Ġosṫiin
Ġosṫiin Qayṡar xa nafso w nafis l xeebidiin
Miṫraan Hippo, l Jazeeyir, wi Rrumaniyyiin
L Barbar hamajiiton, l ḣaḋar faḋiiliton
Killon bi xinfon wi stiḣeele ḱadamon
L faḋiile lal Barbar btixne isti`raar
Min halax w walax, ḣar`, hariibe w damaar
La ahil li mdiine fiya si`a w istismaar
Leekin mustaḣiile, law ṫaalo bi`yo `ṡaar
Ṡoxbe l faḋiile, law xtana`ta xmilt l xaks
Muṫla`a, ma btaxrif nisbe, la xirf, la ṫa`s
Bi nafsak jirḣ, bi xaynak żulm, bi albak ya`s
Ya Rabb xtiina nixme matiine, caheeme
Siyeede, cajeexa, tawaaḋox, nadeeme
Xadil, ti`diir, ha``, iimen, raja w saleeme
Copyright August 19, 2009 Hicham Khalil Bourjaili
Our Lady of Lebanon, Waterbury, Connecticut, USA
English Version
Augustine
Augustine was like Caesar lord of his self and the selves of the believers
He was the bishop of Hippo, Algeria, and the Romans
The barbarians in their havoc, the citizens in their virtue
He served them all in the midst of their violence and impossible claims
Virtue meant to the barbarians stability
From impulse and passions, burning, running and destroying
For the inhabitants of the city it meant trust and investment
But it was impossible to reach, whatever they tried they fell short
Virtue is difficult even when you spouse it you do the opposite
It is absolute and not relative, unbound by conventions or rites
In your self you feel the wound, in your eyes servitude and darkness, in your heart despair
O Lord, give us a lasting grace, disinterested love
Self mastery, courage, humility, contrition
Fairness, reverence, justice, hope and protection
Copyright August 25, 2009 Hicham Khalil Bourjaili
Our Lady of Lebanon, Waterbury, Connecticut, USA
Sukun L Miir - The Stillness of the Prince
Sukun L Miir
Libnen ka`anno xa`dayn. Jabal Libnen bil ġarb maṫruḣ xa caṫṫ l baḣr, l Baḣr l Abyaḋ l Mitwassiṫ, w milyeen durar min tleel wi jbeel. Fii ġebeet l arz. W ḱayyo neeyim ḣaddo maṫraḣ ma bṫitlax ccams, Jabal Libnen Ccar`e, mitl ssilsle. Bayneeton byimtadd Sahl li B`eex, lli byis`ii Nahr l Liṫaane. Iza seefarto cmeel wi lḣi`to Nahr l Xaaṡe btuṡalo xa Inṫaakya. Min li jnub, min Jabal Ccayḱ, bitṡobb l mayy bi Nahr l Ordon. Jnub Libnen fi l Jaliil, Nablos wil Ids. Min hawniik ṡṡaḣra. Car` Libnen fi Bleed Cceem. Dimac` xaaṡmita, w byis`iiha Nahr l Barada. Cmeela fi Ḣalab. Axla bi cwayy bitṡiiro bi manṫa`it Maardiin. Aktar ṡawb ccar` bitlee`o Bleed Ma Bayn Nnahrayn, l Furs w Kurdistan. Xal xeele fi Araraat min Armiinya.
Mudon Fini`ya baxda lal yawm: Jbayl, Bayrut, Ṡayda w Ṡur, maxa Ṫraablos wi Bxalbak. Xakka ṡaarit bi Flisṫiin, w Arwaad bi Suriyya. Qartaja durra bi Tunis. Asar Finii`ya bi kill ḣawḋ l Miṫwassiṫ, min Obros, la Italia, la Ispania, la Marsilia bi Fransa, lal Jazee`ir, lal Maġrib, la Liibya. Ḣatta makeetib Miṡr wi Bled Ma Bayn Nnahrayn hille byinbica nni`ebiin wil xulama, btiḣtiwe xala maḱṫuṫaat Fini`iyye aw bitḱoṡṡ Finii`ya. Alb Libnen milyeen asareet, tiḣaf w asraar: Weede Qadiica w Weede Ttaym, Qalxit li Cqiif w Qalxit li Kraad, Bayt Mire w Baytiddiin, Dayr l Qamar wi Ddamur, Ctura w Xanjar, l Qorne Ssawda w Jabal Ṡanniin, li Knayse wil Baruk, Niiḣa w Jabal Xeemil, Nnabaṫiyye w Jizziin, Racayya w Ḣaasbayya, Afqa w Kfar Dibyeen, Marjixyun w Bint Jbayl, Zaḣle w Raas Bxalbak, l Hirmil w Xakkar, Ṡayda wi Ṡṡarafand, Ṡur w Xakka, Qaana w Maġduce, Jbayl wil Batroun, Ṫraablos wil Kuura, Kisirween wil Matin, Bxabda w Xalayy, Bcarre wi Zġarta, Ḣomṡ w Ḣama, Weedi Nnaṡaara w Ṫartus, li B`eex l Ġarbe wi Ccuf. Baxd fi aktar bi ktiir diyax w mudun, ma btinxad bi kam saṫir aw btinḣaka bi kam kilme.
Mitl mbeeriḣ ḱilṡit l maxrake bi ssahl, bi Xanjar, ḋayxit l Umawiyye. Jayc l miir ntaṡar w jayc l weele l xismeene, ḣeekim wileeyit Dimac`, nhazam. L weele bi zeeto wa`ax asiir. Leekin l miir xeemalo bi karame w iḣtiraam. W rijix l weele la wileeyto bas anifto maksura. Bi hal maxrake amman l miir ssilm la imaarto. Bas bayno w bayn nafso, byaxrif l miir inno ma fi weele maġlub yitkattaf baxd ġilbo. Mic imaarto taḣt wileeyto? Kiif baddo yinsa haziimto wi yḣiṫṫ min nafso w kibriyee`o, w yimsol bi xinfuen w karame ta yiḣke baxd iddem l wuleet wi ssultan. Ṡaḣiiḣ hayda naṡr bas baxd l faraḣ fi xaaṡfe jeeye, w la budd ma tije min l Beeb l Xeele bi Istanbul. Ma fi weele kilimto bitṡiir tnayn aw biḋiix taaro illa iza wa`ax raaso. Seexita, hille ma ider l weele l feecil yḣa``i`o, weele jdiid axnaf minno w al`am byaxmil ḣamle xaskariyye w binaffzo.
L miir ṡaar xa dahr l jabal. Waraa ccams wi ssahl. Iddemo l widyeen, wi ttleel, w baxdayn l baḣr. Ḣawlo mreef`o jayco w caxbo. Keen fii yiftiḱir bi naṡro, naṡr jayco w caxbo, ḣikmo w idaarto, w kill imaarto. Leekin l miir seekit. Li jraas sab`ito w axlanit intiṡaaro lal kill, min ciir la ciir, min weede la weede, min tall la tall, w min jabal la jabal, w bi kill sahl. L miir xindo kameen miḱbriin, baxaton ta yziixo ḱabar żżafar. Fi minnon byiḣko bill bu` wi ṫabl, w minnon bi nnar. L balad killo xam biġanne w yixzof, w yiḣtiri` min l bahje wil faraḣ. Alla kbiir w kariim. Kattir ḱayro. Bas l miir xa ḣṡaano, meece xa mahlo, seekin, jaliil, ka`anno mi`yees l ġibṫa ṡamto l xażiim.
Nees xam tiḣke xan abṫaal l maxrake. Nisween xam bitzalġiṫ w bitzitt rozz wi `maar. Wleed xam bitnoṫṫ maxa `wees nicceebe w ashom min odbaan, w ni`ayfeet ka`anna majanii`, wi syuf min ḱayzaraan wi `dabiin rrimmeen. Fi nees miḣtaariin, byis`alo wayn wleedon, iḱweeton, bayyeeton, ḱweelon, xmumton, zweejon, wi jdudon. Byiṫallaxo, bifattco, byintro, wi byis`alo. Waynon? "Ibnik baṫal", "Bayyak fażiix", "Baxrif jawzik, awfa ṡadii`", "Ilii ccaraf txarraft xlay". Kilmeet ktiire ma btuṡaf. Marraat ḣada bi ṫoll w fi wjuh keenit sawda bitṡiir tibtisim w tiḋḣak. W marrat ṡabr bi ṫul w ma ḣada byije.
L miir neezil xa Ddayr. Hiyye Dayr l Qamar aw Dayr l Amar, w bi kill basaaṫa tiṡġiira Ddayr. Bi Libnen fi lahjeet ktiire, kill ḋayxa ila lahjita, kil ḣayy miizeeto, w kill caḱṡ ṡawto. L lahje btitġayr maxa maxa, ka`anno btitmawwaj wi btilḣa` kill talle w kill sahl, kill weede w kill jabal, kill nasme w kill mawje, l amar w kill najme. Ṫṫabiixa bi Libnen mitnawxa, kariime w ḱilleebe. Ccajar, nnabeet, ṡṡḱur, ṫṫyur, mitl l maweesim wi ṫṫa`s, bizayyno w biġazzo l balad killo.
Sikkeen l jabal sammo l balad bi lahjeeton: min l boḣṡ la li ḣajar, min ṡṡaḱir la ccir, min nnabxa lal xayn, w min ssee`ye la nnahr. Byiḣko ci xan ssabiil w ci xan zzire. Xiṫyo aseeme la iṫax l arḋ, ḣasab iza byis`uha w kiif bixeemluha, iza ctaruha aw sta`jaruha, w wayn maw`ixa w addayc adra: fi l xawde wil ḱanda`, l ḱalle wi ccmiis, rrijme wi ṡṡaḣra, l karm wil bisteen, ddinom wil mitr, l intaar wi rraṫl. Nnees bit`addir minil jall, lal ana, lal maṫḣane, minil birke la ttiyyeeb, min ṫṫarii` lal jisir, w btiftiriḋ minil hawa la rriiḣ, min li ġṫayṫa la li ġyum, w bil moḱtaṡar l mufiid min l arḋ, lal baḣr w la ssama.
Iddem l miir w ḣawlo ḋḋiyax wi li byut, kill safiḣ jabal ṡafḣa maftuḣa la hille biḣibb yi`ra, w kill weede ka`anno ḱalwit ta`ammol. Fi cajar l ġeeb, w cajar li fweeke, w cajar zziine. Ccajar byilḣa` li jbeel, wi ttleel, ssahl wi li mweesim, wi nnahr. Fi cajar byil`aṫ l arḋ, w cajar bridd ccams wil hawa, w cajar lal ḣar` bil maw`ade wi li wjee`, w cajar la ciġl l ḱacab, w cajar la ttiṫxiim, w cajar ta neekol, w fi cajar ya maḣlee. Ahl l jabal xeeco bi l waxr w xammaro li jleele bi ttin`iib w zaraxuha, ḣatta ṡaarit mitl janeeyin Beebil li mxalla`a.
Li ḣraac mitl li bseetiin ṡaarit minnon w fiyon. Ṡṡnubraye, wil arze l bariyye, wil arz arz Rrab, wi ssindyeen, wil mallul, ṡaḣiiḣ byiṫlaxo bil waxr bas kameen bayn li byut. Ccarbiin bizannir li jnayneet wi ṫṫor`aat wil adyira. Li anno nnees ci xammarit bayneton aw rijxit zarxiton w ḣarracit. Zzaytun, l xinab wi ttiin bimallo l karm wil ḱaweebe. L lawz wil ḱarrub mitl l xinneeb wi zzaxrur, w kamen rriiḣeen, byiṫlaxo bi l baxl, yixne l arḋ lli ma badda ṡa`e, hille bitkaffiha mayyit ccite. Ttiffeeḣ, l karaz wi ddiray` aṫyab mini ccajar l mazruux xal xeele. L ḱawḱ, jjarink, nnjaaṡ, l micmoc, l akke dinye, rrimmeen wil ḱarma bineesibon li xluu l mitwassiṫ. L mawz, l laymun wil ḣimḋiyyaat, l baṫṫiiḱ wi ccimmeem, nnaḱl lli byaxṫe l balaḣ, bineesbo sseḣil. Ṡṡibbayr baddo dafa w bixiic bil baxl wi ṡṡa`e. L jawz mitl l aṡab l feerse baddo mayy, w byicmaḱ faw` li byut wi ccajar. L ḣawr, wil kiina, ddilb wi ṡṡifṡaaf baddon rṫube. L ġaar ramz nnaṡir. Zzinzlaḱt bihaccil l barġac wi ddibeen, w byaxṫe l ahl li `ḋabiin ta yrabbo li wleed, wi li wleed byaxmlo minno syufe w xiṡe ta yrabbo baxḋon. L ḱayzaran wil acc la ciġl l karaase, ṫṫbaa` wi ṫṫawleet. Ssahl byiṫlax fi kill cii.
L axceeb wi zzhur ila ma`eeme kbiire. Hille byifham fiyon wi byaxṫe waṡfeet bi sammuu ḣakiim xarabe. Hille byit`ammalon bikun faylasuf. W sittet li byut byaxrfo kiif yzayyno byuton wi ddine bi li `maar. Fi l ward bi kill alweeno bixaṫṫir l arḋ w birefi` l xiccee` w li xras. Fi zzanba` lli lebis aḣla minil malik Slaymeen. Nnarjes, baḱḱur maryam, ca`eye` nnixmeen, rriḣeen, li `ronfol, wil marguerite, tim ssamke wil gardenia, ssawsan wil yeesmiin, l xanbar wil mantur bitallo ddine bi rrabiix. Li wleed bilimmo bee`eet zzhur ta y`admuha la jinneez l Masiiḣ bi rrabiix baxd ma bikuno aṡafo kill ġosn aḱdar byuṡal la iidon xa Ccaxniine. Fi li slii`a, min hindbe, w ḣeer`a, w ḣimmayḋa, w orṡ xanne, w mokḱo bxibbo, w zaxtar, w farfaḣiin la ssalaṫa w lal kabiis. W fi tiḣwice la zzhuraat min zufa la babunij, la wara` l lwayze wi zzaxfaraan, zzayzafun wil ḱeetmiyye. Kameen fi ḣinblees lal akl wi dda`, wi ṫṫayyun wil aṡxiin lal waṡfeet. L xitr la li mrabba, ḱaaṡṡatan mrabba ttiin bi ssimsom. L ḣaba` cayḱ ṫṫaawle biruḣ bil kibbe nnaye, max nnaxnax lli bi zayyina wi zzayt.
Nnabeet bi Libnen bi xijj bil ḣayeet. Kill nasme ila xiṫr, kill zahra ila naḣle, kill ḣabbe ila namle, kill ġosn ilo ziiz, wi ṫṫayr, ci ḣassun, ci bilbol, ci ġuraab. Kill bisteen bi Aylul bizuru li snunu. L ḣajal bineem xa biḣṡa w xa ijir wiḣde bil waxr. L beeci` wi li x`eeb, ṡṡa`ir wi nnisir biḣawwmo bil faḋa w bimallo ssama w binaḋḋfo l arḋ minil ḣayyeet wi jjraḋiin. L wirwar byiḣmol raseyel l xiccee` bi aḣla l aġeene. L ḣameem biriff max kill ṡala wa`t l azeen. Zzraa`it wi ddbebiir byixizmo ḣeelon xa kill akle w biceerko bi kill ciic micwe min dun izin. Dud l arḋ wil bizzee` byiṫlaxo baxd kill catwiyye max li ḣraḋiin. Bu brayṡ wi ssi`eyeet bi niṫṫo xa li ḣjaar wil ḣiṫan, w byitrabbaṡu bi li s`ufiyye. L xankabut byilṫe wayn ma keen. Im arbxa w arbxiin biḱawfu fiha li wleed. Li `babiit btihlok zzarrrixa wi btibṡot li bsayneet. L firaan btiġze kill uwaḋ l mune. Jjraḋiin ma btistiḣe min ḣada. Fi l ḣirbeyeet xa li ġṡaan btisro` l alween w bṫiṡle, mitl ḋḋafaaḋix xal birak lli ṡawta biruḣ max l mayy. Fi zzaleeḣif ḣadd nnahr, w fi sslaatxiin wi ssamak la ṡṡiyyadiin. Ḋḋabx, wi ssabix, l wewiyye wi li dyeeb marraat bitḱawwif nnees w marrat btihrob mina. Ttaxlab ṡadii` li djeej hille bifaḋḋlo yistaġno xanno. Fi l maweece min xanz w ġanam lli btisraḣ xa li tleel w bitreefi`a li kleeb, wi rruxaat byisharo xlaya w bitallo l fala min ṡawt zzammur w annit nnayeet. Wil amar bi Libnen ka`anno ariib, laaṫe wara kill ġoṡn. Ka`anno l jabal wi ssama hawne jiraan, hinne wil baḣr sawa.
Li mzeerxiin bil jabal byaxrfo yistafiido min kill maṫraḣ bi bayton w ḣawalay. Fi xaraayic btiṫlax xa ṡṡtuḣ. W fi xinab w tiin la ṡṡayf w la ccite. Fi ḱawebe la zzayt w la ddibs, lal uṫa w la ttin l yeebis, la li zbiib wil xara`. Fi jarreet nbiid, lal aḣmar wil abyaḋ, wi zzahre kameen. L indawle btiṫṫaxxam w biṫṡiir ḱawḱa, lawze aw tiffeeḣa bi li jnayne, w iza bi`yit bil barriyye bitzahhir bi rrabix bi lawna l aṡfar, w taḣta bile`o ssallii`a l irṡ xanne. Kill jall fi cajar fweeke baynon tleem. Kill talm byinzarax ḱiḋra min malfuf la ḱass, la banadura, la ḱyaar w la baṡal. L mi`te aṫyab bi bkirzayn, bi arḋ l baxl. Fi minnon biḣitto bi l arḋ kusa, w arx, w la`ṫiin w biḱalluhon yiṫlaxo xa ccajar. L la`ṫiin ṫayyib biccite, byittekal max sikkar aw max birġol. Kibbit ṡṡawm minno. Ssikkar ḣilo jdiid nnes btistaxmlo badl l xasal. Byinzeed xal ahwe w bi ḣalliha w bi ṫayyiba max l heel. Marraat byinzeed max ccay l hinde wi ṡṡine. L kusa wi l`arx max l malfuf w wara` l xariic la li mḣeece. L ablama badda kusa ḱṡuṡe, mitl zzukiini. Minon byizraxo baṫaṫa, jazar w batinjeen, w mic minzameen cmandar w aṡab maṡṡ. L batinjeen lal kabiis w cayḱ l miḣce, wil baba ġannuj kameen. Xaṫul fi ba`dunis, w kizbra. Ttabbule sitt ṫṫawleet. Minon byizraxo kameen ḣommos, w xadas, w ḣinṫa, wi cxiir, w rozz, w xan jdiid fasolia w lubye, bazella w ḋura. Li ḣbub mhimme la ṡṡiḣḣa, w ḣafza w tiḣḋira hayniin. Fi ḣbub lal mune wi ḣbub la zzarx bi mawsima.
Lbayt bil ijmeel ilo jnayne, marraat bikun fi see`ye mer`a min ḣaddo aw ana, aw birke bi albo w ila nufayra. Fi byut xinda biir. Zzhur ḣawl l bayt w xa kill cibbeek bitzayno w bitlawno, w btista`bil bi ḣafewe zzuwaar. Mitl ahl l bayt bit`ul la ḋyuf carraftuna, ahlan wa sahlan fikon. W fi minon xindon inn djeej, lal bayḋ w la laḣm ddiik yawm l farḣa. W minon xindon ba`ar lal ḣaliib wil laḣme, w ġanam la ṡṡuf wil awarma w lal iḣtifeel iyyem li xyeed. Mic bas ḱweriif, swexiir xanz kameen btindabaḣ. Ṡaar fi maṡaaliḱ, w kameen nees btaxrif taxmil ajbeen w albeen. Leekin l labne baxda baladiyye, wil kick kameen. L kick malik ccawrba, biġazze w bixayyic bi ccite. Byinxamal min l birġol max l laban. Baxd ma yinna`ax l birġol bil laban w yiḱtimro, byinxamalo `raaṡ btinḣaṫ xa carcaf bi ccams. Kill layle byitnayzalo xal bayt ta ma yeḱod xlayon nnide. Bas ynaccfo li `raaṡ btinfiriṫ w bitṡiir mitl li ṫḣiin. Byinḣafaz l kick bi kiis aw wixe neecif min l izeez. Bi ccite byinzeed xlay mayy siḱne, tum w awarma. Byitteekal bil ḱibz. Hayde waṡfe aṡiile w na`iyye min iyyem sitte w jidde.
Ahl kill bayt xindon xaadatan saaj, wil ḱabze ila uṡula, rahjita w iḣtifeela. Ṫṫḣiin byiḣmlo l baġl aw li ḣmaar la kill bayt. Li mkeeriyye ilon wazin bil balad. L mune ila abo ḱṡuṡe byiḣmii bsayn minil firaan. L xajne bitkun abl blayle min l ḱabze, wil xajiin baddo ḱamiire ta yiṫlax. L jiran byijo yawm l ḱabze w bi ceerko bi rra` wil hall. Marraat rrjel bitseexid bil xajn. Bas l hall museeba`a bayn nnisween. Li anno ṡṡabiyye lli badda cabb badda tkun taxrif ṫṫaxme l xayle. Wil mara lli badda jawza yḋall ḣadda yiftiḱir fiha badda xaṫul tdiir l bayt w tkun xa ras l ḣamle w xa adda. Li wleed biceerko kameen bil muneesabe. Bilimmo nntiir, yixne ibar li ṡnubar lli btu`ax w btiibas, w hille bitġazze nnar taḣt ssaaj. La hille mic cceyfo, ssaj mitl l ibbe. Lammen bikun ḣeeme bimiddo xlay l xajiine l mahlule lli ṡaarit mitl l war`a rrafiixa w bitkun maḣṫuṫa xa tikkeye mdawwara, ḣatta tinḱibiz. W aḣla seexa sexit byi`ixdo li wleed wi byeklo l ḱibiz ssoḱn, max zayt w zaxtar, labne w banadura, wil jiran mitl ahl l bayt killon byitḋayyafo ḱibiz wi ṫlaame. Fi ṫṫlaame bi zaxtar, w bi kicik wi flayfle, wib awarma. W kameen fi minon xindon karake ta yciilo l xara`. Aaḱ, xal karake w axdita, wil xara` li mtanna wi li mtallat! Ma aḣla ssahar wi ssamar xal kees min xinab mahruṡ w m`aṫṫar max l yensun.
L lej`iin xa Libnen jeebo lahjeeton maxon w zeedo lahjeet l balad. L ġuzet tarako baṡmeeton in keen bi lluġa, bi li ḣjaar aw bi ccaxb. L ḣulafa kameen ġinyo l balad. Min baynon l Akraad bijayc l miir. Fixlan xa iyyem l miir kill nnes nḱalaṫit, w ṡaarit tifham xa baxḋa cu ma keenit l lahje. Ddayr xaaṡimto w mitl Libnen ṡaarit janne mlawwane, jawhara bi alb l waxr, weeḣa bi alb ṡṡaḣra. Fiha jeemix wi kneesit, wi kniisit Ssayde, Maryam l Xadra, Im Allah, min abraciyyit Ṡayda. Byuta armiid aḣmar w ḣajar, w min ḣajar bayt Sayfa hille bi Xakkar xammar l miir aṡro. Bi alb li mdiine fi seeḣa, bi noṡṡ sseḣa nufayreet mayy. Nnes byilti`o fiha wi byicrabo min hal xayn, wi byiḣko, wi byitseeyaro, wi byaxmlo mceriix. Kameen byiḣtiflo fiha bil munasabeet, w bil axyeed, wi byaxmlo mahrajeneet w alxeeb. Ttijar xindon dkekiin deeyir ma dara, w kameen fi minnon byijo min ḣawalaya aw min bxiid, ta ybassṫo bḋaxiton aw ta yitḣawwajo. Fi ḣurafiyye, mbayyḋiin, m`eewliin w finneniin byixirdo ḱadameeton.
Xa zeet sseḣa, fi saray l miir w aṡro. Min lammin ḣakam l miir xomrit ddine. L miir dixe l kill ta yceerko biḣayeet l balad min dun timyiiz xala ay asees, la ṫayfe, la diin w la aṡil. Ḣatta nnisween xindon ma`eeme w iḣtiraam. Imm l miir ssit Nasab, wil kil biḣibbuha. Kilmita kilme, bil bayt w bil balad. Hiyye wara l miir min lammin bayyo Qurqumeez raaḣ, w huwwe baxdo zġiir. Rabbito max bayt l Ḱeezin bi Kisirween. L miir xirif lamma stalam l imaara ywaḣḣid caxbo. Ṫṫawayif killa mmassale xindo, wi ṫṫaba`aat l ijtimexiyye killa ila maḣalla biddawle w ila dawra biḣayeet l balad. L wujaha wi ccyuḱ byistaciron l miir, wil filleḣiin l abaḋayeet dakḱalon bi jayco. Idarit l miir idarit ḱidme la ccaxb. Xammar li jsur, żabbat ṫor`aat, rammam l mabeene, bine `leex, wi ‘sur, w ḱeneet. Fataḣ w rammam l mareefi`, w macca ttijara max l ġarb, ḱaṡṡatan Ṫṫilyen. Fi fatra, l miir nnafa la xindon, wi sta`balo Kosmos II, ibn Ferdinando I, lli keen sadii` l miir w duq Toscana. Hawniik bi Oropa lta`a l miir max l Ispan wil Baba. Keen xindo kameen xale`eet max li Franj.
Xa iyyem l miir l balad zdahar wi nfataḣ xal xaalam. Finneniin w mhandsiin ṡaaro yijo xa Libnen w ḱallo min nafson fii. Ddayr ka`anna tiḣfit Renaissance. Fiha fann Toscana, w nafḣa minil Andalus, w majd w jameel Libnen, ka`anna aṡiide mxalla`a xa jbiin l jabal. L aṡr markaz ḣikmo wil ḱeen byista`bil zzuwar min siyesiyye la tijjar, la msefriin, la mḣibbiin. L balad xam byizdihir taḣt ḣikmo. Nnees bit`addir ciġlo w tiḋḣiyaato. Xtamad yḣassin zziraxa, w yiftaḣ l madeeris, wi ymidd anaweet rray la ccurb wi ss`eeye, wi yxammir mistacfayeet, w yista`bil anaaṡil min l ġarb. Ṫibaaxa ntacarit wil iqtiṡaad ṫṫawar wi tḣassanit l ḣayeet. Bi majeel l musi`a ṡaar fi orchestra la tixzof bil munesabeet. Bi zyeede xal xud, wi nnay, wi rrabeebe, wi zzammur, wi ṫṫabl, wil enun, ṡaar fi l guitar, wil kamanja, wil harp, w li piano wil orgue. Zhur Oropa w nabeteeta ṡaarit tiṫlax ḣawl l bayt w bil ḣa`le. Ttut ṡaar xal muḋa w maxo dud l azz, w tijaarit l ḣariir. Ṡinaaxit l fikḱar w ṡinaxit li `zeez, w ṡinaaxit l ḣadiid lli xiṫyit cluf lal bina wi syuf lal xaskar wi sleeḣ l madeefix wil baneedi`, killa ṫṫawwarit. Min ci aliil madiinit Venezzia isma l bundu`iyye ḣasab ccaxb l Libnene?
L miir kameen xammar la nafso, w xaylto, wil ḣeecye aktar min maskan, minnon aṡr bi Bayrut, Aṡr li Ṡnubar. Ariib min caxbo ma baddo yismax miin makeen w cu makeen. Byaxrif ḣeejeto w taṫalloxato, ra`yo w nawayee, w bidiss nabaḋ albo. Faw` kill cii, xa iyyemo, ṡaar fi ḣirriye. Nnees bit`ul cu fi bi bela w bitne`co xalanan. Wil miir bicajjix nnees tceerik bi ḣayeet l balad w maṡiiro. Ḣatta fi nisween ṡaaro yna``o rjeelon, wi rjeel bitna``e nisweena. Yimkin miceen hayk l miir ṡaafin w seekit. Arḋ Libnen bi alb kill Libnene. Marra bi`e minna xiṫr w marra ṫaxmit mrura mitl milḣ l baḣr. Marra xiṫyit misk w marra xiṫyit wajax, marra ḣizn w marra amal, marrat dmux w marra ibtiseme, marrat iṡaṡ w marra, karame w majd w faḱr.
L miir ṡaar ṡawb Ddayr xa ḋḋohr. Caxbo w ahlo naaṫriino ta yidḱol l mansur xa mdiinto w yiḣtifil maxxon bil muneesabe. Kill cii jeehiz wi mrattab. Bas ḱalle l miir yuṡal ta tballic ddabke, l oof wi zzilof, zzajal wi rradeet, kees l xara` wil laḣm l micwe, l kibbe nnaye wil aṡbe, wi ttabule, l laḣm bxajiin wi ssfiiḣa li bxalbakiyye, l xadas bḣaamoḋ, li mjaddara, l ḣommos bi ṫḣiine, l biira wi nnbiid, l fisto` wil fisto` l ḣalabe, ḱibz ttannur wil ḱibz l xarabe, l ḱibz li franje wil ḱibz Ṫṫilyene. Ḣatta l ḱayl naṫrita l mayy wi ccxiir, w fi akil w corb la li jmeel w la ddaweeb kameen. Fi mne`iic, bi zaxtar w zayt, w kick, bi awarma w bi dihn, kibbe `ras w sambusik, w ṫolme jdiide isma pizza. Xa iyyem l miir, ttijara micyit. Ṡaarit l maweerid truḣ min Libnen wayn maken w tije la xindo. L imaara ṡaarit la Xakka bi Flisṫiin, w Tadmur, Ḣoms w Ḣama, w Intakya bi Suriyya. Ttijara max l ġarb daḱḱalit xa Libnen l banadura, l baṫaṫa, ddura, ttabġ wi ttanbak min Amerka. Bas l ḣaciice xan iyyem rruman min li B`eex. Ḣatta bi Bxalbak marsume xal ḣiṫaan max l xariic wil xinab bi maxbad Baaḱos, bliz`il Alxa. L argileet naaṫra wi sswegiir badda miin ydakḱina. Ṡṡabaya bi aḣla tyeeba w ḣeleeta. Wi ccabeeb ahlan fiyon. Fi xraas naaṫra tṡiir. Wil aḣla min hayk, rjeel ddin mawjudiin w ḣaaḋriin. Waynak ya Miir, ya Libnen, ya Baṫal? Amtiin min ballic?
Yimkin ma ḣada yaxrif yawman ma cu ṡaar bi żżabt. Yimkin ḱayeele w ḱayeel l baxḋ halla` xam byiḣke. L miir ma daḱal xal madiine. Xa bweeba albo seel wi nhamar. Mitl l maṫar, mitl ttalj lli xam bidub bi awwal Niseen wi byifroṫ taḣt ti`lo, mitl ssayl l jeere max l xawaaṡif, mitl l ġaym l aswad l haabiṫ xa ddine, mitl zzaweexi`, l bar` wi rraxd, l miir wi ḣṡaano, baxd ma keen jeeye min Ḋahr l Baydar, li Mdayrij, Xayn Zḣalta, l Baruk, li Fraydiis, Kfar Nabraḱ wi Kfar Qatra, nizil bil wadeeya min li Mxaaṡir, la Btaddiin hille kameen isma Bayt Ddin, la Kfar Ḣiim, la Dayr Duriit. Aṫax xa Nabx l Aḱwit mitl l majnun, maḣall ma byilti`o Weede Ddayr wi Bniḣlayy, w lee`a bi Sirjbeel w Binwayte Nabx l Ḣameem, lli jeeye min Jjeehliyye, `beel Xayn l Ḣawr, taḣt Ġariife. Aṫax xan tiyyeeb Caxya, wloo, max`ul? Tiyyeb Caxya xeele ktiir. Bil aḣra, yimkin mara` min ḣaddo aw ḣawlo. Ṡaar l miir yisrix, ka`anno l mayy wi rriiḣ xam bitseeb`o, w marrat byisba`a. Ṫṫyur mitl li ġṡun bitrafrif w btiġarred, wil miir xam bici` sabiilo. Mara` min taḣt l xawde wil ḱalle, ccmiis wi rrijme, Ciir Camxariin wi li B`ayxa, Ddibiyye wi li Fḱayte, Tallit Rrus, wi Dmiit, w ṫall xal Micrif. Ta ḣatta ṡabb bi Mal`a Nnahrayn xind Sahl Ddamur.
Lamma wiṡil l miir xa ssahl ṡaarit ccams badda tġiib. Ka`anna hiyye w xam tinzal bil baḣr btirsom xa wijj l mayy ṫarii` killa nur, lawna mitl l laymun bi li bsetiin lli ḣawalay. L miir ḣann w ree` xal machad, w ṡaar yitmacca ḣadd caṫṫ l baḣr, ḣadd li ṡṡḱur, xal boḣṡ wi rramel, marra xa ḣṡaano, marra meece xal arḋ ḣaddo. L miir ṡaar mitl l walad, w bi hafwito aṫax Ssaxdiyyeet, w ṡaar bi Ḱaliij l Jiyye, bi Iqlim l Ḱarrub.
Lamaḣ l miir xa caṫṫ rraml ṡiyyadiin. Fi naar wi xlaya samak micwe, ḣaddon fi zawra` zġiir. "Tfaḋḋal, ahlan wa sahlan, carraftna". Ibil l miir l xaziime w akal maxxon. Hiyye w xam bitwaddix ccams, abil ma yinzal l layl bi njumo xa ddine, rafraf ciraax min bxiid, ka`anno maxzufit ṡala min l mawj ṡawb ssama wil ofoq. Wijj l miir ḋawwa w ṡaar xam byibtisim.
Iza ci yawm bitruḣo xa Libnen, w bitzuro balad l miir, yimkin btirjaxo bitcufu xal maġiib, aw bi ssahl, aw bil jabal, xa ci tall aw ci nabxa, ḱyeel l miir, aw btismaxo ṡahiil ḣṡano max nasmeet l weede, w yimkin iza bitziiḣo ġoṡn aḱḋar bi ḣunuu bitcufu wijjo mitl l amar. Yimkin baxdo xam byirkoḋ xa nnahr wi yci`` sabiilo. Yimkin iza sa`alto xanno bi Ddayr ydillukon xa aṡro aw xal Wadeeya. W iza ṫṫalaxto xal baḣr ma tinso iṡṡit l miir hille yawm bahjto, tarak kill cii, wi tḱalla xan xażamto bi kill tawaḋox. Yawma l arḋ mitl ssama dawwitlo. Neem laylita w caxbo byizkro w biḣibbo la ḣadd l yawm.
Copyright Hicham Khalil Bourjaili, January 2007, May 2009, Connecticut, United States of America
English Version
The Stillness of the Prince
Lebanon looks like two necklaces. At the west, Mount Lebanon lays on the sea shore of the Mediterranean Sea, full of pearls from hills and mounts. Among them the Cedar Forests could be found. His brother sleeps next to him where the sun rises, similar to a chain, the Anti Lebanon. Between them stretches the Bekaa Valley, irrigated by the Litaany River. If you traveled north and followed the Oronte River you would reach Antioch. From the South, from the Harmon, waters flow into the Jordan River. South of Lebanon lay the Galilee and Samaria territories and Jerusalem City. From there extends the desert. East of Lebanon, the Sham Country has Damascus for capital, and its water is supplied by the Barada River. North of it, you will find Aleppo. More to the north you will reach the area of Mardeen. More to the East you will find Mesopotamia, Persia and Kurdistan. Ararat tops the heights from Armenia.
The Phoenician Cities are still there: Jbeil, Beirut, Sidon and Tyre, with Tripoli and Baalbek. Acre became part of Palestine and Arwad of Syria. Carthage is a pearl in Tunisia. Phoenicia left its traces all around the Mediterranean, from Cyprus, to Italy and Spain, to Marseilles in France, to Algeria, to Morocco and to Libya. Even the libraries in Egypt and Mesopotamia uncovered by archeologists and scientists, contain correspondence records with Phoenicia or writings dealing with it. The heart of the historic Lebanon gorges with vestiges, art and mysteries: the Sacred Valley "Kadisha" and the Taym Valley, the Templar Châteaufort in the South and the Castle of the Kurds in the North, Bayt Mire and Baytiddin, Dayr l Qamar and Damur, Shtura and Anjar, the Summit of Black Corner and Mount Sannine, Mount Knayse and Mount Baruk, Mount Niha and Mount Amil, the Nabatiyye and Jizzin, Rashayya and Haasbayya, Afqa and Kfar Dibyeen, Marjeyun and Bint Jbeil, Zahle and Ras Baalbak, the Hirmil and Akkar, Sidon and Sarepta, Tyre and Acre, Cana and Maghdushe, Jbeil and the Batroun, Tripoli and the Kura, Kisirwen and the Matin, Baabda and Aley, Bsharre and Zgharta, Emessa and Hama, the Valley of the Christians and Tartus, the West Bekaa and the Shuf. Many other towns and villages were not here listed since they cannot be counted in few lines and their stories told in few words.
It was like yesterday when the battle ended in the plain, at Anjar, the palace of the Omeyyades. The army of the prince was victorious and the army of the Ottoman governor of the Province of Damascus was defeated. The governor himself fell prisoner. But the prince treated him with dignity and respect. The governor came back to his province but his pride was humiliated. Thanks to the battle outcome, the prince assured peace to his principality. However, the prince knew in his heart that no defeated governor would remain still after his defeat. After all, is not the prince principality under his jurisdiction? How would the governor accept his defeat and let himself and his pride be cut down, and still appear with self-esteem and dignity in front of other governors and the Sultan? Though the victory was a true one, after the joy a storm would be coming, for sure it would come from the Sublime Door in Istanbul. No governor has ever had his word rescinded, or his revenge forgotten unless his head fell. Then what the failing governor failed to do, a new governor more violent and cynical than him would wage a military campaign and achieve it.
The prince reached the top of the mountain. Behind him laid the sun and the plain. Ahead of him extended the valleys, the hills, and afar the sea. Around him his army and his people accompanied him. He could have boasted about his victory, the victory of his army and people, his government and his administration, and of all his principality. Yet, the prince was silent. Bells heralded before him his victory to all, from cliff to cliff, from valley to valley, from hill to hill, from mount to mount, and in all plains. The prince had also reporters that he sent to spread the news of the victory. Some communicated with horns and drums, others with fire. The country was singing and playing music, and inflamed with joy and exultation. God is the Most High and the Most Generous. May his bounty increases. But the prince on his horse was going his way slowly, majestic, as if his great silence was the standard against which joy was to be measured.
Some people were talking about the heroes of the battle. Women were singing songs of joy and throwing rice and flowers. Children were jumping with bows and arrows from branches, and rubber bands like artillery, and swords from reeds and branches of pomegranate. Some people were worried, asking about their children, their brothers, their fathers, their uncles, maternal and paternal, their husbands and their grand-fathers. They watched, searched, waited, and asked for them. Where were they? "Your son, lady, is a hero", "Your dad, son, is incredible", "I know your husband, he is my best friend", "I was honored to meet him". Many words were told beyond description. Sometimes, somebody appeared and faces that were sad would smile and laugh again. Other times, patience lasted for long and nobody came.
The prince was coming down to the Dayr City. Its complete name was Dayr l Qamar or Dayr l Amar, put simply Ddayr. In Lebanon, many accents were spoken; each village had an accent and each neighborhood its characteristics, and each person a voice. The accent varies smoothly, as a wave following each hill and each plain, each valley and each mount, the breeze and the waves, the moon and each star.
Nature in Lebanon is varied, generous and beautiful. Trees and the vegetation, rocks and birds, like the seasons and the weather, crown and nurture the whole country. The inhabitants of the mountain gave names to everything in their country according to their accents: from gravel to stones, from rocks to cliffs, from springs to flowing waters, from streams to rivers. They talk about a passage and a ravine. They gave names to pieces of land depending on whether they irrigated them and how they used them, whether they bought them or rented them, their location, size and yield: some were rented other were dug, and both were watered; some were located at the outskirt other in sunny spots, and both received their water from rain and dew; some were rocky and flattened by hand work, other were flat and sandy; some were called vineyards and other orchards; some were measured in acres other by square meters, some harvests were assessed in half tons of pounds of yield and other in units of five pounds. People defined the land from the terrace to the line of water, to the mill, from built pools to natural bodies of water, from the road to the bridge; they inferred about air and the wind, the fog and the clouds, in brief about everything from the land, to the sea and the sky.
The villages and the houses surrounded the prince, in front of him and around him, with each mount side like an open page to whom would like to read, and each valley like a sanctuary for solitude and contemplation. Some kinds of trees filled the woods, other provided fruits and other decorated the places. Trees followed the mounts and the hills, the plains and the seasons, and the rivers. Some trees held the ground from sliding, some protected from sunburns and air blows, some were meant to feed the fire for cooking and heating, some were fit for wood work, some were used for grafting, some gave our food, and some trees were beautiful. The people of the mountain transformed the wilderness by building the terraces and planting them, so they became like the suspended gardens of Babylon.
The woods like the gardens became part of the villages. Umbrella pine trees, and other pine varieties, and the Cedar of God, the oak and the beech trees, though they usually grew in the wilderness, they also grow between houses. Pine trees surround gardens, embrace roads and monasteries. People built their homes among the trees or planted them for reforestation. Olive trees, vine trees and fig trees filled the vineyards and cellars. The almond trees and the carob trees like jujube and azarole trees, and the blue berry trees, grow in non irrigated land, having enough water from rain. Apples, cherries and peaches taste better from trees planted at the high altitude. Prune, green prune, pear, apricot, medlar, pomegranate and persimmon trees grow better at mid altitude. Bananas, orange and a variety of lemon trees, melon and honey dew, palm trees that yield dates, are more suited to grow at the littoral. Cactus figs need warmth and grow in both irrigated and non irrigated areas. Walnut trees like the Persian reeds need water, and spear above houses and other trees. Popular and quinine trees, sycamore and willow need humidity. The laurel symbolizes victory. The China tree keeps away mosquitoes and flies, and provides parents with sticks to educate their children, and the children make from its branches swords and sticks to educate each other. Bamboo and straws are used in the manufacture of chairs, platters and tables. In the plain everything grows.
The plants and the flowers are greatly appreciated. They who understand them and prescribe them are called Arab doctors. They who contemplate them are the philosophers. And ladies know how to decorate their houses and all around with flowers. Roses in all colors spread their perfumes over the land and hold company to lovers and weddings. Lilies are better dressed than the king Salomon. Daffodils, cyclamens, red poppies, basil, carnations, and daisies, fish mouths and gardenia, lilies of the valley and jasmines, ambergris and gillyflowers fill the earth at spring. Kids gather flower bouquets each spring to offer on Good Friday, after having cut all green branches that their hands could reach on Palm Sunday. Some plants are gathered from the wilderness for domestic consumption like dandelion, water grass, lemon stick, pain patch, head underground, thyme and sweet weed, for salads and pickles. Herb teas are also gathered, from hyssop and chamomile, almond like leaves and saffron, linden trees and ring like herbs. Green berries are eaten or smashed to be used as balm, the linula viscosa and the stingers are used for medicine. The perfume plant is used in making jam, especially fig jam with sesame. Basil is a delicacy used in the raw kibbe recipe, along with mint and olive oil decorating the dish.
Lebanon is overwhelmed by a vibrant flora. Each breezy wind bears a perfume of some kind; each flower has a bee, each grain has an ant, each branch has a bug, and birds could be seen, sparrows, nightingales or crows. Swallows pay a visit to every single orchard in September. Partridges sleep in the wild on stones with one leg standing. Falcons and eagles gyre in the space filling the skies and clearing the earth from snakes and rodents. Bee eaters carry the mail for lovers according to beautiful songs. Pigeons fly with each mosque prayer. Wasps and hornets invite themselves to tables and share grilled meats without authorization. Earth-worms and snails become active after rain along with reptiles. White lizards and lizards jump on stones and walls, and eye the ceiling. Spiders ambush all places. Worms scare the little kids. Grasshoppers devastate crops and flatter cats. Mice invade all cellars. Rats have no shame of anyone. Chameleons steal the colors from the branches and pose for hunting, like frogs on pools with their voices going with the water. Turtles live near the rivers, and crabs and fish await fishermen. Hyenas, lions, jackals and wolves sometimes frighten people and sometimes flee people. Foxes befriend chicken that would prefer living without them. Cattle of goat and sheep wander on the hills followed by the dogs, and the shepherds watch on them and fill the air with the music of their horns and the sighs of their flutes. And the moon in Lebanon looks close, as if hiding behind each branch. The mountain and the sky seem to be neighbors here, with the sea altogether.
Farmers in the mountain know to benefit from each spot in their houses and around them. Vine trees grow on the roofs. Grapes and figs could be picked some in the summer and some in the winter. Containers hold olive oil and syrups, dates and dried figs, raisins and anisette. Barrels are filled with wine, red and white, and pink too. Aspalathus trees could be grafted and become plum trees, almond trees or apple trees in the garden, and if left in the woods they will blossom in the spring with yellow flowers, and below them herb gatherers will find the pain patch. Each terrace hold fruit trees with ploughs in between. Each plough would be planted with vegetables, like cabbage, lettuce, tomato, cucumber and onion. Wild cucumbers are best when grown in non irrigated spots. Some would let grow varieties of squash and pumpkin over the tree branches. Pumpkin is a winter delicacy, served with sugar or with broken wheat. The kibbe for the time of lent is made of it. Sugar is a new sweet that people use instead of honey. It could be added to coffee as a sweetener and increases its flavor with the cardamom. Sometimes it could be added to Indian or Chinese tea. Squash, cabbage, and grape leaves are stuffed. The ablama dish requires a special type of squash, like the zucchini. Some would grow potatoes, carrots and eggplants, and not from long time ago beets and sugar canes. Eggplants are pickled, stuffed or served as a puree. Always parsley and coriander are available. The tabbule dish dominates all tables. Some would also grow chick peas, lentils, wheat, barley, and rice, and anew beans, peas and corns. Grains are good for health, and their conservation and cooking are relatively easy. Some grains go to the cellars and other would be sown at the fitting time.
In general homes are surrounded by gardens, and sometimes a water courant flows nearby whether naturally or through built waterways, and other times they have an inside pool with a water jet. Some houses have wells. Flowers are all around decorating and coloring the windows, and they welcome with warmth the visitors. Alike the inhabitants of the house, they say to the visitors "You honor us" and "The place is yours". Some homes have chicken houses, for eggs and rooster meat on happy days. Some raise cows for milk and meat, and sheep for wool and grease, and celebrations on feast days. On those days, rams and male goats are slaughtered. Slaughter houses were opened, and people learnt to make cheese and dairy products. Yet the drained yogurt is still home made, and so is the kishik. The kishik is the king of soups, a source of nutrients and life in the winter. It is made of broken wheat and yogurt. After mixing them and leaving them to ferment, they are rolled in ball shapes and exposed to sunlight on a sheet. At night they are brought home for protection from the dew. When dried, the balls are smashed and yield a thin powder-like product. The kishik could be conserved in a bag or a dry glass container. In winter hot water could be added with garlic and sheep grease. The soup could be eaten with bread. This is a pure and genuine recipe from the times of my grandmother and my grandfather.
Each family has a cone shaped metal piece called saaj for baking bread, and baking has its rules, success and celebration. Wheat flower bags are transported by mules or donkeys to each house. Muleteers are respected in the country. Supplies are kept in a special basement protected from mice by cats. Dough is prepared the evening before baking, and yeast is added to have it leavened. Neighbors would come early in the morning of the baking day and help in the process of thinning the dough pieces and then stretching them to the desired size of the bread. Men could sometimes help in preparing the dough. But stretching the dough is a competition among women. Because young ladies who would like to pick their fiancés should prove they could feed the family. And women who would like their husbands to stay with them and be proud of them should always take care of the house and be leaders in completing chores. Children also have their share. They gather the pine needles that fell and dried, and will be used to feed the fire under the saaj. For those who have not seen it, the saaj looks like the top of a dome. When heated, the stretched dough, thin like a thin paper and adhering to a round pillow, is put over it to bake. The best hour of the day is the hour when the kids sit to eat the hot bread with olive oil and thyme, drained yogurt and tomato, and neighbors like their hosts all serve themselves with bread and baked loaves made of dough that was not stretched. Some loaves have thyme on top of them, other kishik with pepper, and other sheep grease. Other people have built a distillation set to manufacture the anisette. O Yeh, how nice it is to sit next to it and taste the anisette distilled twice and three times! How bountiful it is to watch the night and chat with a cup made of crushed grapes distilled with anis!
Refugees who came to Lebanon brought their accents with them and added to the linguistic variety of the country. Invaders left their imprints in the language, in the stones and in the people. Allies also contributed to the wealth of the country. Among them the Kurds enrolled in the prince army. Indeed, under the reign of the prince all people mixed and mingled, and started understanding each other whatever their accents were. The Dayr City is its capital and like all the rest of Lebanon it became a colorful paradise, a jewel in the wilderness, an oasis in the desert. It includes a mosque, a synagogue, and the Church of Our Lady, the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, from the diocese of Sidon. Its homes are built from stones topped with a red bricks roof, and from the stones of the Sayfa family in Akkar the prince built his palace. In the middle of the city there is a plaza, and at its center there are water jets. People would meet there and drink from the water, talk, chat and come up with projects. They also celebrate there special occasions, holidays, festivals and hold game shows and competitions. Around the plaza merchants have their stores opened, and other would come from neighboring localities or from afar either to market their products or to shop. You could find craftsmen, metal cleaners, contractors, and artists advertising their services.
On the same plaza, you could find the prince headquarters and his palace. Since the prince took power the country has kept developing. The prince has called all the people to participate in the life of the country without discrimination based on any criteria relating to sectarian, religious or ethnic background. Even women have their position in society and they are respected. The mother of the prince is the Lady Nasab and all the people love her. Her word is a word at home and in country affairs. She has been behind the prince since his father Kurkumez died and he was still a child. She raised him with the Khazen family in Kisirwen. The prince knew from the start of his government how to unite his people. All sects are represented in his administration, and all the social classes are represented in the Lebanese State as well, and have a role in the country affairs. The notables and heads of the feudal system are consulted by the prince, and valiant peasants joined his army. The prince administration delivers services to the people. He built bridges, opened and maintained roads, repaired old buildings, built castles, palaces and hostels. He opened and revamped the sea ports and country relays, and initiated commerce with the west, especially with the Italians. For a period, the prince was exiled to Italy, and he was welcomed there by Cosmos II, son of Ferdinando I, who was a friend of his and the Duke of Toscana. There in Europe, the prince met the Spaniards and the Pope. He had also contacts with the Franks.
Under the prince government, the country prospered and became open to the world. Artists and engineers started coming to Lebanon and left in the country pieces of themselves. The Dayr City is like a Renaissance piece of art. It has the art of Toscana, a breath from the Andalus, and the glory and beauty of Lebanon as if it was a poem suspended on the front of the mountain. The palace is the center of government and the hostel receives visitors like politicians and traders, travelers and friends. The country is prospering under his government. The people appreciate his work and sacrifices. He committed to improving agriculture, opening schools, developing a water system for irrigation and drinking water, building hospitals, and welcoming Consuls from the West. Press printing became widespread, economy made progress and the quality of life improved. In the field of music, orchestras were born to play for special occasions. In addition to the traditional lute, flute, one cord instrument, the horn, and the drum, and the oriental flat harp, new instruments were incorporated including the guitar, the violin, the harp, the piano and the organ. The flowers of Europe and its plants started growing around the homes and in the fields. Millbury trees could be found commonly and with them grew caterpillar farms and the commerce of silk. Pottery, glass industry, and metallurgy that gave metal sticks for construction, swords for soldiers, and artillery and guns to the troops, all these industries developed. Would you notice that the City of Venice is named the "Gun" according to the Lebanese people?
The prince has also built for himself, his family and his court more than one residence, among them the palace of Beirut also called the pine palace. He is close to his people and does not want to listen to idle talk whoever and wherever it came from. The prince knows his people needs and aspirations, views and intentions, and probes the people's heartbeat. Above all, under his government, people enjoyed liberty. They could say what is on their mind and discuss it openly. And the prince encourages people to participate in the life and destiny of their country. Even women could pick their husbands and men their wives. It may be the reason the prince is quiet and focused. The land of Lebanon is in the heart of each Lebanese citizen. At times it left a perfume and at other bitterness similar to the taste of the sea salt. Some times it gave incense and at other times pain, sometimes consternation and at other times hope, many times tears and one time a smile, many times stories and one time, dignity and glory and pride.
At noon the prince was about to reach the Dayr City. His people and his family are waiting for the victor to enter his town and celebrate with them. All is ready and in order. Let the prince come and we will start, the dance with the traditional songs and their choirs, the clinking glass cups filled with anisette and the service of grilled meat, raw kibbe and liver, the tabbule, the disc like and small square like baked dough with meat, the lentils and lemon soup, the lentils jelly, the hummus, beer and wine, pea nuts and pistachio, one loaf bread and two loaves bread, the French bread and the Italian bread. Even horses will be served water and barley, and camels and donkeys will have what to eat and drink. There are loaves with olive oil and thyme, and kishik, and sheep heavy grease, discs of kibbe and crescent like baked dough stuffed with meat or cheese, and new loaves called pizza. Under the prince government, commerce prospered. The country started exporting and importing goods to and from everywhere. The principality territory reached Acre in Palestine, and Palmyra, Emessa and Hama, and Antioch in Syria. Commerce with the West brought to Lebanon the tomato, the potato, corn and tobacco from America. But cannabis dated back to the Romans and it is from the Bekaa. Even in Baalbek, it is sculpted on the walls along with vine trees and grapes in the temple of Bacchus, next to the castle. Narguiles are waiting and cigarettes are looking for who to smoke them. Young ladies have put on their best dresses and are elated. Welcome to the boys. Many weddings are waiting for celebration. And the best of all, religious ministers are there and ready. Where are you O Prince, O Lebanon, O Hero? When are we going to start?
What happened next might remain a mystery for ever. It could be at this point that my imagination or the imagination of some that is taking over reality. The prince did not enter the city. At its doors his heart melted and fell. Like rain, like snow melting in early April and falling apart under its own weight, like floods running with storms, like dark clouds falling on earth, like lightening strikes, the lightening and the thunder, the prince in company of his horse, after he came from Dahr l Baydar passage, and the villages of Mdayrij, Ayn Zhalta, the Baruk, Fraydis, Kfar Nabrakh and Kfar Katra, went down the valleys between the Maasir, Btaddin also called Baytiddin, Kfarhim and Dayr Durit. He passed by the Fool Spring like a crazy, where the Dayr Valley and the Bnihlay Valley meet, and he met in Sirjbel and Biwayte villages the Spring of Pigeons and Bathing, that comes from the village of Jehliyye, facing the village of Ayn l Hawr, below the village of Gharife. He crossed Isaiah pool, waw, is that possible? The fall is too high. It is more likely he passed next to it or around it. The prince is speeding, as if water and wind were racing with him, and sometimes he would pass them. Birds like branches are waving and chirping, and the prince is opening his way. He went by all types of cultivated land, the cliff of Shamaarin, the Bkayaa farm, the Dibbiyye village and the Fkhayte hamlet, the Hill of the Heads and the Russians, and the Dmit village, and the Hill of the Honorable Supervisor. Then he joined the Two Rivers in the plain of Damour.
When the prince reached the plain, the sun was about to set. When descending into the sea the sun would draw on the face of the water a path of light, with a color similar to the oranges in the surrounding gardens. The prince felt nostalgia and peace at the sight, and he started walking next to the seashore and the rocks, on gravel and sand, at times on his horse and at other times next to it on earth. The prince felt like a child, and caught in his state of mind he passed by the Saadiyyet, and entered the Golf of Jiyye in the District of the Carob.
The prince spotted on the sand beach fishermen. There was a fire with grilled fish and next to it a small boat. "Please come, you are welcome and we are honored by your presence." The prince accepted the invitation and ate with them. At the sun last farewell, before the fall of the night with its stars over the land, a sail waved from afar, as a melody for prayer sent from the waves towards heaven and the horizon. The prince face was illuminated and he smiled.
If one day you go to Lebanon and visit the country of the prince, you might see at dusk, or in the plain, or in the mountain, on a hill or a spring, his shadow, or hear the neighing of his horse with the valley breeze, and you might see as well when removing a green branch kindly his face like the moon and like a flower. He might be still running by the river and opening his way. You might ask about him in the Dayr City and people would direct you to his palace and the Valleys. And if you looked at the sea, do not forget the story of the prince who on the day of his exultation, left everything, and abandoned his greatness in all humility. On that day the earth like heaven were illuminated for him. He slept that night and his people still remember him and love him till today.
Copyright Hicham Khalil Bourjaili, August 2009, Connecticut, United States of America
Bebee Susu-Baby Susu
Bebee Susu
Susu ṫifl zaġtur xindo tleet iḱwe akbar minno: Nunu l farfura, Zuzu l xafriit w Lulu l ḱaweeja li kbiir.
Susu ballac yimce w yiḣke bi liġto l xajiibe. Bi`ul “Ha!” lamma bidill xa cii, w “Ma!” lamma bixayyiṫ la maamtu, w “YaYa!” lamma bikun mabṡuṫ max bayyo.
Lamma l baaba raaḣ l yawm ṡobḣ xa cciġl, wil maama tarkiton yilxabo bil uḋa, cu ṡaar fiyon? Heet ta ncuf!
Susu ma baddo yḱalle ḣada yimsok lixbe aw yilxab fiya. Mfakkir Susu inno kill cii ilo waḣdo w ma fi cii la iḱiwto.
Cadd bi lixbit Nunu, w ṡaraḱ “Yaaa! Yaaaa! YaYaaaaa!” Nunu ḱeefit li anno xam byibke Susu. Tarkitlo yeeha, lixbita hille bitḣibba.
Rakaḋ Susu w aḱad ssiyyaara min iid Zuzu. “Waa! Waaa! WaWaaaa!” Zuzu taraklo yeeha. Ḱeef tizxal maamtu iza bike Susu.
Lamma Lulu ija yilxab max Zuzu bil train, wiṡil Susu min dun xaziime, la`at li train w mice fii! “Lawayn?” sa`alu iḱiwto li kbaar. “Baaaa! Naaaaa! NaNaaa...” “Fhimna! Byikfiina cariḣ!”
Lulu, Zuzu w Nunu zixlo w tarako Susu la waḣdo bil uḋa. “Susu, kiif baddna nṫii`o! Biḋall yibke wi yṡiiḣ!”
Susu ṡaar la waḣdo maxil alxeeb. Addayc baddo yilxab la waḣdo. “Na! NaNaa!! BaBaa!! Waa! WaYaaaa! Noowww!”
“Yih! Cu bu Susu?” ijit maamtu tis`al xanno. “Ḣaraam la waḣdo?!” “La`, mic la waḣdo! Aḱad alxeebna killa kameen.”
Ḋiḣkit maamtu. “Susu, ḣabiibe! Taxa nilxab sawa max Nunu, Zuzu w Lulu.”
Lamma rijix daadu mini cciġl xaciyye, killon axado sawa xa ṫṫawle w Susu bi kiristo l ḱaaṡṡa. Nunu ḱabbarito la daady cu ṡaar bi nnhaar, w killon ḋiḣko abil ma yneemo. “Ma! Yaya!” “Good night, Susu. Ṫiṡbaḣo xala ḱayr ya zġaar!” “Bonne nuit!”
Copyright August 18, 2009 Hicham Khalil Bourjaili, Connecticut, USA
Susu ṫifl zaġtur xindo tleet iḱwe akbar minno: Nunu l farfura, Zuzu l xafriit w Lulu l ḱaweeja li kbiir.
Susu ballac yimce w yiḣke bi liġto l xajiibe. Bi`ul “Ha!” lamma bidill xa cii, w “Ma!” lamma bixayyiṫ la maamtu, w “YaYa!” lamma bikun mabṡuṫ max bayyo.
Lamma l baaba raaḣ l yawm ṡobḣ xa cciġl, wil maama tarkiton yilxabo bil uḋa, cu ṡaar fiyon? Heet ta ncuf!
Susu ma baddo yḱalle ḣada yimsok lixbe aw yilxab fiya. Mfakkir Susu inno kill cii ilo waḣdo w ma fi cii la iḱiwto.
Cadd bi lixbit Nunu, w ṡaraḱ “Yaaa! Yaaaa! YaYaaaaa!” Nunu ḱeefit li anno xam byibke Susu. Tarkitlo yeeha, lixbita hille bitḣibba.
Rakaḋ Susu w aḱad ssiyyaara min iid Zuzu. “Waa! Waaa! WaWaaaa!” Zuzu taraklo yeeha. Ḱeef tizxal maamtu iza bike Susu.
Lamma Lulu ija yilxab max Zuzu bil train, wiṡil Susu min dun xaziime, la`at li train w mice fii! “Lawayn?” sa`alu iḱiwto li kbaar. “Baaaa! Naaaaa! NaNaaa...” “Fhimna! Byikfiina cariḣ!”
Lulu, Zuzu w Nunu zixlo w tarako Susu la waḣdo bil uḋa. “Susu, kiif baddna nṫii`o! Biḋall yibke wi yṡiiḣ!”
Susu ṡaar la waḣdo maxil alxeeb. Addayc baddo yilxab la waḣdo. “Na! NaNaa!! BaBaa!! Waa! WaYaaaa! Noowww!”
“Yih! Cu bu Susu?” ijit maamtu tis`al xanno. “Ḣaraam la waḣdo?!” “La`, mic la waḣdo! Aḱad alxeebna killa kameen.”
Ḋiḣkit maamtu. “Susu, ḣabiibe! Taxa nilxab sawa max Nunu, Zuzu w Lulu.”
Lamma rijix daadu mini cciġl xaciyye, killon axado sawa xa ṫṫawle w Susu bi kiristo l ḱaaṡṡa. Nunu ḱabbarito la daady cu ṡaar bi nnhaar, w killon ḋiḣko abil ma yneemo. “Ma! Yaya!” “Good night, Susu. Ṫiṡbaḣo xala ḱayr ya zġaar!” “Bonne nuit!”
Copyright August 18, 2009 Hicham Khalil Bourjaili, Connecticut, USA
Sammun Zzaġtur-Little Sammun
Sammun Zzaġtur
Sammun bsayn zaġtur xindo tleet iḱwe akbar minno: Farfur, Ammur w Sammuna l akbar cii.
Immon btilxab maxon kill yawm w bitjiblon akil ṫayyib: ṡarṡur, zarzur, faara aw xaṡfur.
Mbeeriḣ jeebitlon samke micwiyye. Cu ṫaybe! Sammun alla merci la maamtu. Iḱiwto kameen ximlo mitlo.
Lamma immon tarkiton ṡṡibiḣ ta truḣ titṡayyad, l arbax wleed ijo ta yilxabo ġimmayḋa.
Sammun raaḣ yitḱabba la waḣdo ḣatta ma ḣada yaxrif wayno wi ylee`ii.
Sammuna lee`it Farfur w Ammur. Bas wayn ḱtafa Sammun? Wayn raaḣ ma xa minlee`ii?
Ṡaaro iḱiwto yxayṫulo bas Sammun ma keen yridd. Yneedulo bas Sammun ma keen ybayyin.
Rijxit immon bas Sammun baxd ma rijix. Wayno Sammun, ya Sammuna? Wayno Sammun, ya Ammur? Wayno Sammun, ya Farfur? Ma mnaxrif maamtu!
Lamma maamtu xayyaṫitlo la Sammun, Sammun wixe mni nnawm. Niḣna xa minfattic xlayk w inta neeyim? Ḋiḣkit maamtu!
Sammun ġannuj, daxbul wi byinxas. Raaḣ tḱabba w ġife ta keenit rijxit maamtu.
Maamtu xacciton ḱibze b laban min lli ḋayyafuon ye aṡḣaab l bayt. Myamm! Cu ṫaybiin! Miaw, miaw, miaw, miaw!
Baxid ma killon akalo w cibxo raaḣo xa ssalle ta yneemo. Nickor Alla xa ha nnhaar! Ṫiṡbaḣo xala ḱayr! Bonne nuit! Good night! Killon neemo ḣadd baxḋon deefyiin w mabṡuṫiin.
Copyright August 09, 2009 Hicham Khalil Bourjaili, Connecticut, USA
Sammun bsayn zaġtur xindo tleet iḱwe akbar minno: Farfur, Ammur w Sammuna l akbar cii.
Immon btilxab maxon kill yawm w bitjiblon akil ṫayyib: ṡarṡur, zarzur, faara aw xaṡfur.
Mbeeriḣ jeebitlon samke micwiyye. Cu ṫaybe! Sammun alla merci la maamtu. Iḱiwto kameen ximlo mitlo.
Lamma immon tarkiton ṡṡibiḣ ta truḣ titṡayyad, l arbax wleed ijo ta yilxabo ġimmayḋa.
Sammun raaḣ yitḱabba la waḣdo ḣatta ma ḣada yaxrif wayno wi ylee`ii.
Sammuna lee`it Farfur w Ammur. Bas wayn ḱtafa Sammun? Wayn raaḣ ma xa minlee`ii?
Ṡaaro iḱiwto yxayṫulo bas Sammun ma keen yridd. Yneedulo bas Sammun ma keen ybayyin.
Rijxit immon bas Sammun baxd ma rijix. Wayno Sammun, ya Sammuna? Wayno Sammun, ya Ammur? Wayno Sammun, ya Farfur? Ma mnaxrif maamtu!
Lamma maamtu xayyaṫitlo la Sammun, Sammun wixe mni nnawm. Niḣna xa minfattic xlayk w inta neeyim? Ḋiḣkit maamtu!
Sammun ġannuj, daxbul wi byinxas. Raaḣ tḱabba w ġife ta keenit rijxit maamtu.
Maamtu xacciton ḱibze b laban min lli ḋayyafuon ye aṡḣaab l bayt. Myamm! Cu ṫaybiin! Miaw, miaw, miaw, miaw!
Baxid ma killon akalo w cibxo raaḣo xa ssalle ta yneemo. Nickor Alla xa ha nnhaar! Ṫiṡbaḣo xala ḱayr! Bonne nuit! Good night! Killon neemo ḣadd baxḋon deefyiin w mabṡuṫiin.
Copyright August 09, 2009 Hicham Khalil Bourjaili, Connecticut, USA
Advocating the Lebanese Language Cause
Advocating the Lebanese Language Cause
A common opinion holds that Lebanese is a dialect and not a language. Among the Lebanese people themselves many consider Lebanese as a dialect and not a language, and therefore one should not be surprised that others who are not Lebanese think the same.
I hold that the Lebanese language deserves recognition among other languages. Through a series of simple arguments that is not exhaustive, common objections denying the existence of anything like a Lebanese language will be addressed and the underlying reasons will be exposed. My hope is that after having read my answers to the most common and typical objections, you come to make up your mind in favor of the Lebanese language and eventually you cherish it and practice it.
Please be aware that Lebanese words used in the text, or references to Semitic languages will follow the script of the Lebanese Latin Letters developed by the Lebanese Language Institute for writing the Lebanese language whenever needed. Sometimes the common writing in English of Lebanese names is presented first and between parentheses the version in the Lebanese Latin Letters is shown.
Why do people think that Lebanese is a dialect and not a language?
A range of answers might be provided by the people holding this opinion. Not all the answers have a rationale behind it. Some might simply say it is obvious that Lebanese is not a language, or simply laugh with a look of unbelief and an expression of disdain and mockery. Others might get angry to the idea that Lebanese could be a language or even that there is anything that could be called Lebanese: what an absurdity, according to them. Others might consider holding such views as a felony. In other words, the burden of the proof is thrown on anybody who would claim that Lebanese is a language.
However, taking the time to examine the reasons behind the denial of the existence of the Lebanese language when such reasons are provided is worthwhile for someone who believes that Lebanese is a language and as such, deserves recognition, or whoever is interested in understanding the matter before pronouncing the verdict. The issue becomes an issue of fairness. A number of advanced reasons that might prompt people to believe that the Lebanese is not a language, but at best a dialect, are examined. Each is summarized with its supporting arguments in italic format and then my position is formulated.
1) The Lebanese has never been recognized as a national language by the Lebanese Republic, that considers on the other hand that Arabic is the official Language of the country. Moreover Lebanon is a founding member of the Arab Countries League and the most recent constitution of the country states that Lebanon is an Arab country.
My position: The mentioned facts are true. However, by nature they are political and not linguistic. Many other countries have many languages though only one or few are recognized as official language(s) whether by a legal decree or by usage.
For instance, English is an official language in India. Yet hundreds of other languages are spoken among the Indian population. They are not necessary official languages of the Indian federal state or any particular state in the Indian federation.
The United States though using extensively English have no official language recognized as the language of the whole country. Does it imply that no language is used at all in the United States?
The official status of a language is not a proof of its existence or non-existence. Deliberating on the existence of a language from a linguistic point of view is part of the realm of science and not a political venture, though governments might have linguistic agendas included in their policies and goals.
Moreover, Arabic is not the only official language of Lebanon. French is an official language as well. Lebanon is also among the Francophone Countries and a founding member. Does it make then Lebanese a French dialect?
2) No other country than Lebanon has ever recognized the Lebanese as a language. Unlike English for instance, that is the language of England to start with but also a language recognized by other countries like France, Russia or China, Lebanese can not claim such peer recognition.
My position: Again, by nature the arguments are political, diplomatic, or legal but certainly not linguistic. Yet the mentioned facts about peer recognition of the Lebanese language are not true. Many countries recognize the rights of minorities, or foreign born children or children born to parents from foreign countries, to learn their heritage tongue or particular language, in addition to the official language of the country, if any language happened to be defined as such. This is the case of Scandinavian countries.
Moreover, recent development on the world scene, especially the War on Terror, prompted many citizens in western states to learn foreign languages and to realize that though many thought Arabic was the language of the Arab countries -and it is officially-practically it is not. It might even be irrelevant in some instances to believe so. More and more ads for jobs would explicit the desired “dialect” skills: Arabic with Iraqi dialect skills, or Arabic with Lebanese, Syrian, Jordanian and Palestinian dialects skills, and so forth.
Finally, many people though not representing states or working for governments wish to learn the Lebanese language –or for the moment let us accept to call it “dialect” - and know through experience that the Arabic they learnt did not make them speak fluently with their Lebanese friends and relatives, or speak at all their language. They often felt awkward because Lebanese people would laugh if you spoke classical Arabic with them unless in a very formal setting where you are expected to do so.
If you speak the Arabic language with Lebanese people in Lebanon on a daily basis, they would call you Mexican to make fun; in fact, popular Mexican series forecasted on Lebanese screens were translated into Arabic, prompting the association.
3) No systematic and standard teaching of the language has ever been introduced, with a standard script, grammar, dictionary or any reference literature and publications. Unlike the English language for instance that is written with the Latin script and has a well defined grammar, or the French language that is regulated by L’Académie Française -the French Academy- and the French government, the Lebanese can not claim such a standard for its own sake, though many would use practical scripts to write it. Even though the Lebanese could be written with the Arabic letters, or any other script, the language is not unified. Some writers and among them Said Akl (Saxiid Xaql or Saxiid Xa`l), a famous Lebanese poet with a society of fans, went up to codify the Lebanese as a language. Yet, all these enterprises remained tentative and did not make unanimity, and did not spread to include the common of the people among their allies.
My position: This is a very serious argument when it comes to standardization and widespread use of the standards. Though challenging and relating true facts, the existence of the Lebanese as a language should be considered as a people’s fact, a linguistic phenomenon, and not a governmental, political, legal measure or set of measures with the enforcement power backing them.
By the way, no language could claim to have only one standard that is followed by all. In fact, if the French is codified by the French Academy, the people kept speaking it their own way. Consider for instance the introduction of English words in it and the vivid and dramatic reactions of the government and the French Academy to that trend. However, when the French Culture Minister Jacques Toubon announced in the late eighties the legal measures to defend the French language and to prosecute those who would use English words instead of pure French words, he pointed to the challenge of the task ahead: he literally used the English word “challenge” instead of the French word “défi” in his address, then he rectified himself! Indeed it is a serious challenge especially in a world of global communication and connections, and in democratic societies that revel calling themselves open, to claim that one standard of speech exist and is binding to all!
Consider as well what the French call “l’argot” or “le patois”. These are like slang in English, reminiscent of local dialects or languages, or simply reflecting local influence. Consider “fashions” in language that vary like the seasons and the weather, in time and place: the words that are politically correct or defining a particular group change with the era. For instance, it is recommended nowadays in France to call any lady as “Madame” regardless of her marital status, though in the past “Madame” would be used to address a married woman or a widow, but “Mademoiselle” was used to address a single woman.
Besides English is not codified the way some people might think. The pronunciation, the colloquial, the slang, the regionalism, the Creole, the melting pot, the variations between countries like Great Britain, the United States and Australia, the social groups, the political movements, the artistic trends, the movies, literature, art productions and publications, the businesses and sciences, industry and technology and so on, all prove that the English language is a vibrant dynamic language, with a jungle of jargons, and myriads of expressions. This is certainly not the portrait of a static, rigidly defined language.
Therefore, the assumption of a static standard or set of standards defining a living language is not correct. A language precedes its codification and formulation in standards. A stark proof is that writing started in a point of time, signaling the beginning of what we call now History, but people spoke before that. Moreover, even when standards are formulated they can not stop people from using their own patterns playing with the standards in space and time. These very patterns would later lead to the formulation of new standards.
The process of standardization is dynamic itself. It serves to update the old by integrating the new. The advantage of standards is to keep the unity in diversity and set common references for understanding between people and for spreading the language for a significant period of time waiting for the new standardization. However the argument that a standard is definitive for a living language reveals a lack of pragmatism when examined closely. Notice that a word in a dictionary might have more than one meaning! Think that a writer has his own style and provides new meaning to existing words, and might invent a number of them. A poet would explore words and their inter-relations and bring about esthetic associations and creations. Look at ads and how they can play with the meaning of words. Consider your own speech and the ways you alter the meaning of the words for fun, or the misunderstandings that you might experience with other people. These are the common experiences that a language is not univocal and rigidly defined by structures. Speaking, reading and writing are indeed more than a simple repetition of words within a predefined frame of expressions. Each of us when practicing a language is called to responsibility. Responsibility requires our freedom. Freedom leads us to make choices. And through choices, we bring our voice, our imprint to language.
The best standards are those chosen by the people themselves. It is relevant to say that a widespread language, for instance English, though not rigidly codified might and could have some common references like the Oxford or the Webster-Merriam Dictionaries and others. It is beneficial and could serve for common grounds, striking a balance between the old and the new in the English language, and addressing the challenge of unity in diversity.
Notice that even the English grammar is not codified. You might hear on TV series from New York somebody saying “No matter what she do!” Yet at school many of us were taught that we should say “she does!” instead. In a business setting you might read or hear or say “the company have a great new project” instead of “the company has a great new project”, and so on.
4) The people who speak Arabic understand Lebanese. Lebanese is simple Arabic for the common of the people in Lebanon. It is a dialect and as such cannot be a language.
My position: It depends who is making the statement. Indeed some people who speak Arabic at least understand Lebanese and might speak it fluently as well. The real issue is to know if they understand or speak Lebanese because of their knowledge of Arabic. Many would claim it. Can they prove it?
It is very difficult to make such an assessment because people could lie, or think to understand but without proof, or have a personal history, character and skills that are different from other people, that allow them to speak many languages including Lebanese. I do recall one time I have offered prunes to an Iraqi friend who asked for “ḱawḱ”. The word “ḱawḱ” means in Lebanese language prunes. My friend wanted peaches because in Iraq the same word means peaches and not prunes!
If people are good faith, they would recognize that they might have been exposed to the Lebanese art productions through theater plays, songs, movies, TV Channels, Internet Chat or might have been in contact with Lebanese people. They could also notice many similarities between the Lebanese and the Arabic whether in the words or the expressions. That is why many consider the Lebanese a corrupted form of the Arabic language, a version for the vulgar, meaning the common people. However, many other people who took courses of Arabic to be able to communicate with their Lebanese friends and families found it very difficult to speak the Lebanese language. The Arabic was burdensome and not effective in reaching their goal.
Even if we admit that the Lebanese is related to the Arabic, and more, a simplification of the Arabic, does it prove that there is no Lebanese language of its own? I do recall a friend of mine who is form Latin America counting a story from her family. Her father and her father-in-law used to speak each in his native tongue, one in Spanish and the other in Italian and communicated well with each other; does it prove that the Italian language is a corrupted form of Spanish and that Italian has no existence of its own? Or does it prove just the opposite? Such reasoning would prove everything and anything!
As a matter of fact many languages might stem from the same original one like the Latin family of languages form the Latin. In particular the romance languages among them, the French, Italian and Spanish have close bonds. The Portuguese and the Spanish might be like siblings. Many people, who speak one of the two, readily understand the other. Similarities and closeness come often from a shared history but do not imply that one language should be excluded or denied the label of language whereas the other recognized at its expense.
Regarding the distinction between dialect and language it is pretty artificial. Let us prove it through examples. If a dialect should not be considered a language, the current Arabic language that has its origin in a particular dialect, the dialect of the City of the Prophet Mohammed Qoreish around the seventh century A.D., in Saudi Arabia nowadays, should then be denied the status of a language. The present French language that is at its origin the dialect of the Ile-de-France, the region of France around Paris, should also be denied the status of language. The Latin languages that have their origins in the local variations of Latin should be denied their status of language as well, and so on! The distinction is purely conventional. A dialect is a language. Then some might ask: why do we have a word for a dialect and another for a language, and why we differentiate them?
Though there are many theories about the topic and the purpose here is not to launch ourselves through them and exhibit them all, we could at this point remind the practical characteristics of a language. A language is a system of meaningful words making its vocabulary called also lexic, that could be defined by reference to each other; has a syntax usually called grammar; and a common logic of expression. For instance the sequence of letters “bbrmqp” is not a meaningful word in English. The sentence “Weather good the is” though made of meaningful words is not grammatically correct. The English syntax requires it to be stated as “The weather is good”, in that order and shape. Finally, though words could be meaningful and shaped and ordered according to the syntax rules, a sentence to sound English needs to follow some way of expression that we propose to call the logic of the language in general. For instance, the sentence “I do not have the memory of the event” is made of meaningful words that are shaped and ordered according to the English syntax. However it is not the usual way of expression. One would rather say “I do not recall what happened” or “I don’t remember”. Finally a language is expected to fulfill its mission of communication on a social scale, whether narrow or broad, without boundaries on the size of the scale or the scope of the communication.
Let us then look at the Lebanese with these explicited criteria, as a system of meaningful words, with syntax and a logic of its own. The Lebanese accomplishes all the functions of communication expected from a language. The Lebanese is a complete language that could be characterized as any other language, learnt and taught and spoken. Hence, stated simply, the Lebanese is a language! In case you still have a doubt, ask yourself: What is that I can express in any given language that I cannot in Lebanese? If there is any such a thing, then let us add it to the Lebanese and therefore you will have no excuse to claim that the Lebanese is not a language anymore.
5) The Lebanese is not standard in Lebanon but varies regionally and locally. For instance, the people of the south do not speak like the people of the north of the country. Beirut has its own dialect that is different from the one of Tripoli (Ṫrablos), Sidon (Ṡayda), Zahle (Zaḣle), Baalbek (Bxalbak) or Zgharta (Zġarta).
My position: The Lebanese indeed might vary from a region to another, even from a village to another. A natural question comes then: who could claim to speak the Lebanese? What variation is the real Lebanese and why? Again, this type of questions applies to any language. For instance, what language is American? Is it the variation from Massachusetts or Texas? from Alaska or Puerto Rico? from Chicago or New York City? from Manhattan or the Bronx? Is American the same as English? Historians of the English language make the point that English had and still has many local variations in England. Since it has spread all over the world it has many variations still today.
And by the same way, what is French? Is it the Metropolitan French or the variation of Québec? the “Parisien” (from Paris) or “Marseillais” (from Marseilles)? The break down could keep on and on as needed to express all the wide local varieties of any language starting at an international level, then moving to national, state, county, city, neighborhood levels and so on. For those who travel, they might as well notice that these comments apply to the Italian and the German, each with its many variations that the citizens of these countries themselves do acknowledge. The variations could be so different that it seems like two different languages are spoken by the citizens of the same country.
Yet we need to explain the choice of what Lebanese variation would be adopted and the reasons behind the choice. The civil war –that is still ongoing to some extent- divided people in Lebanon even within families. It has caused intense interactions between people especially at the language level. People needed to adapt in order to survive. Refugees from all over the country blended together in areas that are not their natural habitat. The Lebanese experienced the melting pot with a Lebanese version, tailored by the necessities of the war. Ironically, the war was meant to divide and hurt people and yet for the information and the psychological warfare people needed a common language!
The war also prompted many to seek building bridges with the other side and hence outreaching to others for the common good. As a result a smoothing of all the accents and variations took place, especially in the very dense area of Beirut were demographic estimations report about half of the Lebanese people live (in Lebanon without counting those in the diaspora). A witness of this phenomenon are the many jokes people will enjoy counting with at least one character in the story still holding the local variation of the language that is like a hallmark of identification.
Lebanese art productions with charismatic figures like the brothers Rahbani (Rriḣbeene) and the Rahbani family (Rraḣeebne), the famous Lebanese singer and icon Fayrouz (Fayruz) who galvanized the country as a symbol of unity and still do so, caused a leveling of the Lebanese all over the second half of the twentieth century and made it known to all Arab speakers and available to the world and the generations to come.
Symbolic figures like the poet and writer Said Akl (Saxiid Xaql or Saxiid Xa`l) gave the Lebanese language impetus and momentum through a prolific production of poems, stories and myths, and through the eccentric and attaching figure of the poet himself. The media broadcast contributed as well to standardizing more and less the language. Lebanon is a small country whose size is larger than Rhode Island but smaller than Connecticut. The development of the means of communication led everybody to exchange with everybody else, removing many barriers.
Popular figures of the Lebanese traditional art of singing called Zzajal also contributed to the widespread sharing of common songs and heritage. There is a muwweel -that is a chanted poem- for any circumstance. In addition to these traditional popular Lebanese genre the miijana, and the ataaba (xataaba or xateeba), the abu zzuluf and the raddeet (rradeet or rradee) should be included as well.
In these conditions, the natural choice for the Lebanese falls on the already common to all Lebanese version, the blended version used by all or nearly all. It is noteworthy that the differences between variations are not necessary huge in that sense that often the accent and the way the vowels are pronounced make the difference between them. In the south the trend is to pronounce towards the “ii” sound. Moving to the north it is the “o” that becomes dominant. The reason for the first is its historical relationship with the Phoenician and Old Hebrew. The reason for the second is its origins in the Syriac, called also the Occidental Aramaic, by reference to the West of Mesopotamia (Mesopotamia is located mostly in Iraq and Syria today).
Let us take one example: the first person pronoun “I”. In the south of Lebanon, one would hear in local accent “Anii” still like the Hebrew exactly. Within Mount Lebanon, one might hear “Eena”. In Beirut, the word becomes “Ana” closer to the Arabic. To the north of Mount Lebanon, one might hear “Anee” and more to the north towards the Akkar (Xakkar), one could hear “Ono” or “One” (not “one” like in English but o-n-e pronounced according to the Latin Lebanese Letters system).
One characteristic of the historical Shuf (Cuf) district, South of Beirut, below the Baruk Mount, is that people pronounce the guttural “q”. They do so in the Hasbayya (Ḣaaṡbayya) in the south of the Bekaa Valley (B`eex or Bqeex) in the Anti-Lebanon Mounts, in the Weede Ttaym. It is a characteristic sound that could even identify the Druze sect. However, Christians in those areas might speak like the Druze as well. After all it is a letter found in the Syriac like in the “Qadisha” Valley (Weede Qadiica), the Saint Valley, and in the Arabic like in Al Qods that is Jerusalem, and literally “the Saint of Saints” in the old Temple, first built by Salomon including in its structure the Cedar of Lebanon.
Moreover, many Lebanese speak both their own village or area variation and the common version used by all. They can switch any time by convenience. It is a way to show an urban and civilized stand yet still in touch with one’s roots. The imprint of these variations is still visible in the common Lebanese language in many ways, for instance through more than one way of conjugating a verb and the many meanings of a word. They enriched the common version and do not contradict it or question its existence.
6) Other dialects in the regions resemble the Lebanese if not identical, so how to claim that there is such a thing as an original Lebanese language? Why not talking about the Syrian language or the Palestinian language or the Jordanian language or the Iraqi language as well?
My position: The Lebanese indeed resembles many of other regional dialect/languages: the Syrian, the Palestinian, the Jordanian, the Iraqi and others. The same patterns of analysis applied to the Lebanese apply to them and to any dialect/language. They have themselves variations within each country. They have differences and similarities with the Lebanese regarding for instance the vowels pronunciations, the general expressions, the colloquial, the logic, the grammar and so on.
All these dialects/languages share a common history, common influences and background. However, claiming they are the same is very problematic in this case for many reasons, the same developed previously to address the other objections.
In the case of the Latin languages, who can decide they are the same or they are different? From a linguistic point of view the question is very difficult for it supposes that somebody has the criteria to decide when and a priori, two dialects/languages are the same or are different. Though not impossible the task is tedious and controversial. If the Lebanese was to be compared to the Chinese, China being a remote country from Lebanon with little direct interactions at the linguistic level, the issue would not be controversial to settle. No Lebanese people, so far as we know, are claiming the Lebanese to be Mandarin, or vice versa. But for reasons of proximity, the issue is different in stand when it comes to comparing Lebanese with other regional Languages in the Middle East.
The inherent issue is that each language has many variations itself. If two or more supposedly different languages stem from the same roots each with its own variations, it becomes clear that ambiguity might be raised from a theoretical point of view to determine the significance of the differences. What criteria should be used to decide that the differences between them are not greater than within each of them? In the science of numbers, and precisely in statistics this would be called an ANOVA test. But words are not numbers and there is no unanimous test for languages. Indeed, one could develop a theory to address the linguistic issue; even then would the issue be settled? There is a simpler answer in this case than developing a theory: let the people decide!
One could object here that I refused all political and legal arguments be used by my opponents but allow myself to use them to my benefit. Is not that true when calling for the people to decide? Yet, what I mean is that some distinctions between languages might have meaning for some and not for others, might be dramatic for some and negligible for others; they are arbitrary to some extent. For instance, who can say or prove that Portuguese and Spanish are completely different languages? If the people of Spain say that Spanish is their own language and the people of Portugal say Portuguese is ours, and everybody recognizes their choices then we should by convention call them two languages, regardless of any other theoretical consideration, by consensus. The difficulty in the examples of languages from the same family is that the language is continuous in its variations from one country to another and though there are political frontiers, the language does not need a passport to cross the border, like the wind itself.
Therefore, if Syrian people would like to develop their Syrian language we should respect them in their choice but we cannot do it in their place or impose it on them; and similarly with the Palestinian, Jordanian, Iraqi or others. By the way, I am not claiming that I am the Lebanese people or Lebanon, but somebody from Lebanon. There are other Lebanese who might disagree with my enterprise, or more in my adventure. I do respect their positions. What I do, I intend it to be a gift for Lebanon and those who are thrilled to discover Lebanon. We can invite but the guests are free. This is what our hospitality tradition is about.
The Middle Eastern countries have among their citizens multiple ethnicities that have their own languages in addition to the official language/languages. For instance, the Kurds speak also Kurdish, the Armenians Armenian, and the Turkmen the Turk. The Syriacs, Assyrians and Chaldeans speak varieties of Aramaic. Some minorities kept in their liturgy –that is to say in their public worship services as long as the government and circumstances allow the public worship- ancestral languages like the Maronites still use the Syriac, the Greek Catholics and Orthodox the Greek, the Latin Christians the Latin, the Jewish the Aramaic and the Hebrew, etc. Some communities have religious attaches that prompt them to practice foreign languages on a more or less regular basis. The Catholics are attached to Rome, the Orthodox to the Orthodox World with Greece, Russia and East European countries, Egypt and Ethiopia with their Coptic communities and other countries as well; the Shiites to their brethren in Persia, the Sunnites to other Sunnites communities in the Arab World and outside, and so on. Finally immigration contributed to the mixing and blending of people in the area and therefore their languages mixed as well.
The concurrence of Arab supremacist ideologies on one hand and the disdain of the West on the other led to call all the people in the Middle East Arabs or Muslims, with a pejorative connotation, regardless of their real ethnicities, beliefs and rights to integrity. The Middle East is still the land of diversity and complexity, and none of the communities there deserved disregard or disdain, including Arabs, Muslims, Christians and Jews, whether by their own governments or the West or the International Community in general. Ignoring the facts, or worse abusing the others pain and worry is not excusable, especially coming from those who claim to excel in the sciences and the art of observation on one hand, and believe in the fundamental and alienable rights of all people, persons and communities on the other hand.
The Lebanese as I am developing it is a gift for all of them that they will have in addition to all what is their own and is not meant to replace or challenge any choice or right that is theirs whether individual, communities or states.
7) All languages, or most of them, are affiliated to a family of languages. What family is the basket where to put the Lebanese? Is it a Semitic language? Should it be under the Arabic or the Aramaic families? Or else?
My position: The question is among the most interesting one and falls more under the human sciences shield than the political arena. There are hints and sparse studies, and many intuitions about the language origins. Lebanon is a land where many civilizations encountered each other sometimes embracing each other and other times conflicting with each other. The Lebanese came from that struggle and that very conviviality. We could cite: the Canaanites also called the Phoenicians (the same people as called by the Greeks), the Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Chaldeans, the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Arameans, the Byzantine, the Arabs, the Europeans through the Crusades, the Arabs and Muslims through the Anti-Crusades, the Mamaliik called also Mamlouk in some books or Mamluk, the Turks, also minorities like the Armenians, the Kurds, the Sharkas (Carkas) from the Caucase and Russia, the Italian traders, missionaries from all over the world, including American and European, and finally the Lebanese diaspora from all over the world.
However, establishing in a scientific way the roots of the Lebanese and its connections to other languages is currently a topic of research, exploration and discovery. Our new approach to analyze the Lebanese as a linguistic phenomenon first, led us to recognize especially in the grammar and logic of the language patterns that could not be reduced to the Semitic languages influences alone, or obtained by simple derivation from any of them to the best of our knowledge. They match patterns in the Indo-Arian languages like French, English and Spanish. Though the subject of the research would be dealt with in another article, the conclusion of the discovery prompt us to think that the Lebanese is somehow unclassifiable in one tree or one basket, and as such it is a reflection of the Lebanese character itself, that is by essence diverse and cosmopolitan even from very old times back to antiquity.
The openness of the Lebanese people, their quest for consensus, their syncretism and natural orientation towards connections and synthesis, their drive to synergy and effectiveness, all these qualities in such a small nation, make them awkward and vulnerable in the midst of a world of intolerance and resolute narrow ideological views. How can the jealous, the envious, the dogmatic, the angry, the hateful and the arrogant tolerate such a place and such a people? Lebanon could be thought of as a miracle. Lebanon is a huge cemetery of great civilizations with their ruins standing like majestic skeletons and vestige of the past. Yet, the Lebanese still stand after all have passed. Strong of the knowledge that all that appear great now will pass one day, they discovered more than the civilization. They strive to sanctity and absolute since antiquity. Clinging to their mountains, hills and valleys, through the sea coast and interior plains, they stand as a people of faith, one people under God that is Infinite Mercy for all, the Lebanese and all humanity equally.
Copyright Hicham Khalil Bourjaili, October 2007, August 2009, Connecticut, USA
A common opinion holds that Lebanese is a dialect and not a language. Among the Lebanese people themselves many consider Lebanese as a dialect and not a language, and therefore one should not be surprised that others who are not Lebanese think the same.
I hold that the Lebanese language deserves recognition among other languages. Through a series of simple arguments that is not exhaustive, common objections denying the existence of anything like a Lebanese language will be addressed and the underlying reasons will be exposed. My hope is that after having read my answers to the most common and typical objections, you come to make up your mind in favor of the Lebanese language and eventually you cherish it and practice it.
Please be aware that Lebanese words used in the text, or references to Semitic languages will follow the script of the Lebanese Latin Letters developed by the Lebanese Language Institute for writing the Lebanese language whenever needed. Sometimes the common writing in English of Lebanese names is presented first and between parentheses the version in the Lebanese Latin Letters is shown.
Why do people think that Lebanese is a dialect and not a language?
A range of answers might be provided by the people holding this opinion. Not all the answers have a rationale behind it. Some might simply say it is obvious that Lebanese is not a language, or simply laugh with a look of unbelief and an expression of disdain and mockery. Others might get angry to the idea that Lebanese could be a language or even that there is anything that could be called Lebanese: what an absurdity, according to them. Others might consider holding such views as a felony. In other words, the burden of the proof is thrown on anybody who would claim that Lebanese is a language.
However, taking the time to examine the reasons behind the denial of the existence of the Lebanese language when such reasons are provided is worthwhile for someone who believes that Lebanese is a language and as such, deserves recognition, or whoever is interested in understanding the matter before pronouncing the verdict. The issue becomes an issue of fairness. A number of advanced reasons that might prompt people to believe that the Lebanese is not a language, but at best a dialect, are examined. Each is summarized with its supporting arguments in italic format and then my position is formulated.
1) The Lebanese has never been recognized as a national language by the Lebanese Republic, that considers on the other hand that Arabic is the official Language of the country. Moreover Lebanon is a founding member of the Arab Countries League and the most recent constitution of the country states that Lebanon is an Arab country.
My position: The mentioned facts are true. However, by nature they are political and not linguistic. Many other countries have many languages though only one or few are recognized as official language(s) whether by a legal decree or by usage.
For instance, English is an official language in India. Yet hundreds of other languages are spoken among the Indian population. They are not necessary official languages of the Indian federal state or any particular state in the Indian federation.
The United States though using extensively English have no official language recognized as the language of the whole country. Does it imply that no language is used at all in the United States?
The official status of a language is not a proof of its existence or non-existence. Deliberating on the existence of a language from a linguistic point of view is part of the realm of science and not a political venture, though governments might have linguistic agendas included in their policies and goals.
Moreover, Arabic is not the only official language of Lebanon. French is an official language as well. Lebanon is also among the Francophone Countries and a founding member. Does it make then Lebanese a French dialect?
2) No other country than Lebanon has ever recognized the Lebanese as a language. Unlike English for instance, that is the language of England to start with but also a language recognized by other countries like France, Russia or China, Lebanese can not claim such peer recognition.
My position: Again, by nature the arguments are political, diplomatic, or legal but certainly not linguistic. Yet the mentioned facts about peer recognition of the Lebanese language are not true. Many countries recognize the rights of minorities, or foreign born children or children born to parents from foreign countries, to learn their heritage tongue or particular language, in addition to the official language of the country, if any language happened to be defined as such. This is the case of Scandinavian countries.
Moreover, recent development on the world scene, especially the War on Terror, prompted many citizens in western states to learn foreign languages and to realize that though many thought Arabic was the language of the Arab countries -and it is officially-practically it is not. It might even be irrelevant in some instances to believe so. More and more ads for jobs would explicit the desired “dialect” skills: Arabic with Iraqi dialect skills, or Arabic with Lebanese, Syrian, Jordanian and Palestinian dialects skills, and so forth.
Finally, many people though not representing states or working for governments wish to learn the Lebanese language –or for the moment let us accept to call it “dialect” - and know through experience that the Arabic they learnt did not make them speak fluently with their Lebanese friends and relatives, or speak at all their language. They often felt awkward because Lebanese people would laugh if you spoke classical Arabic with them unless in a very formal setting where you are expected to do so.
If you speak the Arabic language with Lebanese people in Lebanon on a daily basis, they would call you Mexican to make fun; in fact, popular Mexican series forecasted on Lebanese screens were translated into Arabic, prompting the association.
3) No systematic and standard teaching of the language has ever been introduced, with a standard script, grammar, dictionary or any reference literature and publications. Unlike the English language for instance that is written with the Latin script and has a well defined grammar, or the French language that is regulated by L’Académie Française -the French Academy- and the French government, the Lebanese can not claim such a standard for its own sake, though many would use practical scripts to write it. Even though the Lebanese could be written with the Arabic letters, or any other script, the language is not unified. Some writers and among them Said Akl (Saxiid Xaql or Saxiid Xa`l), a famous Lebanese poet with a society of fans, went up to codify the Lebanese as a language. Yet, all these enterprises remained tentative and did not make unanimity, and did not spread to include the common of the people among their allies.
My position: This is a very serious argument when it comes to standardization and widespread use of the standards. Though challenging and relating true facts, the existence of the Lebanese as a language should be considered as a people’s fact, a linguistic phenomenon, and not a governmental, political, legal measure or set of measures with the enforcement power backing them.
By the way, no language could claim to have only one standard that is followed by all. In fact, if the French is codified by the French Academy, the people kept speaking it their own way. Consider for instance the introduction of English words in it and the vivid and dramatic reactions of the government and the French Academy to that trend. However, when the French Culture Minister Jacques Toubon announced in the late eighties the legal measures to defend the French language and to prosecute those who would use English words instead of pure French words, he pointed to the challenge of the task ahead: he literally used the English word “challenge” instead of the French word “défi” in his address, then he rectified himself! Indeed it is a serious challenge especially in a world of global communication and connections, and in democratic societies that revel calling themselves open, to claim that one standard of speech exist and is binding to all!
Consider as well what the French call “l’argot” or “le patois”. These are like slang in English, reminiscent of local dialects or languages, or simply reflecting local influence. Consider “fashions” in language that vary like the seasons and the weather, in time and place: the words that are politically correct or defining a particular group change with the era. For instance, it is recommended nowadays in France to call any lady as “Madame” regardless of her marital status, though in the past “Madame” would be used to address a married woman or a widow, but “Mademoiselle” was used to address a single woman.
Besides English is not codified the way some people might think. The pronunciation, the colloquial, the slang, the regionalism, the Creole, the melting pot, the variations between countries like Great Britain, the United States and Australia, the social groups, the political movements, the artistic trends, the movies, literature, art productions and publications, the businesses and sciences, industry and technology and so on, all prove that the English language is a vibrant dynamic language, with a jungle of jargons, and myriads of expressions. This is certainly not the portrait of a static, rigidly defined language.
Therefore, the assumption of a static standard or set of standards defining a living language is not correct. A language precedes its codification and formulation in standards. A stark proof is that writing started in a point of time, signaling the beginning of what we call now History, but people spoke before that. Moreover, even when standards are formulated they can not stop people from using their own patterns playing with the standards in space and time. These very patterns would later lead to the formulation of new standards.
The process of standardization is dynamic itself. It serves to update the old by integrating the new. The advantage of standards is to keep the unity in diversity and set common references for understanding between people and for spreading the language for a significant period of time waiting for the new standardization. However the argument that a standard is definitive for a living language reveals a lack of pragmatism when examined closely. Notice that a word in a dictionary might have more than one meaning! Think that a writer has his own style and provides new meaning to existing words, and might invent a number of them. A poet would explore words and their inter-relations and bring about esthetic associations and creations. Look at ads and how they can play with the meaning of words. Consider your own speech and the ways you alter the meaning of the words for fun, or the misunderstandings that you might experience with other people. These are the common experiences that a language is not univocal and rigidly defined by structures. Speaking, reading and writing are indeed more than a simple repetition of words within a predefined frame of expressions. Each of us when practicing a language is called to responsibility. Responsibility requires our freedom. Freedom leads us to make choices. And through choices, we bring our voice, our imprint to language.
The best standards are those chosen by the people themselves. It is relevant to say that a widespread language, for instance English, though not rigidly codified might and could have some common references like the Oxford or the Webster-Merriam Dictionaries and others. It is beneficial and could serve for common grounds, striking a balance between the old and the new in the English language, and addressing the challenge of unity in diversity.
Notice that even the English grammar is not codified. You might hear on TV series from New York somebody saying “No matter what she do!” Yet at school many of us were taught that we should say “she does!” instead. In a business setting you might read or hear or say “the company have a great new project” instead of “the company has a great new project”, and so on.
4) The people who speak Arabic understand Lebanese. Lebanese is simple Arabic for the common of the people in Lebanon. It is a dialect and as such cannot be a language.
My position: It depends who is making the statement. Indeed some people who speak Arabic at least understand Lebanese and might speak it fluently as well. The real issue is to know if they understand or speak Lebanese because of their knowledge of Arabic. Many would claim it. Can they prove it?
It is very difficult to make such an assessment because people could lie, or think to understand but without proof, or have a personal history, character and skills that are different from other people, that allow them to speak many languages including Lebanese. I do recall one time I have offered prunes to an Iraqi friend who asked for “ḱawḱ”. The word “ḱawḱ” means in Lebanese language prunes. My friend wanted peaches because in Iraq the same word means peaches and not prunes!
If people are good faith, they would recognize that they might have been exposed to the Lebanese art productions through theater plays, songs, movies, TV Channels, Internet Chat or might have been in contact with Lebanese people. They could also notice many similarities between the Lebanese and the Arabic whether in the words or the expressions. That is why many consider the Lebanese a corrupted form of the Arabic language, a version for the vulgar, meaning the common people. However, many other people who took courses of Arabic to be able to communicate with their Lebanese friends and families found it very difficult to speak the Lebanese language. The Arabic was burdensome and not effective in reaching their goal.
Even if we admit that the Lebanese is related to the Arabic, and more, a simplification of the Arabic, does it prove that there is no Lebanese language of its own? I do recall a friend of mine who is form Latin America counting a story from her family. Her father and her father-in-law used to speak each in his native tongue, one in Spanish and the other in Italian and communicated well with each other; does it prove that the Italian language is a corrupted form of Spanish and that Italian has no existence of its own? Or does it prove just the opposite? Such reasoning would prove everything and anything!
As a matter of fact many languages might stem from the same original one like the Latin family of languages form the Latin. In particular the romance languages among them, the French, Italian and Spanish have close bonds. The Portuguese and the Spanish might be like siblings. Many people, who speak one of the two, readily understand the other. Similarities and closeness come often from a shared history but do not imply that one language should be excluded or denied the label of language whereas the other recognized at its expense.
Regarding the distinction between dialect and language it is pretty artificial. Let us prove it through examples. If a dialect should not be considered a language, the current Arabic language that has its origin in a particular dialect, the dialect of the City of the Prophet Mohammed Qoreish around the seventh century A.D., in Saudi Arabia nowadays, should then be denied the status of a language. The present French language that is at its origin the dialect of the Ile-de-France, the region of France around Paris, should also be denied the status of language. The Latin languages that have their origins in the local variations of Latin should be denied their status of language as well, and so on! The distinction is purely conventional. A dialect is a language. Then some might ask: why do we have a word for a dialect and another for a language, and why we differentiate them?
Though there are many theories about the topic and the purpose here is not to launch ourselves through them and exhibit them all, we could at this point remind the practical characteristics of a language. A language is a system of meaningful words making its vocabulary called also lexic, that could be defined by reference to each other; has a syntax usually called grammar; and a common logic of expression. For instance the sequence of letters “bbrmqp” is not a meaningful word in English. The sentence “Weather good the is” though made of meaningful words is not grammatically correct. The English syntax requires it to be stated as “The weather is good”, in that order and shape. Finally, though words could be meaningful and shaped and ordered according to the syntax rules, a sentence to sound English needs to follow some way of expression that we propose to call the logic of the language in general. For instance, the sentence “I do not have the memory of the event” is made of meaningful words that are shaped and ordered according to the English syntax. However it is not the usual way of expression. One would rather say “I do not recall what happened” or “I don’t remember”. Finally a language is expected to fulfill its mission of communication on a social scale, whether narrow or broad, without boundaries on the size of the scale or the scope of the communication.
Let us then look at the Lebanese with these explicited criteria, as a system of meaningful words, with syntax and a logic of its own. The Lebanese accomplishes all the functions of communication expected from a language. The Lebanese is a complete language that could be characterized as any other language, learnt and taught and spoken. Hence, stated simply, the Lebanese is a language! In case you still have a doubt, ask yourself: What is that I can express in any given language that I cannot in Lebanese? If there is any such a thing, then let us add it to the Lebanese and therefore you will have no excuse to claim that the Lebanese is not a language anymore.
5) The Lebanese is not standard in Lebanon but varies regionally and locally. For instance, the people of the south do not speak like the people of the north of the country. Beirut has its own dialect that is different from the one of Tripoli (Ṫrablos), Sidon (Ṡayda), Zahle (Zaḣle), Baalbek (Bxalbak) or Zgharta (Zġarta).
My position: The Lebanese indeed might vary from a region to another, even from a village to another. A natural question comes then: who could claim to speak the Lebanese? What variation is the real Lebanese and why? Again, this type of questions applies to any language. For instance, what language is American? Is it the variation from Massachusetts or Texas? from Alaska or Puerto Rico? from Chicago or New York City? from Manhattan or the Bronx? Is American the same as English? Historians of the English language make the point that English had and still has many local variations in England. Since it has spread all over the world it has many variations still today.
And by the same way, what is French? Is it the Metropolitan French or the variation of Québec? the “Parisien” (from Paris) or “Marseillais” (from Marseilles)? The break down could keep on and on as needed to express all the wide local varieties of any language starting at an international level, then moving to national, state, county, city, neighborhood levels and so on. For those who travel, they might as well notice that these comments apply to the Italian and the German, each with its many variations that the citizens of these countries themselves do acknowledge. The variations could be so different that it seems like two different languages are spoken by the citizens of the same country.
Yet we need to explain the choice of what Lebanese variation would be adopted and the reasons behind the choice. The civil war –that is still ongoing to some extent- divided people in Lebanon even within families. It has caused intense interactions between people especially at the language level. People needed to adapt in order to survive. Refugees from all over the country blended together in areas that are not their natural habitat. The Lebanese experienced the melting pot with a Lebanese version, tailored by the necessities of the war. Ironically, the war was meant to divide and hurt people and yet for the information and the psychological warfare people needed a common language!
The war also prompted many to seek building bridges with the other side and hence outreaching to others for the common good. As a result a smoothing of all the accents and variations took place, especially in the very dense area of Beirut were demographic estimations report about half of the Lebanese people live (in Lebanon without counting those in the diaspora). A witness of this phenomenon are the many jokes people will enjoy counting with at least one character in the story still holding the local variation of the language that is like a hallmark of identification.
Lebanese art productions with charismatic figures like the brothers Rahbani (Rriḣbeene) and the Rahbani family (Rraḣeebne), the famous Lebanese singer and icon Fayrouz (Fayruz) who galvanized the country as a symbol of unity and still do so, caused a leveling of the Lebanese all over the second half of the twentieth century and made it known to all Arab speakers and available to the world and the generations to come.
Symbolic figures like the poet and writer Said Akl (Saxiid Xaql or Saxiid Xa`l) gave the Lebanese language impetus and momentum through a prolific production of poems, stories and myths, and through the eccentric and attaching figure of the poet himself. The media broadcast contributed as well to standardizing more and less the language. Lebanon is a small country whose size is larger than Rhode Island but smaller than Connecticut. The development of the means of communication led everybody to exchange with everybody else, removing many barriers.
Popular figures of the Lebanese traditional art of singing called Zzajal also contributed to the widespread sharing of common songs and heritage. There is a muwweel -that is a chanted poem- for any circumstance. In addition to these traditional popular Lebanese genre the miijana, and the ataaba (xataaba or xateeba), the abu zzuluf and the raddeet (rradeet or rradee) should be included as well.
In these conditions, the natural choice for the Lebanese falls on the already common to all Lebanese version, the blended version used by all or nearly all. It is noteworthy that the differences between variations are not necessary huge in that sense that often the accent and the way the vowels are pronounced make the difference between them. In the south the trend is to pronounce towards the “ii” sound. Moving to the north it is the “o” that becomes dominant. The reason for the first is its historical relationship with the Phoenician and Old Hebrew. The reason for the second is its origins in the Syriac, called also the Occidental Aramaic, by reference to the West of Mesopotamia (Mesopotamia is located mostly in Iraq and Syria today).
Let us take one example: the first person pronoun “I”. In the south of Lebanon, one would hear in local accent “Anii” still like the Hebrew exactly. Within Mount Lebanon, one might hear “Eena”. In Beirut, the word becomes “Ana” closer to the Arabic. To the north of Mount Lebanon, one might hear “Anee” and more to the north towards the Akkar (Xakkar), one could hear “Ono” or “One” (not “one” like in English but o-n-e pronounced according to the Latin Lebanese Letters system).
One characteristic of the historical Shuf (Cuf) district, South of Beirut, below the Baruk Mount, is that people pronounce the guttural “q”. They do so in the Hasbayya (Ḣaaṡbayya) in the south of the Bekaa Valley (B`eex or Bqeex) in the Anti-Lebanon Mounts, in the Weede Ttaym. It is a characteristic sound that could even identify the Druze sect. However, Christians in those areas might speak like the Druze as well. After all it is a letter found in the Syriac like in the “Qadisha” Valley (Weede Qadiica), the Saint Valley, and in the Arabic like in Al Qods that is Jerusalem, and literally “the Saint of Saints” in the old Temple, first built by Salomon including in its structure the Cedar of Lebanon.
Moreover, many Lebanese speak both their own village or area variation and the common version used by all. They can switch any time by convenience. It is a way to show an urban and civilized stand yet still in touch with one’s roots. The imprint of these variations is still visible in the common Lebanese language in many ways, for instance through more than one way of conjugating a verb and the many meanings of a word. They enriched the common version and do not contradict it or question its existence.
6) Other dialects in the regions resemble the Lebanese if not identical, so how to claim that there is such a thing as an original Lebanese language? Why not talking about the Syrian language or the Palestinian language or the Jordanian language or the Iraqi language as well?
My position: The Lebanese indeed resembles many of other regional dialect/languages: the Syrian, the Palestinian, the Jordanian, the Iraqi and others. The same patterns of analysis applied to the Lebanese apply to them and to any dialect/language. They have themselves variations within each country. They have differences and similarities with the Lebanese regarding for instance the vowels pronunciations, the general expressions, the colloquial, the logic, the grammar and so on.
All these dialects/languages share a common history, common influences and background. However, claiming they are the same is very problematic in this case for many reasons, the same developed previously to address the other objections.
In the case of the Latin languages, who can decide they are the same or they are different? From a linguistic point of view the question is very difficult for it supposes that somebody has the criteria to decide when and a priori, two dialects/languages are the same or are different. Though not impossible the task is tedious and controversial. If the Lebanese was to be compared to the Chinese, China being a remote country from Lebanon with little direct interactions at the linguistic level, the issue would not be controversial to settle. No Lebanese people, so far as we know, are claiming the Lebanese to be Mandarin, or vice versa. But for reasons of proximity, the issue is different in stand when it comes to comparing Lebanese with other regional Languages in the Middle East.
The inherent issue is that each language has many variations itself. If two or more supposedly different languages stem from the same roots each with its own variations, it becomes clear that ambiguity might be raised from a theoretical point of view to determine the significance of the differences. What criteria should be used to decide that the differences between them are not greater than within each of them? In the science of numbers, and precisely in statistics this would be called an ANOVA test. But words are not numbers and there is no unanimous test for languages. Indeed, one could develop a theory to address the linguistic issue; even then would the issue be settled? There is a simpler answer in this case than developing a theory: let the people decide!
One could object here that I refused all political and legal arguments be used by my opponents but allow myself to use them to my benefit. Is not that true when calling for the people to decide? Yet, what I mean is that some distinctions between languages might have meaning for some and not for others, might be dramatic for some and negligible for others; they are arbitrary to some extent. For instance, who can say or prove that Portuguese and Spanish are completely different languages? If the people of Spain say that Spanish is their own language and the people of Portugal say Portuguese is ours, and everybody recognizes their choices then we should by convention call them two languages, regardless of any other theoretical consideration, by consensus. The difficulty in the examples of languages from the same family is that the language is continuous in its variations from one country to another and though there are political frontiers, the language does not need a passport to cross the border, like the wind itself.
Therefore, if Syrian people would like to develop their Syrian language we should respect them in their choice but we cannot do it in their place or impose it on them; and similarly with the Palestinian, Jordanian, Iraqi or others. By the way, I am not claiming that I am the Lebanese people or Lebanon, but somebody from Lebanon. There are other Lebanese who might disagree with my enterprise, or more in my adventure. I do respect their positions. What I do, I intend it to be a gift for Lebanon and those who are thrilled to discover Lebanon. We can invite but the guests are free. This is what our hospitality tradition is about.
The Middle Eastern countries have among their citizens multiple ethnicities that have their own languages in addition to the official language/languages. For instance, the Kurds speak also Kurdish, the Armenians Armenian, and the Turkmen the Turk. The Syriacs, Assyrians and Chaldeans speak varieties of Aramaic. Some minorities kept in their liturgy –that is to say in their public worship services as long as the government and circumstances allow the public worship- ancestral languages like the Maronites still use the Syriac, the Greek Catholics and Orthodox the Greek, the Latin Christians the Latin, the Jewish the Aramaic and the Hebrew, etc. Some communities have religious attaches that prompt them to practice foreign languages on a more or less regular basis. The Catholics are attached to Rome, the Orthodox to the Orthodox World with Greece, Russia and East European countries, Egypt and Ethiopia with their Coptic communities and other countries as well; the Shiites to their brethren in Persia, the Sunnites to other Sunnites communities in the Arab World and outside, and so on. Finally immigration contributed to the mixing and blending of people in the area and therefore their languages mixed as well.
The concurrence of Arab supremacist ideologies on one hand and the disdain of the West on the other led to call all the people in the Middle East Arabs or Muslims, with a pejorative connotation, regardless of their real ethnicities, beliefs and rights to integrity. The Middle East is still the land of diversity and complexity, and none of the communities there deserved disregard or disdain, including Arabs, Muslims, Christians and Jews, whether by their own governments or the West or the International Community in general. Ignoring the facts, or worse abusing the others pain and worry is not excusable, especially coming from those who claim to excel in the sciences and the art of observation on one hand, and believe in the fundamental and alienable rights of all people, persons and communities on the other hand.
The Lebanese as I am developing it is a gift for all of them that they will have in addition to all what is their own and is not meant to replace or challenge any choice or right that is theirs whether individual, communities or states.
7) All languages, or most of them, are affiliated to a family of languages. What family is the basket where to put the Lebanese? Is it a Semitic language? Should it be under the Arabic or the Aramaic families? Or else?
My position: The question is among the most interesting one and falls more under the human sciences shield than the political arena. There are hints and sparse studies, and many intuitions about the language origins. Lebanon is a land where many civilizations encountered each other sometimes embracing each other and other times conflicting with each other. The Lebanese came from that struggle and that very conviviality. We could cite: the Canaanites also called the Phoenicians (the same people as called by the Greeks), the Egyptians, the Assyrians, the Chaldeans, the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Arameans, the Byzantine, the Arabs, the Europeans through the Crusades, the Arabs and Muslims through the Anti-Crusades, the Mamaliik called also Mamlouk in some books or Mamluk, the Turks, also minorities like the Armenians, the Kurds, the Sharkas (Carkas) from the Caucase and Russia, the Italian traders, missionaries from all over the world, including American and European, and finally the Lebanese diaspora from all over the world.
However, establishing in a scientific way the roots of the Lebanese and its connections to other languages is currently a topic of research, exploration and discovery. Our new approach to analyze the Lebanese as a linguistic phenomenon first, led us to recognize especially in the grammar and logic of the language patterns that could not be reduced to the Semitic languages influences alone, or obtained by simple derivation from any of them to the best of our knowledge. They match patterns in the Indo-Arian languages like French, English and Spanish. Though the subject of the research would be dealt with in another article, the conclusion of the discovery prompt us to think that the Lebanese is somehow unclassifiable in one tree or one basket, and as such it is a reflection of the Lebanese character itself, that is by essence diverse and cosmopolitan even from very old times back to antiquity.
The openness of the Lebanese people, their quest for consensus, their syncretism and natural orientation towards connections and synthesis, their drive to synergy and effectiveness, all these qualities in such a small nation, make them awkward and vulnerable in the midst of a world of intolerance and resolute narrow ideological views. How can the jealous, the envious, the dogmatic, the angry, the hateful and the arrogant tolerate such a place and such a people? Lebanon could be thought of as a miracle. Lebanon is a huge cemetery of great civilizations with their ruins standing like majestic skeletons and vestige of the past. Yet, the Lebanese still stand after all have passed. Strong of the knowledge that all that appear great now will pass one day, they discovered more than the civilization. They strive to sanctity and absolute since antiquity. Clinging to their mountains, hills and valleys, through the sea coast and interior plains, they stand as a people of faith, one people under God that is Infinite Mercy for all, the Lebanese and all humanity equally.
Copyright Hicham Khalil Bourjaili, October 2007, August 2009, Connecticut, USA
Kiif Alla Byi`dir-How can God
Kiif Alla Byi`dir
Kiif Alla l killo mḣabbe byi`dir yḱalle caxb ymut
L killo mḣabbe ma byirḋa bil mawt wil xadam
Win keen fi Alla, kiif byi`wa ccarr wil alam
Ma Alla l asees, l ḱeeli`, akbar w jabra`ut
Alla wahabna l ḣayeet, w min duno minmut
Biḱalliik iza inta bitriid barraat ssama
Xanna ma ḱabba mḣabbe, janbo ma ḣama
Niḣna minḱalle barra l kilme, kiif bitfut
Kiif baddna ni`nax ta nimce bi ha ṫṫarii`
Ṫṫawiil, ṡṡixib, l wixir, ddayi`, l eese, l xatii`
L mace ḣilo maḣall l weesix, li jdiid, l muriiḣ
Alla kariim, w minxim, w ra`uf bala tifrii`
N ṡaraḱtillo biciilak mnil baḣr law ġarii`
Ruḣ Alla xabiṫ ddine, wil mayye, wi rriiḣ
Copyright October 1, 2005 and August 6, 2009 Hicham Khalil Bourjaili
Our Lady of Lebanon, Waterbury, Connecticut, USA
English Version
How Can God
How can God be full of love and let a people die?
He who is love cannot accept death and naught
If God existed, how could then evil and pain gain strength
Since God is the foundation, the creator, the most high and almighty
God gave us life, and without Him we die
He would let if you choose outside heaven
He did not hide from us his love, his side He did not hide
We are the ones who leave out his word, how would it enter?
How could we be convinced to walk on the path
That is long, difficult, dangerous, narrow, hard, old?
Walking is nice in broad places, new, comfortable
God is generous, dispensing his graces, and merciful without discrimination
If you call Him for help He will lift you from the sea when sinking
The Spirit of God embraces the world, the water and the wind
Copyright August 7, 2009 Hicham Khalil Bourjaili
Our Lady of Lebanon, Waterbury, Connecticut, USA
Kiif Alla l killo mḣabbe byi`dir yḱalle caxb ymut
L killo mḣabbe ma byirḋa bil mawt wil xadam
Win keen fi Alla, kiif byi`wa ccarr wil alam
Ma Alla l asees, l ḱeeli`, akbar w jabra`ut
Alla wahabna l ḣayeet, w min duno minmut
Biḱalliik iza inta bitriid barraat ssama
Xanna ma ḱabba mḣabbe, janbo ma ḣama
Niḣna minḱalle barra l kilme, kiif bitfut
Kiif baddna ni`nax ta nimce bi ha ṫṫarii`
Ṫṫawiil, ṡṡixib, l wixir, ddayi`, l eese, l xatii`
L mace ḣilo maḣall l weesix, li jdiid, l muriiḣ
Alla kariim, w minxim, w ra`uf bala tifrii`
N ṡaraḱtillo biciilak mnil baḣr law ġarii`
Ruḣ Alla xabiṫ ddine, wil mayye, wi rriiḣ
Copyright October 1, 2005 and August 6, 2009 Hicham Khalil Bourjaili
Our Lady of Lebanon, Waterbury, Connecticut, USA
English Version
How Can God
How can God be full of love and let a people die?
He who is love cannot accept death and naught
If God existed, how could then evil and pain gain strength
Since God is the foundation, the creator, the most high and almighty
God gave us life, and without Him we die
He would let if you choose outside heaven
He did not hide from us his love, his side He did not hide
We are the ones who leave out his word, how would it enter?
How could we be convinced to walk on the path
That is long, difficult, dangerous, narrow, hard, old?
Walking is nice in broad places, new, comfortable
God is generous, dispensing his graces, and merciful without discrimination
If you call Him for help He will lift you from the sea when sinking
The Spirit of God embraces the world, the water and the wind
Copyright August 7, 2009 Hicham Khalil Bourjaili
Our Lady of Lebanon, Waterbury, Connecticut, USA
Ahlan bil Ḱayr - Welcome Goodness
Ahlan bil Ḱayr
Fi manti` ḣadiis ṫaalix bi nahfe, cii nḋiif
Btiftikro w yimkin laṫiif, mu`nix w zariif
L ḱayr mitl ccar aṡlo iṡṫilaaḣ, uwwit tixriif
Rrelatiif! La symmetry bi`e w la xafiif
Ahlan bil ḱayr, ccar baleek ma byaxrif ḣeelo
Ġalta bitṡiir cirriir, xammiil l ḱayr kill marra
Baddu yjud la majid l Adiir, byikfic marra
Law minḣaddid ḱayr w carr, miin l mawt ceelo
L ḱayr ṫarii`o dayyi`, ccarr darbo masarra
Kill marra l ḱayr feetna, ccarr sajjal xaddo
Craara btiḣro` bayt, addayc tiṡliiḣo baddo
Ccarr uwto xubudiyye, bi ġeeyto xaniif
L ḱayr ḣirriyye, bi uwto ḱillee` w żariif
Baxatilna hawa w ġaym, mallelna l jarra
Copyright July 30, 2009 Hicham Khalil Bourjaili
Our Lady of Lebanon, Waterbury, Connecticut, USA
English Version
Welcome Goodness
A new logic is bringing about a joke, something neat
You might think or maybe nice, convincing and special
Good is like evil, the distinction is a matter of convention, and resides in the power of disclosing (1)
Relativity! No symmetry (2) was left after it and no chastity
Welcome goodness, evil without you does not know itself (3)
One fault and one becomes bad, but to deserve the name of good doer every time
One should strive for the sake of the glory of the Most Powerful, not only once
If we were to decide what is good and what is evil, who death skipped? (4)
Goodness path is narrow, evil’s way looks fun
Every time we miss an opportunity to do good evil scores
A sparkle could burn a house, how much does it take to repair it? (5)
The power of evil is slavery and in its purpose it is violent
Goodness is freedom, in its power creative and beautiful
It sends us wind and clouds, and fills our jars (6)
Notes:
1) The power of disclosing is an expression coined after the will of power introduced by the philosopher Nietzsche in the 19th century. According to his views, the will of the powerful defines to all the rest of us what is good and what is evil. When one more powerful comes, new definitions of what is good and what is evil will be brought about, and the cycle could repeat itself without end. In other words, no objectivity and no rationality would reside behind the notions of good and evil, only matters of conventions and arbitrary notions imposed by the most powerful over the weak followers in any given situation. “Might makes right”: from a popular statement it becomes the law of the land. Good and evil are no more absolutes but merely relative to the powerful defining them. Another version of the argument is that individuals have all freedom to define good and evil in the manner that is convenient to them since they are all powerful to define their destiny.
2) The argument of the relativity of good and evil explained above in note 1, suffers when its apparent symmetry is examined. Though it implies that good and evil are interchangeable depending on the force or its opposite imposing them, and therefore the two notions appear to be interchangeable, they are not. Good and evil and their associated practices are not symmetrical. A series of arguments would be displayed in a ludic fashion to hint to their dissymmetry and difference in essence. The claim of relativity of good and evil when applied leads to breaking the concept of symmetry when it announces it. To illustrate the paradox, the relativity applied throw out chastity. Has it ever been heard that lack of chastity could be all goodness without evil consequences? Why in a society of free individuals the proportions would not be the same between chaste and unchaste people?
3) The argument is due to Saint Thomas of Aquinas, a medieval Doctor of the Church. Goodness does not need evil to be defined, but evil is always a lack of goodness. How could they be then interchangeable?
4) Who death skipped? The first meaning of the question is: who is the one that death will spare? The answer to the question is that death skips nobody since we all die, and therefore evil has an absolute and universal character experienced by all. Second, if we were to define and choose at whim between good and evil, who among us managed to skip death by choice? The answer is none of us managed to avoid death because we are not all powerful, and we cannot escape rationality and objectivity. As a matter of fact though the two meanings are expressed by the same question, the symmetrical appearance of the question between the one who chooses to skip the other, death or the individual, the artificial appearance of symmetry cannot hide the objectivity of the result. The argument of relativity would lead to state that the possible answers - any individual could skip death, death could skip any individual, or death could not skip anyone, or no one could skip death, and so forth - are all equivalent statements. The reality is that we all die. Nothing is merely relative, but relativity and the relativists.
5) A simple argument shows the imbalance between good and evil and their effects: it takes definitely more than a sparkle to build a house; good is more stringent than evil; whereas evil is easy. Moreover, letting the house burn is irreversible. The damage we do we cannot take back.
6) A Lebanese saying holds that the hell is “Jhannam l Ḣamra”: a place of burning that is red from heat! If you are not convinced that good and evil are definitely different, experiencing heat, drought and thirst might convince you!
Copyright August 1, 2009 Hicham Khalil Bourjaili
Our Lady of Lebanon, Waterbury, Connecticut, USA
Fi manti` ḣadiis ṫaalix bi nahfe, cii nḋiif
Btiftikro w yimkin laṫiif, mu`nix w zariif
L ḱayr mitl ccar aṡlo iṡṫilaaḣ, uwwit tixriif
Rrelatiif! La symmetry bi`e w la xafiif
Ahlan bil ḱayr, ccar baleek ma byaxrif ḣeelo
Ġalta bitṡiir cirriir, xammiil l ḱayr kill marra
Baddu yjud la majid l Adiir, byikfic marra
Law minḣaddid ḱayr w carr, miin l mawt ceelo
L ḱayr ṫarii`o dayyi`, ccarr darbo masarra
Kill marra l ḱayr feetna, ccarr sajjal xaddo
Craara btiḣro` bayt, addayc tiṡliiḣo baddo
Ccarr uwto xubudiyye, bi ġeeyto xaniif
L ḱayr ḣirriyye, bi uwto ḱillee` w żariif
Baxatilna hawa w ġaym, mallelna l jarra
Copyright July 30, 2009 Hicham Khalil Bourjaili
Our Lady of Lebanon, Waterbury, Connecticut, USA
English Version
Welcome Goodness
A new logic is bringing about a joke, something neat
You might think or maybe nice, convincing and special
Good is like evil, the distinction is a matter of convention, and resides in the power of disclosing (1)
Relativity! No symmetry (2) was left after it and no chastity
Welcome goodness, evil without you does not know itself (3)
One fault and one becomes bad, but to deserve the name of good doer every time
One should strive for the sake of the glory of the Most Powerful, not only once
If we were to decide what is good and what is evil, who death skipped? (4)
Goodness path is narrow, evil’s way looks fun
Every time we miss an opportunity to do good evil scores
A sparkle could burn a house, how much does it take to repair it? (5)
The power of evil is slavery and in its purpose it is violent
Goodness is freedom, in its power creative and beautiful
It sends us wind and clouds, and fills our jars (6)
Notes:
1) The power of disclosing is an expression coined after the will of power introduced by the philosopher Nietzsche in the 19th century. According to his views, the will of the powerful defines to all the rest of us what is good and what is evil. When one more powerful comes, new definitions of what is good and what is evil will be brought about, and the cycle could repeat itself without end. In other words, no objectivity and no rationality would reside behind the notions of good and evil, only matters of conventions and arbitrary notions imposed by the most powerful over the weak followers in any given situation. “Might makes right”: from a popular statement it becomes the law of the land. Good and evil are no more absolutes but merely relative to the powerful defining them. Another version of the argument is that individuals have all freedom to define good and evil in the manner that is convenient to them since they are all powerful to define their destiny.
2) The argument of the relativity of good and evil explained above in note 1, suffers when its apparent symmetry is examined. Though it implies that good and evil are interchangeable depending on the force or its opposite imposing them, and therefore the two notions appear to be interchangeable, they are not. Good and evil and their associated practices are not symmetrical. A series of arguments would be displayed in a ludic fashion to hint to their dissymmetry and difference in essence. The claim of relativity of good and evil when applied leads to breaking the concept of symmetry when it announces it. To illustrate the paradox, the relativity applied throw out chastity. Has it ever been heard that lack of chastity could be all goodness without evil consequences? Why in a society of free individuals the proportions would not be the same between chaste and unchaste people?
3) The argument is due to Saint Thomas of Aquinas, a medieval Doctor of the Church. Goodness does not need evil to be defined, but evil is always a lack of goodness. How could they be then interchangeable?
4) Who death skipped? The first meaning of the question is: who is the one that death will spare? The answer to the question is that death skips nobody since we all die, and therefore evil has an absolute and universal character experienced by all. Second, if we were to define and choose at whim between good and evil, who among us managed to skip death by choice? The answer is none of us managed to avoid death because we are not all powerful, and we cannot escape rationality and objectivity. As a matter of fact though the two meanings are expressed by the same question, the symmetrical appearance of the question between the one who chooses to skip the other, death or the individual, the artificial appearance of symmetry cannot hide the objectivity of the result. The argument of relativity would lead to state that the possible answers - any individual could skip death, death could skip any individual, or death could not skip anyone, or no one could skip death, and so forth - are all equivalent statements. The reality is that we all die. Nothing is merely relative, but relativity and the relativists.
5) A simple argument shows the imbalance between good and evil and their effects: it takes definitely more than a sparkle to build a house; good is more stringent than evil; whereas evil is easy. Moreover, letting the house burn is irreversible. The damage we do we cannot take back.
6) A Lebanese saying holds that the hell is “Jhannam l Ḣamra”: a place of burning that is red from heat! If you are not convinced that good and evil are definitely different, experiencing heat, drought and thirst might convince you!
Copyright August 1, 2009 Hicham Khalil Bourjaili
Our Lady of Lebanon, Waterbury, Connecticut, USA
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