صوفی
A Sufi is a practitioner of tasavvof, the Persian-language Sufi tradition that produced Rumi, Hafez, and Saadi. B1 vocabulary with a charged modern history.
Glossary
شراب
Sharâb is the everyday Persian word for wine, both the literal alcohol and the mystical wine of Sufi poetry. A2 vocabulary with a cultural-legal twist.
می
Mey is the pure-Persian word for wine, the lighter and more poetic counterpart to sharâb. Hafez and Khayyâm reach for it again and again. B1 vocabulary for Persian poetry.
طرب
طرب (tarab): the ecstatic joy of mystical love and music. The state of being lifted out of ordinary mood. Pair-state with سوز (suz, the burning).
غمزه
غمزه (ghamze): the teasing sideways glance of the beloved. Half coquetry, half cruelty. One of the small but lethal weapons of the Persian poetic face.
ابرو
ابرو (abru): the eyebrow. In Persian poetry, the bow that shoots love-arrows from beneath. Disambiguate from آبرو (âbru, honor), which is a separate word and entry.
گیسو
گیسو (gisu): the long lock of hair, especially the beloved’s. In Persian poetry, the chain that traps the lover, the night that hides the moon-face.
شمع
شمع (sham’): the candle. In Persian Sufi poetry, the beloved who consumes the lover-moth. Also the literal candle of mosques, shrines, and birthday cakes.
پروانه
پروانه (parvâne): the moth (or butterfly) that flies into the candle. In Persian Sufi poetry, the lover destroyed by love for the beloved. Pair-image with شمع (candle).
نرگس
نرگس (narges): the narcissus flower. In Persian poetry, the eyes of the beloved. Also a common feminine name and a winter-flowering staple of the Iranian garden.