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Syrian Arabic

Reader comment on item: Hizbullah's Travails in a Graphic

Submitted by dhimmi no more (United States), Jun 3, 2013 at 14:14

Dr. Pipes you wrote

Mishan Allah ("God have mercy" in Syrian dialect

I was not really familiar with this word but I did have a very interesting chat about this word with a Syrian priest who knows his Syrian Arabic as well as Syriac very well and the word مشان or mishan means li-ajl or لأجل or for the sake of so the above mishan Allah really means "For the sake of Allah."

But this is not the end of the story as the word mishan can also mean "sharp tongue" and here is the reference from elmaany http://www.almaany.com/home.php?language=arabic&lang_name=%D8%B9%D8%B1%D8%A8%D9%8A&word=%D9%85%D8%B4%D8%A7%D9%86

  1. المِشَانُ - مِشَانُ :

    المِشَانُ : المرأَةُ السَّليطةُ المشاتِمةُ .
    و المِشَانُ الذِّئبةُ العادِيَةُ .

    المعجم: المعجم الوسيط

  2. مشان :

    - إمرأة حادة اللسان . ش

    المعجم: الرائد

  3. أشانَ يُشين ، أَشِنْ ، إشانةً ، فهو مُشِين ، والمفعول مُشان :

    • أشان موقفَه شانه ، شوَّهه وعابه " فعل مُشين : قبيح

But my friend the Syrian priest also pointed out that the source of the word is from Syriac ܡܫܢܐ which makes sense because it still retains the Syriac letter sheen which becomes Arabic seen

So what a disaster Hizballah members are using what seems to me to be a Syriac word!

For the readers: anyone who knows Syrian-Arabic is more than welcome to comment on this very interesting word

Submitting....

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Daniel Pipes replies:

This is an expression that I, like you, was not familiar with before, not knowing Syrian colloquial.

A Lebanese correspondent also wrote me that it means "For the sake of Allah." That would not be very witty, though, would it?

I was told "God have mercy" by an Arabic-language specialist from Lebanon.

I too welcome readers' responses about the meaning of this phrase.

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Reader comments (13) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
3Syrian Arabic [221 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
dhimmi no moreJun 3, 2013 14:14206650
Mishan is not Mishan [177 words]SentinelAug 23, 2013 05:05206650
2Meshan and Syrian Arabic [751 words]dhimmi no moreAug 26, 2013 18:41206650
In the UAE [44 words]tttSep 25, 2013 16:24206650
Mishan enta is mangled and poor Arabic [229 words]dhimmi no moreSep 27, 2013 18:50206650
For the love of God [16 words]NourMar 24, 2020 12:48206650
Nour and Mashan Allah [97 words]dhimmi no moreMar 25, 2020 07:18206650
Hezabollah's Travails in a Graphic [6 words]Frances Dash'May 27, 2013 21:32206391
Spelling of Hiz b'Allah [21 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
Abu NudnikMay 27, 2013 18:22206386
1Hizb means party [68 words]dhimmi no moreJun 3, 2013 19:33206386
That doesn't explain "ullah" instead of "Allah" [7 words]Abu NudnikJun 21, 2013 09:52206386
Hizb Allah [247 words]SentinelAug 23, 2013 05:39206386
1Hizb Allah and Hizbu Allah [52 words]dhimmi no moreAug 27, 2013 06:37206386

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