Arabic-L:LING:marbaTu lfaras

[Dilworth Parkinson]

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Arabic-L: Wed 23 Jul 2008
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1) Subject:marbaTu lfaras

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1)
Date: 23 Jul 2008
From:Najah Jahdali <najah33 at hotmail.com>
Subject:marbaTu lfaras

marbaTul faras is an Arabic figurative expression used to mean 'this  
is the starting point from where we could start a discussion or a  
topic'. Its origin relates to the traditional method of travelling in  
old days, where people meet in a specific place (i.e. where the horse  
is tied up to a tree or to a stable, etc) and from there they could  
start their journey. This journey metaphorically now relates to the  
journey of discussing a topic until arriving to a destnation.

Najah Ali Al-Jahdali

Department of European languages and literature, Linguistics section
King Abdul Aziz University
Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

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End of Arabic-L:  23 Jul 2008