Cultural Fusions of the Near-East
Original Author: Sa'adia ben Amram Title of Work: סַפְּרִי תַמָּה תְמִימָה (Sapari Tema Temimah - "Tell me, O innocent one") I decided this time around to create a piece reminiscent of Mediaeval illuminated manuscripts, and illustrated some of the key themes from the poem. This is in no way an accurate portrayal of illuminated manuscripts,... Continue Reading →
Fenn al-Qahwah (translation: The Art of Coffee). But wait . . . Fun Café? Oh, what fun! Here is a "fenn" fact: The lack of vowels as independent characters within the abjad, is one of the many challenges of the Semitic languages, especially for new learners. Instead, Semitic languages use vowel markings. Bear with me,... Continue Reading →
Today, we will venture faaaar beyond Babylonia and her Semitic languages, and we shall focus on the Anglo-Saxon language (Old English). In particular, we will focus on two distinct alphabetical characters that have been used in the Anglo-Saxon writing system, that are no longer used in Modern English writing. In order to understand this post,... Continue Reading →
