Adam Bremer-McCollum

ܟܕ ܐܬܩܛܠ ܗ̄ܘܐ ܡܠܟܐ ܗ̇ܘ ܪܫܝܥܐ ܠܘ ܟܠܒ̈ܐ ܠܕܡܗ ܠܚܟܘ؟

kaḏ ʔeṯqṭel-wå malkå haw raššiʕå, law kalbē la-ḏm-eh lḥaḵ?

This week in "Blunders by Big-name Big-price Publishers"

ܙ̇ܡܪ ܐ̇ܪܚܐ ܕܕܠܐ ܟܣܦܐ ܩܕܡ ܠܣܛܝܐ܃

/zåmar ʔårḥå ḏa-ḏlå ḵespå qḏåm lesṭåyå/

(12-syllable meter)

Middle Georgian word of the day
გული
"heart, mind"

as in Visramiani/Vis o Rāmin (prose), ed. Gvakharia and Todua, p61

გამოჩნდა ვისის პირი და მისისა გამოჩენისაგან დატყუევდა რამინის გული

"the face of Vis was revealed, and Ramin's heart was captivated by her appearance"

Often described today as ethno-jazz or spiritual jazz, the album sounds strikingly contemporary, avoiding familiar jazz structures in favor of gradual tension, modal movement, and deep immersion. For this first official reissue, great care was taken during the restoration and mastering process. The original master tape contained technical imperfections typical of the era, and extensive, meticulous work was done to remove unwanted artifacts while preserving the natural character, dynamics, and atmosphere of the recording. The goal was simple: to let nothing stand between the listener and the music itself. Originally pressed in limited quantities and never previously reissued, Oriental Suite returns quietly - not as a historical curiosity, but as a living and genuinely rare artistic statement. credits released February 14, 2026 Rustam Iliasov - Bass Guitar Sergey Gilev – Drums Oleg Gotskosik – Piano Konstantin Dobrovolsky - Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Flute Yuri Parfenov – Trumpet Recorded 1979, Tashkent Gramrecord Studio, Sound Engineer - Valentin Selyutin All Rights reserved

"Oriental Suite was originally released in 1979 on the Soviet label Melodiya and remains a rare example of modal jazz shaped from within Central Asian musical traditions rather than through exotic stylization."

Recorded 1979, Tashkent, Uzbekistan

maqomsoulrecords.bandcamp.com/album/orient...

ორნი გოდოლნი 😉

Courage !

"This is the Black history lesson Ivey and many of our lawmakers have been teaching us. The white Alabamians who dominate our government — who have dominated it from the start two centuries ago — see themselves as the victims of state history."

Middle Georgian word of the day
გული
"heart, mind"

as in Visramiani/Vis o Rāmin (prose), ed. Gvakharia and Todua, p61

გამოჩნდა ვისის პირი და მისისა გამოჩენისაგან დატყუევდა რამინის გული

"the face of Vis was revealed, and Ramin's heart was captivated by her appearance"

Bar Bahlul's entry (col. 936) on ܠܒܐ /lebbå/ ❤️

"if it's about a person, it means 'heart [/qalb/], understanding [/fuʔād/],' and if it's about the sea, it means 'depth [/qaʕr/], abyss [/luǧǧah/],' [Syr] 'the heart of the sea.'"

[Syr /bar lebbå/, Arb /labab/]
"upper chest; chest strap"

Medieval manuscript image of a couple embracing who, while human on top, have legs and tails like dragons and the tails have human heads attached to the ends.

lufung, f.n: loving, action of loving. (LUH-vung / ˈlʌ-vʌŋ)
Image: Book of Hours; Flanders (Cambrai?), c. 1300-1310; Walters Art Museum, Ms. W.88, f. 139v.
#OldEnglish #WOTD

Next Tuesday, at Harvard and on Zoom, is the book launch for the second installment in our 4T series. Fabien Muller and Aaron Johnson will discuss Fabien's new book on Porphyry's /Letter to Anebo/ and /Philosophy from Oracles/. Please join us in-person or online!

Barhebraeus is a master of great quotes 😎

Barhebraeus in the 13th century on Uyghur script being adapted for Mongolian:

Thanks a lot!

And that's basically right: an Aramaic script gets adapted for Sogdian, which gets adapted for Uyghur script, which gets adapted for Mongolian, which gets adapted for Manchu!

A translation:

"The storms of winter and summer's scorching wind, untimely illnesses and lethal diseases, too, are always torturing the human race."

Old Armenian word of the day
խորշակ
/xoršak/
"hot, scorching wind" (cf. MP /hōšāg/ [same], Pa /hōš-/ "b/c dry")

as in Ełišē, ed. Tēr-Minassian, 111.6-8

Սառնամանիք ձմերայնւոյ եւ խորշակք ամարայնւոյ, հիւանդութիւնք տարաժամք եւ ախտք մահաբերք հանապազ տանջեն զմարդիկ

ET ⬇️

OTD 1970 Black Sabbath released their self-titled debut album in the UK (it'd be 4 more months until WB released it in the US). One of the most influential records of all-time. Entire genres and sub-genres have spawned from the notes on this album. RIP Ozzy.

I'm grateful we were able to make our new series (4T) available both as a free PDF and an affordable (and pretty!) hard copy. Here's the first volume (mine 😉):

Yeah, that price is nonsense for a hard copy, all the more so for a PDF or the like.

RIP Waylon Jennings. Gone 24 yrs now. Dang.

👏 👏 👏

YouTube video by Grateful Dead - Topic Dark Star (Live at Fillmore East, February 13-14, 1970)

From 56 years ago today (also a Friday the 13th), a "Dark Star" that @bourgwick.bsky.social calls an "exquisite half-hour all-timer"

In typical 4T fashion, the book has an intro, texts (Greek & Latin frgs) w/ new English translations, a glossary, & short commentary.

Like all 4T books, there'll be a free PDF. The book will be avail. to purchase at the event. Pre-order it from HUP here

www.hup.harvard.edu/books/978067...

Next Tuesday, at Harvard and on Zoom, is the book launch for the second installment in our 4T series. Fabien Muller and Aaron Johnson will discuss Fabien's new book on Porphyry's /Letter to Anebo/ and /Philosophy from Oracles/. Please join us in-person or online!

How to say hauberk and corslet in Syriac and Arabic according to Bar Bahlul (10th cent) [with help from Iranian vocabulary; NB also Syr ܬܢܘܪܐ /tannurå/]

For Darwin's birthday, here's a paragraph I translated into Syriac in 2012. No doubt I'd do some of it differently now, but fwiw:

Help from Barbahlul (col. 831) on Syriac and Arabic armor terminology:

ܙܪܕܐ /zråḏå/ (conv. /zardå/) and درع /dirʕ/ are made of rings (i.e. a hauberk, coat of mail)

ܛܪܦܢܣܐ /ṭarpånså/ and جوشن /ǧawšan/ are made of thin iron plates (i.e. ≈ corslet, cuirass)

Poster providing information for a lecture to be given by Lydia Bremer-McCollum titled "Meeting Thekla in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Silk Road." The lecture will be held online via Zoom and in-person at Saint Louis University's Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Center on Thursday, February 26 at 3:30-5:00pm CST. The blurb for the talk reads: "Legends about Thekla survive in over eight languages, including Syriac, Ge'ez, Armenian, and Old Turkic. This talk analyzes the diverse linguistic manuscript traditions of the stories about Thekla contained in the apocryphal Acts of Paul and Thekla, using this text as a case study to think about the value of variation and linguistic diversity. Through examination of manuscripts from the Caucasus and across the Silk Road, we reflect on how these artifacts serve as crucial sites for thinking about justice, marginalization, and the richness of ancient Christianity."

I will be giving a lecture titled "Meeting Thekla in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Silk Road" later this month as part of The Silk Roads Lecture Series: People, Objects, and Stories on the Move at SLU's AMES Center. | February 26, 2026 at 3:30-5:00pm CST | Zoom: slu.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

Here's Abuladze's edition