essential purchase for any student of Arabic.