# Translate this Arabic? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 31, 2015, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translate-this-arabic/716380 "2015-03-31T00:28:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2015, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translate-this-arabic/716380/1 "2015-03-31T00:28:28Z")
[Fragmentary, possibly not intelligble.](http://s294.photobucket.com/user/badger60/media/stone2_zpsimqxqzvo.jpg.html) ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2015, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translate-this-arabic/716380/2 "2015-03-31T00:41:59Z")
Ha! [Full Image!](http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=pv&GRid=58083967&PIpi=32588076). ---
**Author:** ![cwthree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de0a6/32.png) [@cwthree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cwthree)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2015, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translate-this-arabic/716380/3 "2015-03-31T02:26:56Z")
That looks more like Farsi or a related language than Arabic. Unfortunately, I can’t translate it. The fragment appears to say “Yosef” (Joseph). ---
**Author:** ![Desert\_Nomad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desert_nomad/32/177_2.png) [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2015, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translate-this-arabic/716380/4 "2015-03-31T04:34:28Z")
It looks like Farsi to me. ---
**Author:** ![rsa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@rsa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsa)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2015, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translate-this-arabic/716380/5 "2015-04-02T01:23:13Z")
Well since the dearly departed is Syrian, it is most likely Arabic. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2015, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translate-this-arabic/716380/6 "2015-04-02T01:42:27Z")
If a mod happens to look in, this can be closed. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2015, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translate-this-arabic/716380/7 "2015-04-02T11:25:09Z")
Bishārah Yūsuf al-Nasnās O you who pass by my grave, contemplating how my shadow vanished Entangled in yesterday, you’ve been living above it, and tomorrow you will become decayed like me. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2015, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translate-this-arabic/716380/8 "2015-04-02T11:32:43Z")
too late for rdit Should be “I was living above it” (the ground) The words for ‘I was’ and ‘you were’ are spelled the same and only context can distinguish the meanings. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2015, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translate-this-arabic/716380/9 "2015-04-02T11:35:54Z")
Sounds like a [pretty scary guy.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasnas) :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2015, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translate-this-arabic/716380/10 "2015-04-02T23:00:44Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > Sounds like a [pretty scary guy.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasnas) :eek: Yeah, poor Joe, no idea how he got stuck with a monster name. I rushed through the translation, making a hash of it, this morning because I was late for work—where I translate Arabic for a living :D—and now that I can review it at leisure, I can correct my errors. I left out part of a line and misread a word. So here’s the definitive reading. يا من يمر على ضريحي قف به - متأملاً كيف انطوى ظلي بالأمس مثلك كنت أحيا فوقها - وغدا تصير إلى البالي مثلي Yā man yamurru ‘alá ḍarīḥī qif bihi muta’ammilan kayfa inṭawá ẓillī Bil-ams mithlaka kuntu aḥyā fawqahā wa-ghadan taṣīru ilá al-balī mithlī O you who passes my grave, stop by it, Contemplating how my shadow disappeared; Yesterday, like you, I was living above it, And tomorrow you shall become decayed like me. ---
**Author:** ![cwthree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de0a6/32.png) [@cwthree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cwthree)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2015, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translate-this-arabic/716380/11 "2015-04-03T17:20:17Z")
That’s actually quite a lovely verse. Do you know if it’s a common choice for gravestones? Is it part of a larger work? ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2015, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translate-this-arabic/716380/12 "2015-04-04T22:25:11Z")
> [@cwthree](#): > > That’s actually quite a lovely verse. Do you know if it’s a common choice for gravestones? Is it part of a larger work? I wondered if it had come from a famous poet, but nothing turns up. Poetry naturally flourishes in Arab culture in general in everyday situations anyway. This instance isn’t at all unusual, albeit it’s a very old-fashioned theme: the _[memento mori](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memento_mori)_, versions of which once adorned tombstones all over Christendom. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2015, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translate-this-arabic/716380/13 "2015-04-05T12:01:05Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > I rushed through the translation, making a hash of it, this morning because I was late for work—where I translate Arabic for a living :D—and now that I can review it at leisure, I can correct my errors. This right here a is a very lovely sentence. It’s long and winding, but perfectly understandable. I would quibble about needing a comma between “and” and “now,” but it’s otherwise perfect. I normally go out of my way to break up sentences like this, afraid that people won’t be able to read them. So this is a treat. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2015, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/translate-this-arabic/716380/14 "2015-04-05T18:08:52Z")
شكراً Thanks!