CAIRO: The poetry of Qassim Haddad, an influential cultural figure in Bahrain who is also the recipient of the Owais Cultural Foundation Prize for Poetry (frequently referred to as the Arabic-language Nobel Prize), will be translated into English by AUC Professor

Ferial Ghazoul and Instructor John Verlenden. The project is being funded with a $100,000 grant from the National Endowment of the Humanities (NEH). Haddad, who has served as the head of the Union of Bahraini writers, is well known in the Arab world as a poet, writing on political subjects dealing with freedom and progress. According to Ghazoul, Haddad was selected for translation

because he “combines the exquisite poetics of ancient Arabia with a modern sensibility and a The National Endowment of the Humanities (NEH) is an independent agency that provides annual grants supporting research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities.

Applicants for NEH grants face fierce competition and recipients are chosen by a panel of judges

composed of prominent intellectuals from around the world. Verlenden noted that the grant is a “natural outgrowth of an institution that mingles scholars and writers of both languages, which has naturally resulted in the recent founding of the Center for Translation.”

The centerpiece of Ghazoul and Verlenden’s translation will be Hadad’s Majnun Layla, a cycle of poems inspired by the tragically passionate story of a seventh-century Arabian poet, and known in variations from North Africa to India. A selection of poems and an introduction to

the poet’s life and work will combine to create a comprehensive edition of Haddad’s work in English. Ghazoul and Verlenden have been working on Haddad’s poetry and prose since 2003.

“Haddad is a synthesizer of various cultures of both Western and far Eastern,” said Verlenden.

“He is looked upon as an example of the new voices coming up in Arab literature that are not confined to their own culture. He is a person who is changing not only the subject matter, but the form of poetry written in Arabic today.”

Ghazoul, lead translator, and Verlenden, an English language poet and writer, have been a translation team since 1995. Their first work, Quartet of Joy by Egyptian poet Muhammad Afifi Matar, won the Arabic Translation Prize at the University of Arkansas, sponsored by King Fahd.

Their second project, Edwar al-Kharrat’s Rama and the Dragon, is currently listed by the Arab Writer’s Union as number eight in their Best 100 Arabic Books.

The newly established Center for Translation, the AUC Press, and the independent translation projects undertaken by faculty members all “contribute to the intellectual understanding that AUC is committed to becoming a key center for translation,” said Verlenden.

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AUC to translate poet Qassim Haddad – Bikya Masr

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Bagsy July 1, 2010

Would you like this last bit of summer pudding, Cline? asked my mother-in-law.
No, thank you, said I. However, I think I will bagsy it for tomorrow.
Rarely had my in-laws dining-room witnessed such outrageous behaviour, which was swiftly condemned by all present. You cant bagsy pudding for the day after! Was the consensus around the table.

Ive always loved this very useful concept, which is handily conveyed by the verb bagsy in English. There is a French equivalent, preums, (prems or preumz, etc), but it is an interjection, which is not as malleable as a verb and is only really useful in the present. So you can imagine my disappointment when my clever move to secure the last bit of summer pudding was firmly denied.

The origin of the French word seems obvious (premier means first) and the Oxford English Dictionary tells us that bagsy comes from bags I and has examples from 1866 onwards.

Word detective also tells us that

A child in Southern England [...] might exclaim “Bags it” or “Baggsy,” whereupon by the sacred code of children the prize is hers. Her London counterpart might say “Squits,” and still further north a child would say “Foggy,” “Furry” or “Firsy.” Other words which seem to work as well include “Barley,” “Bollars,” “Jigs” and, in Scotland, “Chaps” or “Chucks.” Our American friends favour “dibs”.

Summer pudding photo by moleitau.

Comments

Well I, for one, learned something today. I’d never heard of either “bagsy” or “summer pudding.” Certainly here in North America, if you’d said “I’ll bagsy it for tomorrow,” you would have received a blank stare, not because of the (admittedly) outrageous idea of wanting to do so, but because no one would have the (ahem) foggiest idea of what you were talking about.

No, over here, we would say, much more sensibly, “I’ll take the rest in a doggie bag.”

Posted by Peter Garner on July 1, 2010 2:15 PM

You do use “shotgun” to bagsy the seat next to the driver in a car, don’t you?

I think bagsy is slightly different from asking for a doggie bag, as it implies that there might have been competition for the coveted and object, where there is no such thing with a doggie bag. I think.

Posted by cline on July 1, 2010 2:58 PM

I do love the idea of “bagsy” and think it is a word we North Americans could use. It certainly is new to me as well. And it is good to know now that you cannot bagsy pudding. I’ll make a note of it. Luckily I have enough British friends to know that “pudding” is used to describe what we would just call “dessert” across the pond. It does look delicious, by the way.

Posted by Sarah V. on July 1, 2010 3:32 PM

I come from “further north” but had never heard of furry or foggy for the purpose of laying first claim on it (you’re right, it’s a different idea from the doggy-bag). We, in South Yorkshire, always used “to bag” as a verb or “bagsy” as an interjection, although maybe we were influenced by Enid Blyton books!
You could (and we did) “bag” first go with a new toy, or “bag” the coloured balloon you prefer etc, not only food and sweets.

Posted by brian on July 2, 2010 8:32 AM

I don’t think we have a word for the concept in Australian English.

Posted by Adrian Morgan on July 6, 2010 6:11 AM

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