Re: [HCDX] what does "sawa" mean
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Re: [HCDX] what does "sawa" mean
Well I don't mean to pound this into the ground at risk of boring
many of you about "sawa". Allow me to report on what I have discovered
about this word. It's a bit involved since I don't have an English > Arabic
dictionary, the one I have seen is poorly printed and hard to read.
The Arabic > English by Wehr (1301 pages) is regarded by many
as the best for non-native speakers/students, though it lists by
root form and not strict alphabetization. It has a thorough breakout
by root. As you know, many related-in-meaning words derive from the
same 3-consonant root form. e.g. d-r-s the concept of teaching
gives darrasa = to teach, mudarris/mudarrisa = teacher, madrasa =
place where teaching is done i.e. a school, we all know this word by now.
(the prefix ma-- before a word signifies a place where the action happens)
In Wehr [3] on p. 519, the listing for " sawaa' " (the " ' " is a hamza),
lists "equal, equality, sameness" and then "sawaa'an " (under the
form " sawaa' baswaa' " gives "equally, indiscriminately, without
distinction; together" followed by other forms for "making no difference"
So this may be a very specialized slang usage, outside of what I found,
below,
for the idea of "together" - perhaps something kids there say now. And
this of course would be unlikely to appear in many dictionaries.
I found a reference for "together", the mystery word of the 1548 Kuwait
station program name, pointing back into Arabic [1] which transliterates
back as " jami:a " (the : signifies the letter 'ghayn', written vaguely
like
a backwards three, no English equivalent) and which indicates a j-m-:
root form.
There is another listing for "together" [2] which script transliterates back
as " ma:an " (final alif has nunation) but no further explanation of origin.
Looking up the j-m-: root form in Wehr [3] gives many forms derived
from
this root, to wit:
jama:a = to gather, unite, combine...put together, join,...link, bring
together...
jam: = gathering, collection, combination, joining, accumulation...
jam:ii = collective, social, common, joint, mutual...
jam:iiya = club, association, society, organization, assembly...
jamii: = total, whole, entire ... (w. following genitive)
jumaa: = aggregate, total...
jamaa:a = group (of people), band, gang, party...
...
tajammu: = coming together, meeting, gathering...
ijtimaa: = meeting (corporate body, parliament)
(consider the origin of Qadhafi's "Libyan Arab Jamahiriya"...)
Looking up the same root j-m-: in Qafisheh [4] (Gulf Arabic) gives
tajamma: = to assemble, congregate together...
njima: = to be collected, gathered together...
jtima: = to meet, have a meeting...
jam: = collecting together, gathering of people...
jam:iyya (pl. jam:iaat) = association, organization, society, part of
"League
of Nations", "General Assembly" etc.)
jimii: n-naas = all of the people, l-jimii: = everyone, everybody
jamaa:a = group of people
jtimaa: = meeting
majmuu: = collected, gathered
However neither [3] nor [4] appear to have a listing simply for the word
"together" by itself (maybe I don't have enough dictionaries?) The only
s-w-- forms in [4] are "sawaa" forms (s-w-ii) which mean "equal, equivalent
(p. 338).
[1] "Arabic for Beginners", Syed Ali, Hippocrene, 2001, page 158 "adverbs of
affirmation"
[2] "Teach Yourself Arabic", J. R. Smart, Teach Yourself Books, 1986,
reissue
in 1992, page 311, in "Arabic-English Vocabulary".
[3] "Arabic-English Dictionary: The Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written
Arabic", edited by J. McCowan, 4th Edn, Spoken Language Services,
Ithaca,
N.Y., 1994, page 159 (book totals 1301 pages)
[4] "NTC's Gulf Arabic-English Dictionary: A Compact Dictionary of the
Contemporary Arabic of the MidEast", Hamdi A. Qafisheh, NTC Publishing
Group, 1997, page 97 (book totals 650 pages)
In closing, I can find just one thing that weakly links the form of the
'word' "sawa"
to "together", but four modern references that link the idea of "together",
"gathered together" etc. to a totally different root form
So now you have an idea of what they mean when they say "the Qur'aan
is non-translatable..."
Maybe I am sorry I even brought it up...but it was a learning experience.
Bob Foxworth
---------------------
> Message: 1
> From: "Andy Sennitt" <andys@xxxxxxxxxx>
>
> Bob Foxworth wrote;
>
> > I looked up "sawa" in my 4th edition of Hans Wehr Arabic-English.
> > Under the s-w- root (where letter s is the "siin" form) there is a
> > listing for " sawaa' " which is "equality, sameness". I can't find
> > any such listing under the S-w- root (where s is the "saad" form).
> > (note the long "a" form and the hamza, as well, lost in the English
> > transliteration).
>
> I don't speak Arabic either, but the official translation of "sawa" is
> "together".
>
> BTW the acronym SAWA also stands for:
>
> Screen Advertising World Association, a worldwide trade body of screen
> advertising companies, and South Asian Women for Action :-)
>
> Andy Sennitt
> Subject: Re: [HCDX] what does "sawa" mean
> Date: Sun, 28 Jul 2002 23:56:07 +0000
>
>
> ``Together`` is the official translation of sawa, per initial publicity
> about the service. We in SW have been aware of it for a long time. There
> have been numerous reports about it in DX Listening Digest the past few
> months :)
>
> Glenn Hauser
>
>
> ----Original Message Follows----
> From: "Robert Foxworth" <rfoxwor1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <hard-core-dx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: [HCDX] what does "sawa" mean
> Date: Sun, 28 Jul 2002 08:57:56 -0400
>
> I looked up "sawa" in my 4th edition of Hans Wehr Arabic-English.
> Under the s-w- root (where letter s is the "siin" form) there is a
> listing for " sawaa' " which is "equality, sameness". I can't find
> any such listing under the S-w- root (where s is the "saad" form).
> (note the long "a" form and the hamza, as well, lost in the English
> transliteration).
>
> So this program name may be intended to politicize the concept of
> muslims being equal to non-muslims. Just a thought.
>
> Bob Foxworth
>
> >1548 | KUWAIT | VOA Relay, Kabd - Kuwait City, JUL 25 0030-0130
> >
> >. I did hear an ID that Herman Boel in Belgium confirmed as being
> >"Radio Sawa", an entertainment service being run on VOA Kuwait. The
> signal
> >was very strong on peaks. [Connelly*rw-MA]
> >
>
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