Entries explained

How to Read an Entry in this Dictionary

When you look in the dictionary, you will see many lines of words.  Some look similar to the example below: 

        aare  [áàrɛ̄] n  grass name نوع من القش   aareg [áàrɛ̄g] 

Here’s what the words mean: 

  • The word aare in bold is called the ‘entry’.  All the words after it give information about this word.  All entries are listed according to the order of the Gaahmg alphabet letters.  See the Gaahmg Aphlabet Order below for the list of letters in order.  Entries that are nouns are in the singular form (only one of the noun). Entries that are verbs are in the infinitive form (following e doos e ‘he begins to’).
  • Next, [áàrɛ̄] shows the sound of the word in symbols that can be used for any language of the world. This is so that people who don’t know Gaahmg can pronounce the word correctly.
  • Next, the letter n in bold italics  shows the word category (type of word) is a noun.  See the Abbreviations page for a list of all possible word category abbreviations.
  • Next, the words grass name is the definition of the entry and shows its meaning in English.
  • The words نوع من القش show the meaning in Arabic.
  • The word aareg in bold is the plural of the entry. It is how to say more than one of the noun. Only entries that are nouns, adjectives, quantities, or demonstratives have a plural form. Some nouns do not have a plural form. These are marked with the word category n.sg. Some plural nouns do not have a singular form and are marked with the word category n.pl. See Singular and Plural Nouns below for a list of the most common ways of forming singular and plural nouns.
  • Finally, [áàrɛ̄g] shows the sound of the plural.

Now look at another example entry.

ahd  [ə᷇d̪] v.t  make, change ابقيها

  • The word ahd in bold is the entry.
  • The word [ə᷇d̪] shows the sound of the word in symbols used for all languages of the world.
  • The v.t  shows the word is a transitive verb. It is an action word that can have an object. Entries that are verbs are in the infinitive form. This means it can follow the words e doos e ‘he begins to’.

Here is another entry. 

cawr  [càɔ̀r] n  1) rabbit ارنب  2) story قصص  cawreeg [càɔ̀rɛ̄ɛ̄g] 

  • cawr is the entry and singular form of the noun.
  • [càɔ̀r] shows the sound of the word.
  • n shows the entry is a noun.
  • Next, we read 1) rabbit ارنب  2) story قصص .  These are two definitions (meanings) of the entry in English and Arabic, where the definitions are related (similar) in some way.  1) rabbit ارنب  is the most common meaning.  2) story قصص is the next most common meaning.

Here are two other entries.

 aay1  [ááɛ́] n  honey عسل   aayg [ááɛ́g]

aay2  [ààɛ̀] n  termite اصرار

  • There is a small number 1 after the entry aay1.  This means there is another word aay2 that has the same letters but a completely different meaning.  The word aay1 means ‘honey’ and aay2 means ‘termite’.  The two words are not related, and just happen to have the same spelling.
  • [ááɛ́] shows the sound or pronunciation in an alphabet used for all languages of the world. It shows the sound of aay [ááɛ́] ‘honey’ (with High tone) is different than the sound of aay [ààɛ̀] ‘termite’ (with Low tone).
  • n shows the word category of both words is a noun.
  • honey and termite are the definitions in English.
  • عسل and اصرار are the definitions in Arabic.
  • aayg is the plural form of aay honey.
  • [ááɛ́g] is the sound of the plural form. 

Now look at this entry.

kurd  [ku᷇rd̪] (kor say, speak) v.c  1) read اقراء / قراءه 2) tell, inform

kor  [kɔ́r] v.t  say, speak حديث/ كلام {kor, korra} {kurd}

 kurd is the entry

  • The word (kor say, speak) shows that kurd ‘read’, ‘tell, inform’ is made from the word kor ‘say, speak’ and has a different meaning. The bold word between parentheses kor is also listed as a separate entry.
  • When you go to the entry kor, the word {kurd} is listed as a subentry between braces { }.  We donꞌt know the meaning of {kurd} by looking at the entry kor. To learn this, we must go to the entry kurd.
  • The words {kor, korra} show that kor, korra is also listed as a separate entry in another place in the dictionary.

Now look at another entry.

ahsahr  [ə́sə̀r] Bw (Arabic)  n  army جندى عسكرى   ahsahrg [ə́sə̀rg] 

  • The words Bw (Arabic) show this entry ahsahr is borrowed from Arabic.

Here is one final entry.

semee  [sɛ́mɛ̄ɛ̄] K,B) sema G) simia L) somia n  insect name نوع من الحشرات   semeeg

[sɛ́mɛ̄ɛ̄g] K,B) semag G) simiag L) somiag 

  • Entries in this dictionary such as semee are nearly always in the Jog Taw dialect.
  • The words K,B) sema G) simia L) somia in italics show the entry semee is said differently in other dialects.  K,B) sema shows the word is said sema the Kuulaahg and Buwahg dialects.  G) simia  shows the word is said simia in the Goor dialect.  L) somia shows the word is said somia in the Kukuli dialect.  If a word is not listed for a certain dialect, it may be said the same as the entry in the Taw dialect. See the Dialect Abbreviations below for a list of dialect abbreviations in this dictionary.
  • After the plural noun semeeg [sɛ́mɛ̄ɛ̄g], the words K,B) semag in italics shows the plural is said semag in the Kuulaahg and Buwahg dialects.  G) simiag  shows the plural is said simiag in the Goor dialect.  L) somiag  shows the plural is said somiag in the Kukuli dialect.