The UnwritableEnglish
Canonical terms

Translation glossary

The locked English renderings of recurring Persian and Sufi vocabulary. This glossary is fed to the translator so that every post speaks with the same words — the single most important lever for keeping a long translation consistent.

ادبیات اسلامی
adabiyāt-e eslāmi
Islamic literature
استاد
ostād
master
Spiritual teacher.
اکولوژی
ecology
ecology
Borrowed term.
اکونومی
economy
economy
From Greek oikonomia.
ایگو
ego
ego
بودا
Buddā
Buddha
بی‌توقع
bi-tavaqqo'
without expectation
بی‌قضاوت
bi-qezāvat
without judgment
تجلی
tajalli
theophany / manifestation
Self-disclosure of the divine.
تسلیم
taslīm
surrender
Active submission to God’s will.
جبر
jabr
compulsion / fate
Philosophical sense: the realm of necessity.
حافظ
Hāfez
Hafez
14th-c. Persian poet.
حلاج
Hallāj
Mansur al-Hallaj
10th-c. Sufi martyr.
خدا
khodā
God
خداشناس
khodā-shenās
God-knower
One who knows God.
خودشناس
khod-shenās
Self-knower
Highest degree of God-knowledge in this site’s usage.
سالک
sālek
wayfarer
Traveller on the spiritual path.
شمس
Shams
Shams-i Tabrizi
Rumi’s companion.
شکر
shokr
thanks / gratitude
شکرگزاری
shokr-gozāri
gratitude
عارف
āref
mystic / gnostic
عرفان
irfān
mysticism / gnosis
فراوانی
farāvāni
abundance
Divine attribute, also economic concept.
فرهنگ
farhang
culture
مراقبه
morāqebā
meditation / contemplation
Particularly Vipassana-flavored in some posts.
مناجات
monājāt
supplication
Intimate, whispered prayer.
مولانا
Mowlavī
Rumi
13th-c. Persian poet and mystic.
نانوشتنی
nā-neveshtanī
the Unwritable
Site name; treated as a proper noun.
نیت
niyyat
intention
Inner resolve, distinct from a goal.
ویپاسانا
vipassanā
Vipassana
Insight meditation.
پیر
pir
elder
Sufi spiritual guide.
گورو
guru
guru
Hindu/Sikh spiritual teacher.