Ta‘āruf

Abstract

Most readers of this journal will not have seen this word before. How, then, can it claim a spot in this Keyword issue of Victorian Literature and Culture? How can a non-English word—not even a loan word in English—become an English keyword? Ta‘āruf’s presence here can be justified through the now less-familiar definition of the term “keyword” itself: “a word that serves as the key to a cipher or code.” A loan word from Arabic, in Persian ta‘āruf means pleasantries, greetings, and hospitality, on one hand, and gift-giving on the other. Conjoining a sense of linguistic surplus and gift-exchange, ta‘āruf, I argue, serves as a key to decipher some complications at the intersection of economic and linguistic exchange in Victorian literature and culture. As such, it also establishes that “Victorian” culture emerges out of transnational bargains of exchange and translation.