In William Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra, the Roman general tells the Egyptian queen: "If I lose mine honour, I lose myself.”
Marc Antony, and by extension Shakespeare, weren't the only ones who prized honesty. This week’s Arabic word of the week, saraha, which translates to honesty, is an appreciated characteristic across cultures and one that in the Arabic language also has many variations.
Saraha is a noun that means to be clear, straightforward and truthful with information. Whether personal news or an official statement, the information would be free of any mystery or misconstruction. It’s a very simple and straightforward definition. However, the origin of the word is the source of several definitions that in some cases contradict one another.
The origin of saraha is the verb sarahaa derived from the three Arabic letters, Sad, Rah and Hah. It’s the act of delivering any sort of information – whether a topic, issue or action of any nature, clearly and to the point.
The same origin word when pronounced with emphases on the Rah sound, spelt in English as sarraha, refers to the act of allowing or giving permission for someone to do something. However, it also has two other unrelated meanings. The first is when the sky clears of clouds and the sun shines brightly or when any liquid is purified of any unnatural substances.
A word derived from sarahaa is al ssarih, a noun which refers to two very different things. First, a tall palace, building or tower and second, a work of art that has symbolic meaning.
Another word derived from sarahaa is sourouh, which refers to dreams of something fantastical or impossible.
These last two meanings may refer to things that are not real or honest in the tangible sense, but that their existence whether as a symbol for something else or the illusion of their existence in a dream can feel real and honest.
There is also tasreeh, which is a public announcement on a particular rule or guideline or a permit of any sort.
When someone is incredibly honest, they are referred to as sareeh, which uses the same three original letters of saraha but is pronounced differently. If a group of people or an entity communicates to others honestly, they are referred to as sourahaa. Saaraha is when you speak the truth to someone else or when you breakdown a topic and explain it plainly.
Sareeh al Nasib, which literally translates to honest ancestry, is used as a phrase to mean that someone’s lineage is true based on what they claim it to be. While faris sareeh refers to the lineage of a horse being purebred.
In all contexts, from the origin of the word saraha, words are connected to the idea of clarity and honesty lending themselves to various scenarios of everyday life.
