Read by the tongue
1 Moroccan Arabic proverb read closely — filed under Hospitality, Patience and Time; set beside cousins in Amharic, Arabic and Japanese.
الكأس الأولى مرّة كالحياة، والثانية حلوة كالحبّ، والثالثة لطيفة كالموت
al-kaʾs al-ʾūlā murra ka-l-ḥayāh, wa-l-thāniya ḥulwa ka-l-ḥubb, wa-l-thālitha laṭīfa ka-l-mawt
Why Moroccan tea is served in three cups — bitter, sweet, gentle — and how Ethiopian coffee, Bedouin three-day hospitality, and the Japanese chadō answer back.
Hospitality unfolds across the three cups; rushing it forfeits it.
الكأس الأولى مرّة كالحياة، والثانية حلوة كالحبّ، والثالثة لطيفة كالموت
Al-kaʾs al-ʾūlā murra ka-l-ḥayāh, wa-l-thāniya ḥulwa ka-l-ḥubb, wa-l-thālitha laṭīfa ka-l-mawt
Literally: The first cup is bitter as life, the second sweet as love, the third gentle as death.
Moroccan Arabic · Morocco
Set beside
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