Arabic Genie » arabic tattoo

Mysterious Arabic Calligraphy #2

ArabicGenie — Fri, 14 May 2010 17:01:02 +0000

Firdaus sent me the following picture with the request to identify the Arabic writing in this tattoo:

The writing is an artistic calligraphic rendering of on top:

حب (Hubb)

and on bottom:

سلام (salaam)

which mean “love” and “peace” respectively. Confusingly, the dot that belongs to the letter baa’ is placed under the meem for what I guess are aesthetic reasons.

Miracle

ArabicGenie — Tue, 04 May 2010 17:48:14 +0000

Kitty sent me the following e-mail to ask for a tattoo design in Arabic for “miracle”:

Hi!

My name is Kitty! I saw on internet that you translate from english to arabic! I would like to make a tattoo with the word “miracle”! I have been searching for it for months…but always found only in english, with arabic letters..! But i would like to have the arabic word with arabic letters! So if you please could help me i would be very thankful! It would mean a lot to me!

Thank you a lot!

Kitty

Miracle in Arabic is معجزة , pronounced mu3djiza.

Here are two tattoo designs for “miracle” in Arabic:

If you want to have your own custom Arabic tattoo design, then please see my offer here.

Sweeter Than Honey

ArabicGenie — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 20:02:03 +0000

“Sweeter than honey” is a commonly used Arabic expression. In plain text:

أحلى من العسل (aHla min al-3asal)

And here are two Arabic tattoo designs of this phrase using two different fonts:

If you want more designs of this phrase, you can hire me for a custom Arabic tattoo design and translation.

Arabic Calligraphy Design: Poetess

ArabicGenie — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 12:00:39 +0000

Recently, I received a request from a potential client for a crescent-shaped tattoo design of “poetess” (woman poet). The order didn’t materialize in the end but I went ahead and did a preliminary design anyways.

Here is the result:

In plain text:

شاعرة

Note that a lot of this calligraphic tattoo design consists of decorative elements and the ‘ayn is written in its full form for aesthetic reasons.

Mysterious Arabic Calligraphy

ArabicGenie — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:21:05 +0000

Today I received an e-mail from a reader of this blog who is struggling to decipher a piece of Arabic calligraphy. Here are the picture and the e-mail:

Hi

I’m planning on getting a tattoo. I have found this design but I don’t know what it says. I have even asked my mother who is a native arabic speaker, but because of the calligraphy style its really difficult to read even though you can differentiate the letters. I would really appreciate if you could take a look.

Thanks very much, look forward to hearing from you

Well, I’ll admit that it took me a few minutes myself to figure out what the writing says, not least because I was misled by my knowledge of Persian and suspected that part of the writing read خوب – “good”. However, it then dawned on me that the writing is divided horizontally, with the upper word reading خور (khawr) and the lower دبي (dubay). Below I have coloured the upper word red and the lower word blue:

Hence, the calligraphic writing refers to خور دبي (khawr dubay), or “Dubai Creek” in English – a famous geographical landmark in Dubai.

Rachel in Arabic

ArabicGenie — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 22:57:23 +0000

Here is the name “Rachel” in Arabic. “Rachael” with an “a” is just the same, because the pronunciation is the same.

You might be interested to know that there are four more designs for “Rachel” in my Arabic Tattoos book, as well as designs for around 120 more male and female names.

Arabic Tattoo – Fighter

ArabicGenie — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 17:23:30 +0000

I’ve received a few requests for the Arabic translation of the word “fighter”. As always, there are many possible translations and I just want to give a brief overview of some of them.

The word مقاتل (muqaatil) derives from the root قتل (q-t-l), but does not necessarily imply “fight to kill”. For example, someone taking part in a boxing match might be referred to as المقاتل (al-muqaatil).

The word مجاهد (mudjaahid) has religious connotations, as in “holy warrior” (or someone engaged in “jihad” of any kind).

محارب (muHaarib) implies someone engaged in war.

All three words can be used to translate “fighter”, though.

In the absence of any specifications I would go with المقاتل (al-muqaatil) rather than with any of the other possible translations.

Below is “fighter” in Arabic in picture format, so as to preserve the correct formatting:

The top shows the word “fighter” in a standard script and the bottom shows it in Persian style.

Let me know if you need a tattoo design made using different fonts for this word. There are six designs for this word in my Arabic Tattoos eBook too.

“Believe” In Arabic

ArabicGenie — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 16:18:53 +0000

Maggie sent me the following question in a blog comment:

keefakkk
my name is maggie (ghaleb)
just want to make sure of something…
getting my 3th arabic tattoo! (proud to be libanease!)
its the word believe (faith) in the way, i believe i will get trough this, or i believe things will get better ….. NOT in the way: I don’t believe you OR I believe (In God)…even though I do (lol!)
my dad wrote it to mee…but can’t get a confident confirmation from anyone..
thank YOU so much! LOVE YOUR SITE! Just discovered it tonight!
maggie

Translating “believe” into Arabic is tricky and I’m glad you gave a few example sentences to illustrate which sense of “believe” you mean. The word آمن (aamana) is a good fit for “to believe” in the religious sense (e.g. “I believe in God”), but it would seem out of place in a translation of e.g. “I believe things will get better”. This phrase would be better translated using the verb اعتقد (i3taqada). However, اعتقد (i3taqada) does not have the connotations of “determination” or “hope”, that the English verb “to believe” sometimes has.

I think that in your case the word اقتناع (iqtinaa3) would be better suited. الاقتناع (al-iqtinaa3) means “conviction” in the sense of being convinced of something. E.g. أنا مقتنع بأنني سألعب في كأس العالم ana muqtana3 bi-annani sa-al3abu fi ka’s al-3aalam “I am convinced that I will play in the World Cup”.

Below is the word “conviction” in Arabic as a picture:

"Conviction" in Arabic

Alternatively, I would suggest العزيمة al-3azeema (determination) or الثقة بالنفس ath-thiqa bi-n-nafs (self-confidence or trust in one self) or perhaps القوة الداخلية al-quuwa ad-daakhileeya “inner strength”. Maybe “hope” الأمل al-amal might be an option too? There are tattoo designs for all of these four phrases in my Arabic Tattoos eBook.

I’m sorry that I couldn’t give you a clear-cut answer, but I hope that my explanations have given you a better idea of your options. If you send me the word your dad wrote for you I will tell you what it says.

Arabic Tattoo – Forgive Me Mother

ArabicGenie — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 18:35:19 +0000

A reader of my blog wrote this request in a comment:

hi im helal i wanted 2 get a tattoo saying (forgive me mum) could you please translate in arabic writing for me ?

In Arabic “to forgive” can be expressed by many verbs, e.g. غفر (ghafara), عذر (‘adhara), or عفا (‘afaa). In this particular instance I would translate “forgive me mother” using the verb سامح (saamaHa):

سامحيني يا أمي (saamiHeeni ya ummi)

Below is this phrase in two different fonts. Both sentences have exactly the same meaning.

Forgive Me Mother

If you want to have more styles or higher resolution pictures of the designs I would like to refer you to my custom tattoo design service. You might also want to take a look at my Arabic Tattoos e-book with more than 1400 beautiful designs.

Arabic Tattoos Book – Video

ArabicGenie — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 10:56:15 +0000

I’ve just finished recording and uploading a short video in which I show you some of the unique Arabic tattoo designs. This will give you a taste of the breadth and variety of the designs and the quality of the collection.

View the video here:

I hope you guys enjoy watching it.

Remember that the book will be launched Monday, 30th November at 12.00 EST (noon).