acidblind (acidblind) wrote in linguaphiles,
acidblind
acidblind
linguaphiles

Arabic elative

I was always told the elative in Arabic represented the superlative. So how come the first line of the adhan (اللها اكبر Allahu Akbar)is usually translated to 'Allah is great', or 'Allah is greater' and not 'Allah is the greatest'? (I found this here and here, among other sites)

Is there a specific reason for this, or is it just a mistake?

!شكرن

(x-posted to arabic and linguaphiles)

Edit: Thanks for all your comments! I'm going to go with what wiped said, as that seems the most logical indeed. I'm very relieved to know it's not my lack of grammar skills this time ;)
Tags: arabic
Subscribe

  • Are these symbols Korean or Japanese?

    This was in the garage of a house we moved into. The previous owner had been stationed in Korea and had visited Japan. Would anybody know what…

  • 諦める and 諦めがつく

    Is there a difference between 諦める and 諦めがつく?

  • グズグズ meaning

    I am having trouble understanding what "グズグズ" means in this sentence: あのグズグズだった頃の俺の心がお前となぁなぁになる事をまだ許していないのは確かだ Could someone explain?

  • Post a new comment

    Error

    Anonymous comments are disabled in this journal

    default userpic

    Your reply will be screened

    Your IP address will be recorded 

    Help
  • 5 comments