Lammah El-mohayaa
English translation: The gleaming visage, the shimmering countenance
| GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW) | ||||||
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| 11:23 May 26, 2001 |
| Arabic to English translations [PRO] Art/Literary | ||||
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|  Selected response from: Fuad Yahya | |||
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| Summary of answers provided | ||||
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| na | sharp-eyed, quick-eyed, keen-looking |
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| na | The gleaming visage, the shimmering countenance |
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Answers
4 hrs
sharp-eyed, quick-eyed, keen-looking Explanation: Lammah لمَّاح means one whose glances are quick and can quickly and keenly notice things. Mohayya مُحيَّا means the face, the features, or the facial appearance. Now constructing the expression lammah el-mohayya is not as simple as finding the individual meaning of the parts. The first problem is that to find a suitable adjective, I have suggested three expressions above, there is obviously many more to choose from. The second problem is that in your Arabic phrase, the adjective is used as a noun, something you would have to work around in English. Here are a couple of suggestions: "Each time I turn my eyes towards the quick-eyed one". "Every time I tuen my eyes towards the keen-looking one" Depending on one's literary taste, one can replace some of those words with others. For example, you can replace "each time" with "whenever", "my eyes" with "my sight", "quick-eyed" with "keen-looking", and so on. Regards, Alaa Zeineldine al-mawrid Reference: http://lexicons.ajeeb.com |
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7 hrs
The gleaming visage, the shimmering countenance Explanation: The reference is to the evening skyline, where stars twinkle in a lively display of collective beauty that evokes the image of lovers brightening each other’s heart. The self-pitying poet here represents his heart as a lonely star on that horizon, full of love as yet unrequited. No other star has yet favored him with any amorous attention: عندَما يأتي المسـاء ونُجُوم الليل تُنـثَر اسألُوا لي الليلَ عن نَجمي متى نَجمي يَظهَر عندَما تَبدو النُجُومُ في السَـما مثل اللآلي اسألُوا هل من حَبيب عندَه علمٌ بحالي كُلُّ نَجم راحَ في الليل لنَجم يَتَـنَوَّر غير قَلبي فهو مازال على الأفق مُـحيَّر يا حبيبي لك رُوحي، لك ما شئتَ وأكثَر إنَّ رُوحي خَيرُ أُفق فيه أنوارُك تَظهَر كلما وَجَّهتُ عَيني نَحوَ لَمّاح المحيّا لم أَجد في الأفق نَجماً واحداً يَرنُو إليّ “As oft as I turned my eyes towards the gleaming visage Not one star have I found to gaze upon me.” I have suggested “shimmering countenance” as another possibility, but don’t be afraid to consider such a simple phrase as “bright face.” Likewise, don’t be afraid to exercise some liberty by referring to the sky or horizon more explicitly than the poet was able to. The poet seized upon his phrase partly to satisfy the rigors of rhyme and meter, but you are not bound by such strictures. You can simply say, “the shimmering horizon” or the “sparkling skyline.” Fuad American Heritage Dictionary; Al-Mawrid Hans Wehr. A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic |
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