Welcome to the "West meets East" series

I always had interest in onomatopoeia, something about how words sound fascinates me so in an attempt to share my part in trying to promote dialogue I am finally and for the first time sharing my onomatopoeic repository

I believe that there was a day where scholars from all over the world came to study, teach and learn in one place together, sharing and translating all kinds of books, scripts and theories

Baghdad's house-of-wisdom

Those theories and books were made of "words" that we had in common but lost centuries ago maybe even millenniums...

I see the similarities almost everyday and each day I find a new word that at first may not look so similar but by twisting it, shaping it and changing the accent it reemerges, like in a process of polishing up a very rusty and dusted diamond till it shines and reflects once again showing its true nature

This I do because I speak 3 languages and understand 2 more:
Italian, English, Arabic, French and Amharic

One half of me resides in Europe and the other in Africa and the Middle East so by nature I understand both worlds and that helped me understand other far cultures like the Indian or Chinese ones for instants and I never had the chance to go over there
I can say that I understand everybody because I put myself in other people's shoes, as simple as that!

In a nutshell, this is me...always searching for similarities instead of differences

So in my attempt to "uncover" to you the secrets of time, without further a due I like to present to you the first ever word of the day of the West meets East series and what better word to start off other than:

"COVER"

I heard it is an adaption of the Arabic word "kafir"

"KAFIR" كافر

or KEFER, KOFR, KAFAR which are all different words from the same root

So what does it mean?

Well, in the interpretation of the Quran it means exactly that...to cover the truth, to lie, to hide, to conceal...etc.,

That is because In Arabic a single word can have several meanings and that's how Arabic is a very rich language

The word "Kefer" also means "infidel" which is someone that has no faith or the faith per say but in reality it means "he who that covers the truth" and it used to be said mainly to the Christians of those days mainly the crusaders and that's how it got stuck with the West till this day

interesting that "non-Christian" was added to the meaning list

Also "Kafar" means "he who covered the truth from someone" so you can understand why Arabic is such a rich language - the literal meaning in English or the closest one would be "he who condemned someone" but there isn't a word in English describing "a person condemning someone", it is nonexistent and yet in Arabic here is a

..."Kafar" standing over there...

I just imagined what Saladin would have said seeing Richard the Lion heart for the first time...probably didn't though :)

Also "Kafar" is attributed to the devil or an act of the devil because only the "enemy" of God can lie about God

Certainly something to think about regarding of it is the truth or not and that brings me to the end of this "word of the day"

I hope a ray of light came down shining to you and reassured your heart once again that we are all different but one under the Sun

Untill the next one, the next word, the next story I leave you with an oriental melodies to bring you peace