Dr. Valerie

Registration for fall classes ends tomorrow, Tuesday, October 7th!

Don’t miss out — go to the link in my pinned post/bio to save your spot!

وقال أيضاً: ١- أكلت رمانةٌ فعاتبني فتى رٱها كخد معشوقه. ٢- فقال: خذ الحبيب تأكله؟ فقلت: لا؛ بل أمص من ريقه.

—Do I dare to eat a pomegranate—
🍑

I ate a red pomegranate
and someone
who thought it was his lover's cheek
scolded me.

He asked, are you eating
my beloved's cheek?
No, I said. Just a kiss
to suck out its juices.

— al-Khubzaruzzī (d. 938)

Check out our new homepage:

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Register for classes, join our online library, and sign up for our email list all in one place!

Our Total Beginners class will take you from the alphabet to composing your own sentences in 8 weeks (yes, really)!

Classes meet on Zoom for 1 hour per week.

Click here for more info + to sign up:

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١- جار الزمانُ على الأحرارِ في تصرفه وأيُّ دهرٍ على الأحرارِ لم يَجرِ؟ ٢- عندي من الدهرِ ما لو أن أيسرَهُ يُلْقَى على الفلكِ الدوَّارِ لم يَدُرِ

—Fate Complaint—
⌛

Our precarious age oppresses us
and what age leaves the free uninjured?

The lightest fate that I've suffered
would stop the heavens from turning.

— al-Khubzaruzzī (d. 938)

If anyone has any questions about our language classes, we’ll be hosting a Space on That Other Platform this Sunday, October 5th at 3 PM Eastern.

The title page from an old book dated 1828

The first English language account of traditional Native stories written by a Native author, by David Cusick, a Tuscarora.

Freytag, Arabum proverbia, vol. 2
no. 523 p. 567, 1839.

#WednesdayWisdom

Fall 2025 - Language Course Registration This is a form to register for one or more of our Fall 2025 course offerings. Our courses are eight weeks long and the fall term will cover October and November, with classes beginning on October 6t...

nt to get on the road to reading his poetry? Sign up here for one of our Arabic classes:

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Yes, it’s another proverb that uses ʔalaṣṣ — the elative formed fr the noun liṣṣ-, which was in turn borrowed fr the Grk λῃστής — robber — plus a reference to the Umayyad era bandit poet Shizaz al Dabbi — who was a notorious thief (when he wasn’t composing verses, that is).

TFW I download a colleague’s book because my budget just won’t stretch that far:

Ελευθερία στην Παλαιστίνη!

We’re updating our tech behind the scenes, so we’re extending our fall registration deadline to next Tuesday, October 7th!

Want to learn more about our courses?

Check out my pinned post.

Questions?

My DMs are open

29th September is the feast of St Michael and All Angels; and here St Michael is slaying the dragon, and pulling a soul from the dragon's mouth

BL Egerton 3763; 'Prayer book of Archbishop Arnulph II of Milan'; between 998 CE & 1018 CE; Italy, N. (Milan); f.104v

29th September is the feast of St Michael and All Angels.

BL Yates Thompson 2; 'The Ottobeuren Collectar'; 12th century; Germany, S. (Ottobeuren); f.37r

Folio page from an incunable. The text is divided into two columns, and introduced by a woodcut vignette that shows the Archangel Michael holding a set of scales in one hand. He is weighing a soul whose good deeds currently outweigh its sins. In his other hand Michael is holding a raised sword, ready to strike at a devil who is climbing into the scale containing the soul's sins, in order to weigh it down and thereby justify taking the soul to Hell. In the space between the columns of text, and just below the scale containing the soul's sins, is a stamp belonging to the Bibliotheca Regia Monacensis, i.e. the Bavarian State Library. On the right-hand margin of the page is a note ostensibly containing the date 1730. In the top margin, the title of the book, Dat Leuent der Heiligen - the Lives of the Saints - is written.

A close-up of the woodcut vignette described in the other picture.

Another Saint Michael for September 29, this time from the collection of saints' lives Der Heiligen Leben, printed by Lucas Brandis in Lübeck in 1478.

[München, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek -- 2 Inc.s.a. 780, f.1r]

I was getting along fine with my self-study Russian book … until I got to participles. Don’t be like me and let yourself get stuck —

— click here and reserve your spot in our Russian 1 course:

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Michaelmas morning and the first latchet of heavy light was seeping over the downs. Along the quiet chalk lanes and the old Roman roads, edged with teasels and burnt dock and tall purple daisies, came the Newcomer. A fox of the North wind, teller of tales, righter of wrongs, bringer of deep autumn and the golden tide of the high angels of harvest. His wagon was gold too, and the clear blue of September skies and the startling red of rose hips. Above him, the hawks cried and made their circles, tours known to heaven, as old as the earth.

If Proto Indo-European is your favorite kind of pie, (heh) then you’re in luck — we’re offering two courses in it this fall!

Find out more about them here:

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Book cover image for "Legitimation of the Elites in High Medieval Poland and Norway: Comparative Studies," edited by Wojtek Jezierski, Hans Jacob Orning, and Grzegorz Pac.

New open-access book from @brepols.net with comparative studies on elites in medieval Poland in Norway, including contributions by @hopesteffen.bsky.social and many others: www.brepolsonline.net/action/showB... #medievalsky

Whether it’s a grammar of a lesser-taught language, an academic article, or a book on chess strategy, our Russian courses will get you on the road to reading it faster than a university class!

Click here to learn more:

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October is the time for sowing the seed.
#medievalcalendar
Bodleian Library MS. Rawl. D. 939; Astrological and ecclesiastical calendar in six pieces; 14th century; England; section 2ar @bodleian.ox.ac.uk

There are only a few days left to register for one of our fall Arabic courses…!

Click here to register:

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"Can I call you back? I'm stuck in an O at the moment."

St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. Sang. 711; Abbreviatio Decreti "Quoniam egestas"; second half of the 12th century; p.18 (e-codices.ch/en/list/one/...)

This collection of proverbs is full of little gems like that. I love it so much.

Freytag, Arabum proverbia,
vol. 2 no. 526 p. 568, 1839.

#WednesdayWisdom

I couldn’t resist another proverb that used ʔalaṣṣ — the elative formed from the noun liṣṣ-, which was in turn borrowed from the Greek λῃστής — robber. Greek borrowings into Arabic are so much fun!

If you collect languages like a magpie collects baubles, we’ve got a deal for you:

Take a course with us this fall and join either (or both!) of our reading groups for free!

Questions? My DMs are always open.

New this term: reading groups!

We’ll meet for 1 hour a week for 8 weeks on Zoom and read through a grammar of a new language together.

This term we’re doing Farsi + Akkadian.

It’ll be free to join for those taking a course and only cost $25 otherwise.

Sign up here:

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The Arabic For Philologists Fall Term 2025 schedule is live!

Have a look at the graphics below to see what we're offering and when. Classes are offered on Zoom and prices include all class materials.

Like what you see? Sign up here:

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