With the year ending, this is a good opportunity to unpack sana, as well as the good wishes that spring from it.
Sana is Arabic for year. In its plural form, the word becomes sineen or sanawat.
Sana al baseeta is the common year, with 365 days, as opposed to leap years, or sana kabisa, which contains an additional day in February to keep the calendar year synchronised with the astronomical or seasonal year.
The lunar year is sana al qamriya. Here the monthly cycles of the moon’s phases are used to segment the calendar. The Islamic Hijri calendar (Al Taqweem al Hijri) is a lunar calendar, but even the Gregorian, a solar calendar system, can trace its origins back to lunar calendars.
The solar year is sana shamsiya, the time it takes for the sun to return to the same position in the Earth sky, signalling a full cycle of the seasons. The solar year is also known as a tropical year, or sana madariya. The four seasons, meanwhile, or al fusool al arbea, are: al khareef (autumn), al shitaa (winter), al rabee (spring) and al saif (summer).
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Hob is the Arabic word for love, but can be used in many contexts -
The Arabic word helu translates, in English, to sweet -
Nashef is the Arabic word for dry, but has many connotations, depending on the context in which you use it -
The Arabic word hurriyeh translates to freedom in English -
The Arabic word tayeb can mean delicious or good, depending on the context -
The Arabic word mustaqbal is best expressed as future in English -
Waqaa, the Arabic word for fall, can signify a loss of power, stature, health or grace -
Hudood means borders in English -
The Arabic word rooh translates to spirit or soul in English -
The Arabic word ain means eye in English -
Waraq, the Arabic word of the week means paper in English -
Bahr, the Arabic for sea, has a poetic lilt -
Kareem means generous in English -
Bab means door in English -
Eid means holiday or festival -
Najm means star for the night sky and cosmos, but also has plenty of other meanings, including ambition or fame -
Alwan, the Arabic word for colours, has many shades of meaning -
Akel can refer to home-cooked meals, embezzlement, fire and rust -
Jamal is the Arabic word for beauty, be it literal or figurative -
Herfe translates to profession or craft -
Tabiaa translates to nature and can frame landscapes and portraits -
Sehha is the Arabic word for health -
Ijaza is Arabic for holiday and shines in summer but is not stress-free -
Aamal is the Arabic word for work -
Al dahr translates to time -
Qalb is a word for heart, with poetic roots -
Lugha in Arabic translates to language in English -
Insaan means human being -
Na'eeman is an idiomatic expression used when someone has had a shower or bath, a haircut or had their beard trimmed -
The Arabic word for life touches on eternity, death and accomplishment -
Qamar is the Arabic for moon -
The Arabic word for strength or power is quwwa -
Burj is Arabic for tower -
The Arabic word for sun is shams -
Sabr in English can translate to patience -
Hayba is the Arabic word for prestige -
The Arabic term al shay'e translates as 'the thing' in English -
The Arabic word for road is tareeq -
The Arabic word for read has mystical and scholarly connotations -
Istikan is the Arabic word for a type of tea cup -
The Arabic word hanan means affection in English -
The Arabic word atlal means ruins in English -
Kura is the Arabic word for ball, in all its forms -
Janaah in Arabic means wing in English -
The Arabic word sana translates to year in English -
Qasida is the Arabic for poem, not poetry -
Ameer, the Arabic word for prince, which influenced another English title -
Nakhla translates to palm tree in English -
Al samt is the Arabic for silence -
Kalimaat translates to words in English -
Markaz is Arabic for centre -
Beshara is the Arabic word for good news -
Bayt is the Arabic for house or home -
Fann is the Arabic word for art, and can be either a verb or an adjective -
Isim, which means name, is made up of three letters, alif, seen and meem -
Dunya is the Arabic word for world -
Nazaafah translates to cleanliness in English -
Many traditions revolve around drinking coffee, including weddings, funerals and business meetings -
Fajr is the Arabic word for dawn -
Maghrib is the Arabic word for sunset -
The Arabic language is filled with idioms, quotes and colloquial quips involving the mirror -
Raei is the Arabic word for opinion -
Wa'ed is a multifaceted word for 'promise', as well as a female name -
Qussa is the Arabic word for story -
Sadaaka is the Arabic word for friendship -
Akhbaar is the Arabic word for news -
Rasem is made up of the three Arabic letters Rah, Seen and Meem. While it can simply mean a drawing or a sketch it’s also a malleable word whose definition can change depending on context and dialect – particularly between colloquial and classical Arabic. -
As well as finishing a task, khatem denotes a deeper sense of finality -
Commonly translated to blessed, mubarak is used as a popular greeting on auspicious days -
The Arabic word for lighthouse is also a term that has become closely associated with Islam -
Siyaam, the Arabic word for fasting is also connected to silence -
Tawbah, the Arabic word for repentance, is also connected to Ramadan -
Safar, the Arabic Word for travel can also refer to sunny days, a brighter-blazing fire or exile. The National
Returning to the stars, light years are known as sanawat dawiya.
As you may be bracing yourself for the new year (raas al sana) with resolve, or are simply looking forward to quietly marking the end of this one, we look at a few good wishes you can pass to friends and family; these phrases vary in regional dialects but have the same spirit of meaning.
“Koul sana ou antom bi alf kheir” is a pretty common one and wishes a person good health for years to come. “A’baal koul sana” is a wish that every year ahead will be radiant. “Inshallah bikoon al sana kheir aleikon” is a wish that the year is filled with goodness.
A less cheerful expression is “sana wara sana al yown a’m biyimdi,” or “year after year, the day is going by”.
The word can also be found in all sorts of common expressions. “Kam sana sar omrak?” is a way of asking someone’s age. “Kam sana mish shaifeen ba’d?” or “How long has it been since we last saw each other?”
Finally, a poem by Nizar Qabbani. He writes to his loved one on the night of the new year:
“Illa habibati fi raas al sana. Shukran lianaki adkhaltani al madrasa, wa shukran lianaki alamtani abjadiyat al ishq, wa shukran lianaki qabilti an takooni habibati.”
"To my loved one on the new year. Thank you for admitting me to school. Thank you for teaching me the alphabet of passion. Thank you for agreeing to be my loved one."
