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ma'a 'ilmi wa zanni

English translation: to my knowledge and belief

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Arabic term or phrase:مع علمي وظني
English translation:to my knowledge and belief
Entered by: Fuad Yahya

19:25 Jan 26, 2002
Arabic to English translations [PRO]
Social Sciences - Social Science, Sociology, Ethics, etc.
Arabic term or phrase: ma'a 'ilmi wa zanni
Ma'a 'ilmi wa zanni, in sa'altahum kadha wa kadha, fa-innahum yastahjinuna as-su'aal ... ["I swear to you, if you ask them such-and-such, they resent the question"?]
Colin
"As far as I know, . . ." or "To the best of my knowlege, . . ."
Explanation:
It is not perfectly clear whether the phrase in question blongs to the preceding text or to the text that follwos. The sources of uncertainty are the absence of th epreceding text and the use of the preposition MA'A. To refer to the text that follows, I would have used FI instead.

"ILM means knowlege. ZHANN means conjecture. One usually would say, FI "ILMI or FI ZANNI, but not both. With both knowledge and conjecture present, I would think the writer is qualifying his statement with a phrase tht is similar to "as far as I know," or "to the best of my knowldege," so that although he is basing his statement on prior knowledge, it is uncertain knowledge.

YASTAHJIN is closer to the verb "to ridicule" or "to make light of."

It also is not perfectly clear from this fragment whether the verb SA'ALA and the noun SU'AL refer to an enquiry or a request.

Fuad
Selected response from:

Fuad Yahya
Grading comment
Graded automatically based on peer agreement. KudoZ.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +2"As far as I know, . . ." or "To the best of my knowlege, . . ."
Fuad Yahya
4 +1(Literally) With knowledge & thought, if you asked such & such they resent the question/s.
fathiyya
4 +1مع العلم ma'al 'ilmi = knowing that ...
Mona Helal


Discussion entries: 2





  

Answers


1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
(Literally) With knowledge & thought, if you asked such & such they resent the question/s.


Explanation:
The word swear is aqsam from root or masdar qasama is no where in sentence, even if implied.

The Arabic word for question is both
as-ila/su'aal. Eventhough Su'aal is also plural and singular.

fathiyya
United States
Local time: 21:11

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Branka Ramadanovic (X)
1 day 13 hrs
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
"As far as I know, . . ." or "To the best of my knowlege, . . ."


Explanation:
It is not perfectly clear whether the phrase in question blongs to the preceding text or to the text that follwos. The sources of uncertainty are the absence of th epreceding text and the use of the preposition MA'A. To refer to the text that follows, I would have used FI instead.

"ILM means knowlege. ZHANN means conjecture. One usually would say, FI "ILMI or FI ZANNI, but not both. With both knowledge and conjecture present, I would think the writer is qualifying his statement with a phrase tht is similar to "as far as I know," or "to the best of my knowldege," so that although he is basing his statement on prior knowledge, it is uncertain knowledge.

YASTAHJIN is closer to the verb "to ridicule" or "to make light of."

It also is not perfectly clear from this fragment whether the verb SA'ALA and the noun SU'AL refer to an enquiry or a request.

Fuad

Fuad Yahya
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in ArabicArabic, Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 59
Grading comment
Graded automatically based on peer agreement. KudoZ.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Branka Ramadanovic (X)
1 day 12 hrs
agree  AhmedAMS
7 days
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

6 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
مع العلم ma'al 'ilmi = knowing that ...


Explanation:
ma'al 'ilmi can also be interpreted as:
= Even though ...

والظن Wa-Zann (also written as wa-DHann), however, is contradictory to 'ma'al ilm' and would mean = the guess is ...

HTH

Mona Helal
Local time: 11:11
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in ArabicArabic, Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 20

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Branka Ramadanovic (X)
1 day 8 hrs
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)



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