Maktub, Maktub

Discussion in 'All Languages' started by Setwale_Charm, Nov 7, 2012.

  1. Hello!

    I have long been curious about this. How would this concept translate into your language? Or maybe you have some other form of expressing something that is predestined, predetermined, foreordained, fated, in accordance with your culture or religious tradition?
  2. e2-e4 X Senior Member

    You mean "предначертано", right (Russian)? In the meaning that there is a record on this in the book of the fates; literally "beforescribed". «Так предначертано судьбою» ("This way it's written by the fate").
    Last edited: Nov 7, 2012
  3. apmoy70

    apmoy70 Senior Member

    In Greek we say «είναι/ήταν γραφτό να γίνει»
    ['ine ɣra'fto na 'ʝini]
    "it's written to happen"
    ['itan ɣra'fto na 'ʝini]
    "it was written to happen"

    One alternative is «ὅ γέγραφε, γέγραφε» (in modern pronunciation): [o 'ʝeɣrafe 'ʝeɣrafe] lit. "what it has been written, it has been written", taken from the Christian Gospels and used as a proverb:
    «Ἔλεγον οὖν τῷ Πιλάτῳ οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς τῶν Ἰουδαίων μὴ γράφε ὁ βασιλεύς των ἰουδαίων ἀλλ' ὅτι ἐκεῖνος εἶπεν βασιλεὺς εἰμὶ τῶν ἰουδαίων
    Ἀπεκρίθη ὁ Πιλᾶτος 'ὅ γέγραφα γέγραφα
    Therefore the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, 'Do not write, The King of the Jews, but, He said, I am the King of the Jews.
    Pilate answered, 'What I have written, I have written'. (John 19:21-22 NKJV)

    We also use an ancient phrase as a proverb (if I'm not mistaken it's a verse in one of Pindar's poems):
    «Τὸ πεπρωμένον φυγεῖν ἀδύνατον»
    (In modern pronunciation):
    [to pepro'menon fi'ʝin a'ðinaton]
    lit. "it's impossible to escape from what's destined"
    Last edited: Nov 8, 2012
  4. rayloom

    rayloom Senior Member

    Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
    Arabic (Hijazi Arabic)
    In Arabic, this concept is called Qadar. (You can read more about it in the wikipedia article)
    The word maktub "written", which is actually Arabic and is the passive participle of kataba "to write", refers to the belief that Qadar is actually already written.

    Pre-Islamic Arabs believed in a deity of fate, called Manāt, which was also the goddess of death.
  5. origumi Senior Member

    The distinction between "luck" and "destiny" existed also among Canaanites. The deity Gad was in charge of luck, the deity Mani or Meni dealt with destiny. The names may be cognates of their Arabic counterpart.

    In the Jewish belief there's a strong concept of Everything is foreseen and permission is granted הכל צפוי והרשות נתונה. That is, destiny have already been decided by God and is known to him, and yet a person has the power to influence his/her own destiny. There's also a Cabalistic Book of Destinies ספר הגורלות, but this is not mainstream Judaism.
  6. fdb Senior Member

    Cambridge, UK
    French (France)
    Canaanaic and Aramaic gad is cognate with Arabic jadd, 'good luck', not with qadar.
    Last edited: Nov 10, 2012
  7. ancalimon Senior Member

    In all Turkic dialects, it's called "kut".

    It's not really something written though. It's more seen as what we call "istenç" : "the will of God ~ what God wants things to do"

    is ~ es ~ us: it has a general meaning of exist, think, mind

    iste: want
    istenç: will, want from inside, to be wanted to want (as in you are wanted to want to do something).

    So kut "while it also means good luck" is different from what we generally know as luck. Because it's not about probability. It's about time and fate itself. It would only be called luck from a point of view which is chaotic. Depending on the context, it's some kind of spirit that is given to the khan making him some kind of figurative son of Tengri.

    So, in old Turkic culture, after a person won an election and was chosen as Khan, it would be accepted that that man received kut from Tengri, thus he was entitled to sit on Ötügen (the forest hill which received kut; the center of world from where God is going to practice his will on the word, according to Turkic tradition). Whatever he did was seen as the will of God and this was called yasa (law). All this fuss was what they called töre meaning all of the following: law, tradition, instructions of God, the true things to do.

    The word kut also means vigor, vitality.

    Kutan means "to want from God". (I think it literally means "to want from God to give yourself the want to want something to happen"). Yes. It's much confusing :)
    Last edited: Nov 11, 2012
  8. mataripis

    mataripis Senior Member

    Tagalog: Nakatalaga na. or nakaadya na . 1.) the fate= Ang kapalaran or kasasadlakan 2.) It is prophesied= nasa hula na/nakatakda na 3.) God's will= adya ng maykapal.
  9. OMG, Here in Lak "kut" actually means "arse" :eek:

    I'd better not talk about the Turkish perception of fate with Lak people around. They might think things are in a really bad way :)
  10. Please clarify: what I am talking about here is not only predestination as a noun. I mean something that is said by people in a particular situation, as well. Most Muslims around me say "Maktub, Maktub" when talking about something being predestined, with no way of changing the fate.
    This, of course, may be colloquial corruption of Arabic.
    What do people in the Arabic-speaking world actually say to express the "emotion" in such situations?
  11. ThomasK Senior Member

    (near) Kortrijk, Belgium
    Belgium, Dutch
    Dutch: het stond in de sterren geschreven (it was written in the stars).

    Maybe: de goden moeten hun getal hebben (the gods must have their figures/ numbers)

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