وَإِذَا عَبَّرَ حَبَّرَ
When he expresses an idea, he makes the expression artful.
ʿAbbara is to express; ḥabbara to decorate or refine the expression. The near rhyme links communicating an idea with producing a polished verbal artefact.
After idhā, the two past forms describe a recurrent capacity: when he speaks, he makes the speech artful. A faithful translation should represent both communication and refinement.
Semantic distinction exercise
What is the best rendering of ḥabbara here?
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Lexical Polysemy and Wordplay — Applied Study of Ten Maqāmāt
وَإِذَا عَبَّرَ حَبَّرَ
When he expresses an idea, he makes the expression artful.
ʿAbbara is to express; ḥabbara to decorate or refine the expression. The near rhyme links communicating an idea with producing a polished verbal artefact.
After idhā, the two past forms describe a recurrent capacity: when he speaks, he makes the speech artful. A faithful translation should represent both communication and refinement.
Semantic distinction exercise
What is the best rendering of ḥabbara here?