#From Urdu into English

[whatudottu]

Something something Decepticon recruitment (+physical exam) yada yada putting my Malay twins headcanon to good use and making names (and a non-typical matrilineal last name as opposed to a patrilineal last name) for them :P

Old fanfiction as well as echo chambering myself I have got some headcanons in my mind that do not make surface level sense but have Syakir and Darwesh bin Kalsom!

[his-heart-hymns]

Her lips are both sugar and wine.

[silver-studios]

Sometimes I forget that hindi and english have a common linguistic ancestor and it throws me the fuck off when the similarities are pointed out to me because I'm a firm supporter of the English Does Not Make Sense club.

[000marie198]

My mother told me years ago that English and Punjabi sort of fall under the same group (daughters of same mother, she called them). She had even told me many example words in both which mean the same thing and aren't derived from English because it's our local words from thousands of years old languages of this region, like Sansikrt

I know there would be similar or same words scattered throughout English.

Yet still whenever I discover a new word in English that's basically the exact same word we use in our language in routine (which I hadn't realized earlier bcoz of changed pronunciation), I get as giddy as a kid discovering a new color of butterfly

[takhayyul]

wait hiii :) takhayyul is a beautiful word! i’m super curious, what other languages can u speak?

hiii <3 i can speak english french urdu and punjabi fluently. very limited knowledge in korean and german

[islamicquoteslearn]

Daily Quran Ayat | Daily Ayat Quran | Quran Quotes | Free Copywrite Islamic Images and lyric

.

.

.It is Surah No. 2 & Ayat no. 9.Read Qur'anic Ayat daily with Urdu, English

یُخٰدِعُوۡنَ اللّٰہَ وَ الَّذِیۡنَ اٰمَنُوۡاۚ وَ مَا یَخۡدَعُوۡنَ اِلَّاۤ اَنۡفُسَہُمۡ وَ مَا یَشۡعُرُوۡنَ ؕ﴿۹﴾

They [think to] deceive Allah and those who believe, but they deceive not except themselves and perceive [it] not.

وہ اللہ اور ایمان والوں کو دھوکہ دیتے ہیں، لیکن وہ اپنے آپ کو دھوکہ نہیں دیتے اور اس کا شعور نہیں رکھتے۔

[shehzadi]

i had my first arabic lesson todayy 🫶🫶 my teacher is very nice and it feels good-strange to be learning something difficult and new for the first time in months

[neko-uchiha]

🎶Aasmano se utaara ✨noor✨ hai koi🎶

(Divine light has been brought down from the sky)

🎶Aisa lagta hai....ki ✨hoor✨ hai koi🎶

(It looks like there might be an angel)

[islamicspecialistforloveback]

Dua For Husband And Wife Love

Husband and wife share a very strong bond of love and care, with lots of responsibility. They both have an equal share in the house. If the husband goes outside and earns income on the other hand, the wife stays in the house and takes care of the children and home. By this means they stay strong together. But sometimes the situation changes when we need dua for husband and wife love. Dua for…

[his-heart-hymns]

I see life in nothing but the certainty of your love convince me of it,my sweetest.If I am not somehow convinced I shall die of agony.

-John Keats,Letter To Fanny Brawne

My greatest revolt against this meaningless world is the happiness I feel because of you.

-Albert Camus,Letter to Maria Casarès

Hisab-ae-umr ka etna sa goshwara hai,tumhe nikal ke dekha toh sab khasara hai.

Translation:Such is the accounting statement of life, excluding you; everything else is just loss.

-Amjad Islam Amjad

[nightguide]

[timetravellingkitty]

hindi is not our national language and at no point in time should it ever become our national language. it stands on the graveyard of many regional languages in the north (garhwali, awadhi, bundeli) and east (magahi, bhojpuri, maithili). the push for a monolithic pan indian hindi speaking hindu identity is quite literally killing many ancient languages. not a single person in the rest of india should have to speak hindi just to cater to your fragile ego when our linguistic surroundings cater to you and only you in the name of national integrity

hindi imposition is a north indian problem too you're just a nationalist

[thedepressexpress]

nothing tells you more about a language than how a native speaker in that language tries to speak your language

[archangeldyke-all]

POLYGLOT SEVIKA IS SO REAL TO ME

do u ever think she'll say idioms from another language that doesnt really work in english? like imagine overhearing her say "he's fart" when in her head she knows she's calling someone really drunk but the saying really only works in spanish, y'know?

this actually made me laugh out loud lmfaooo

men and minors dni

sevika grew up in a multi-lingual house. her mother spoke spanish, her father spoke hindi, and to one another they spoke in english.

by the time she was entering school, she was fluent in three languages. her little brain was so flexible and she loved learning so much that she took to new languages like a fish takes to water.

she excelled in her mandarin classes; while most students were struggling with the pinyin system, she was flying through the textbook and studying hanzi in her free time.

the little boy next door to her growing up spoke arabic with his family, and she picked up on the language with ease after years of playdates and shared dinners. that combined with her hindi meant that when an urdu speaking student joined her class in the third grade, she was able to act as a translator for them.

in high school she gets a job at a little mom and pop shop. the old couple who own it speak russian to each other, constantly yelling across the tiny store at one another. three months into the job, sevika finds herself cursing people out with slavic curses she didn't even know she knew.

so sevika grew up speaking a lot of languages. and she learned most of them through practical, every day use; not through textbooks and school. she's got a lot of sayings buried deep in her mind that she doesn't even remember learning, and sometimes, they don't always come out in the right language.

"aunt sev, did'ya know that i can do ten cartwheels in a row?" jinx asks as she hauls herself into sevika's lap.

sevika lets out a long sigh as she pushes her reading glasses into her hair and closes her book, turning her attention to her god-daughter. "wow." she mumbles tiredly. you chuckle from your chair.

"uh-huh! and i can do six back flips."

sevika snorts. "sure you can, kid."

"and i can dunk a basketball!"

sevika laughs. "okay, now you're hanging noodles on my ear." she says.

you snort from your spot. "she's doing what?" you ask.

sevika giggles. "shit, that's supposed to be in russian. veshat lapshu na ushi. y'know, like, uh... you're trying to trick me."

you giggle. "hanging noodles on your ear, huh?"

her little slip ups happen more frequently when she's tired.

"how was your day, sevi-bear?" you ask as you crawl into bed beside your girlfriend.

"ah. onions and honey, y'know." she mumbles.

you freeze, racking your brain to figure out what the hell she's talking about. you can't manage. "what?" you ask.

sevika blinks at you. "one day honey, one day onions, y'know?"

"so... you were having weird cravings?"

sevika laughs. "no, no, shit, i used the wrong language again."

you giggle. "what's it supposed to sound like?" you ask. you adore the sound of sevika's voice, regardless of if you can understand her or not.

"yom asal, wa yom basal. 's arabic." she whispers. you smile.

"your voice is like honey." you say. she snorts and leans forward to kiss you.

her mix-ups also happen when she's flustered.

"d-do you like it?" you whisper shyly.

sevika blinks at you, her eyes wide as she takes in your appearance. you've decided to surprise her tonight, buying a special set of sexy undies just for her.

"holy shit. you're beautiful." she whispers. you giggle.

"i read online that this color clashes with my skintone--"

"what do monkeys know of the taste of ginger, my love? you're gorgeous."

you burst into giggles. "sev-- what?!" you cackle.

she giggles and shakes her head. "bandar kya jaane adrak da swaad, fuck what those internet losers say, baby."

you're cut off from asking more questions by sevika's lips crushed against yours.

your favorite of all her slip ups happened when she was drunk.

you woke up to a thump in your home.

"sev?" you call. you can hear her giggling from the living room. you crawl out of bed and into the living room, laughing when you find your girl toppled over and struggling with her boots. "how was poker night?" you laugh as you bend over to help untie her shoes for her. sevika grins at you, wiggling to try to pull you onto the floor with her.

"baby. 'm so fart right now."

you blink, then sniff the air. "i don't smell anything, baby. you need me to help you to the toilet?" you ask.

sevika laughs. "no, no, baby. i'm fart! farted! whatever."

you shake your head in confusion, and then it hits you. "sevika, estas pedo!?" you ask with a laugh.

sevika grins and nods up at you. "yes! 'm fuckin' wasted! y'r so beautiful, i love y' s'much."

you giggle and haul your wife to her feet, gently guiding her toward your room. "i'll set a barf bucket and some painkillers out for you, okay?"

"mmm. wǒ ài nǐ." she mumbles into her pillow.

you giggle and kiss her forehead. "i love you too, you fart."

kofi

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[darnmand]

Historical notes on Armand’s cultural background in the show

In the interest of not playing fast and loose with South Asian history and geopolitics, I have, to the best of my ability, compiled this guide on Armand as a character in the historical context of the regions and periods he is associated with. I am not an expert on these things, so anyone more educated than me is welcome to suggest edits. Probably the most complex topic here is language, and so that is the section in which I most likely made errors.

While I do have some formal academic training in this area, I must emphasize again that I am not an expert, nor am I native to any of the countries listed here, so I am functioning mostly on outsider knowledge. In the interest of making this accessible, most of this information can also be found on Wikipedia with a quick google search. This is not definitive or exhaustive, but it is meant to encourage people to be conscientious about not slipping into Orientalist thought or discourse when discussing the character (or ever, obviously). Also please remember not to conflate the character and the actor. This may also serve as a tool for fic writers.

Content warning: discussion of slavery/slave trade

(Main content below the cut)

Period and Region

India

Armand tells Daniel in s1e7 that he is 514 in 2022, meaning he was either born or made around the year 1508. He tells both Louis and Daniel that he is from Delhi, or was at least in Delhi when he was abducted. Delhi is a city in Northwestern India that sits on the border between the states of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. (There is an Old Delhi and a New Delhi. These two cities abut and overlap one another. Armand refers to Old Delhi.) Therefore, Armand would have been living in Delhi during the latter years of the Delhi Sultanate, which was an empire of Islamic dynasties that ruled Northwestern India from the late 12th century until the Mughal conquest in 1526. (The Delhi Sultanate also pushed expansion into the south and the east during various periods throughout its reign. Its main opponents were other Muslim kingdoms along with Hindu kingdoms, especially in the south.)

Italy

Armand would have been living in the Republic of Venice during the height of the Venetian Renaissance. Like the Delhi Sultanate, the Republic of Venice was also in its later years during this time, but, although the Republic did face economic and political unrest during this period, they remained the richest city-state in Italy. Marius was a Venetian painter, a contemporary of Tintoretto, according to Armand in season 1. Tintoretto lived from 1518 to 1594. Whether the painting Daniel is examining in the episode was painted before or after Armand’s arrival in Venice is unclear, but we can assume that he was living in Venice as Amadeo in the early decades of the 16th century. The Republic entered its full fledged decline in the 18th century, by which time Armand would have been in Paris.

Language

In India

Armand most likely spoke an early version of Hindustani (likely Hindavi) while living in Delhi, although, according to the books, Armand has mostly forgotten his native language by the time Marius buys him. Hindustani first developed under the Delhi Sultanate, and is still spoken today. Its two main branches today are Hindi and Urdu. (Many other languages are also spoken in India today, including English, Punjabi, Tamil, Bengali, and many more. Sadly, not all of these languages enjoy legal status.)

Armand may have also spoken a dialect of Western Hindi, which was commonly spoken in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, and is an ancestor of Hindustani.

Hindavi and Persian were the official languages of the sultanate.

Hindavi is the most likely due to his region, period, and his Sanskrit name, Arun. Sanskrit is an Old Indo-Aryan language from which many later Indo-Aryan languages are derived. (Sanskrit names are still common in South Asia.)

In Italy and France

However, as mentioned previously, Armand forgets his native language early in life. Therefore, it is unclear whether he counts it among the languages he speaks when he tells Daniel that French was his fifth language.

While in Venice in the books, Armand is trained in classical Latin and Greek, and often communicates in Greek, which was also the canonical language of Eastern Orthodox which he practiced in the books before his abduction. Italian and Venetian were also spoken in Venice at the time, so it is likely that Armand picked up both of those while living there. Even if he only picked up Venetian, he would have learned Italian while living with the Children of Darkness in Rome. Venetian, Italian, and Latin were the official languages of the Republic of Venice.

He tells Daniel that he learned both French and English while living in Paris (making English his sixth language).

Religion

In Dehli

The Sanskrit name Arun also suggests that Armand was from a Hindu family living in Delhi. While having a Sanskrit name does not necessarily preclude his being Muslim, it is just more likely that he was Hindu. The majority religion in Delhi during the sultanate was Hinduism, while Islam was practiced mainly by the elite, although conversion was common. The state religion of the sultanate was Sunni Islam. Christianity, Buddhism, Jainism, and Zoroastrianism were also practiced in the sultanate.

Sanskrit is the canonical language of both Hinduism and Buddhism, but Buddhism was facing persecution during this period, and therefore becoming increasingly rarer in the north.

We can assume that Armand was devoted most likely to Hinduism, or possibly one of the others listed, as Armand is deeply religious in the books.

In Dubai, Venice, and Paris

We do see Armand praying according to Islamic practice in season 1. Even more confusingly, Daniel points out that the phrase “asr namozi” is not Arabic, but perhaps Kazakh. “Asr namozi” is actually an Uzbek phrase referring to the asr prayer, or “afternoon prayer,” in Islam. Why Armand would be speaking Uzbek is lost on me, as nothing else in his history necessarily suggests ties to the region. It could be part of his Rashid disguise to somehow misdirect Daniel. Whatever the case, as a highly intelligent five hundred year old vampire, I’m sure Armand could learn any language he wanted.

While Armand may not have practiced Islam during his life in Delhi, it is entirely possible he later converted. If Armand was Hindu, it would also make sense that he lapsed out of practice in Venice, as, in the books, Armand loses almost all ties to his native culture while in Venice (his name, his language, his religion, etc.) at least partially due to Marius’s influence. Marius’s beliefs are closely aligned with western humanism, and so he discourages Armand from complete devotion to religion. The state religion of the Republic was Roman Catholicism, but Eastern Orthodox, Protestantism, and Judaism were also practiced. There was also a small Muslim population, mainly Ottoman merchants.

The “Children of Darkness,” the vampire cult which kidnaps Armand in Venice and which he later leads in Paris, follows Catholic teachings. In the book and in the show, the cult’s obsession with Satan is explicitly Catholic. Satan is also an adversarial figure in Islam (called “Iblis” or “Shaitan”), so if Armand was a practitioner of Islam before, he likely would have been able to syncretize those beliefs and practices with those of the Children or Darkness. However, by the time Lestat finds Armand, he has lost faith (if he ever had it) in the teachings of the Children of Darkness. The last is true of both the show and the novels.

In the novels, Armand alternates between periods of religious fanaticism and zealotry and total atheism, so it would make sense that, along these oscillations, he would also move between different religions, trying to find the right one. In the books, after Armand meets Lestat, he enters a period of atheism that lasts well into the twentieth century. If the show is following this sequence, then it is likely that Armand’s praying in front of Daniel is just part of his disguise. However, the show clearly is not following the novels’ timeline to a T, so it is also entirely possible Armand is genuinely praying in this scene.

Slave Trade

(Disclaimer: Slavery is, unfortunately, ubiquitous across cultures and time periods. While slavery is deplorable in any context, the intent of this post is not to make moral judgements about any one culture. It is simply to discuss the possible historical context of a fictional character. We ought to condemn slavery wherever we see it, but we ought not to view it as pathological to one culture or another. Slavery is still practiced in various forms today (wage slavery, convict leasing, illegal human trafficking, etc.) Slavery serves a capitalist market, but it can create revenue in other systems as well.)

Slave trade was a major economic practice under the Delhi Sultanate, with the enslaved most commonly being of Turkic or Hindu origin.

(From the Wikipedia page on “Slavery in India.”)

Enslavement of Muslims was far less common under the Delhi Sultanate (although many enslaved people converted to Islam), and so this, again, suggests Armand was most likely a Hindu.

Slave trade was highly regulated under the sultanate, and private slave trade was essentially banned. The exporting of enslaved people on the international market was an important source of revenue for the sultanate, especially during military campaigns. (Slavery continued in the Mughal period, but in somewhat different contexts.)

Therefore, Armand was likely a young Hindu who was abducted in Delhi with sanction from the state and sent overseas to be sold on the international market, landing him in Venice.

However, it is also possible that Armand was abducted by Venetians, as the Republic often sent merchant ships to foreign countries, including India, during this period. The Republic also had many trade outposts and territories in various central and west Asian cities. I am unsure whether this type of trade would have been considered legal or permissible under the sultanate.

In the books, Armand is abducted by the Ottomans and taken to Constantinople/Istanbul to be sold. This is a less likely possibility for the show, given the shift in region.

//

If you’ve stayed with me this long, thanks for reading. All bolded terms have corresponding Wikipedia articles. This post may be edited according to new information or outside corrections.