arabic

I wasn't sure how to understand this line in a novel: العنصر الذي يقف قرب الحاجز يردّ التحية بأحسن منها Does يردّ التحية بأحسن منها mean it returns the greeting with the best of greetings? Could it be reworded يردّ التحية باحسن التحيات or something? Or does it mean a better greeting? Like...

Any ideas as to what the origins of this word شلباطو shalbaaTo might be? It's a Levantine dish made with bulgur and fried vegetables.

What is the etymology of the Arabic word سرمد sarmad ? Is it an originally Semitic word? If so, is there a root associated with it?

Why do Arabic definite phrases like الحبل المتين or الحجر الاسود get turned into grammatically incorrect genitives like حبل المتین or حجر الاسود when loaned into Persian (and Turkish and Malay)? That is, why don't these phrases either remain unchanged (why don't we have الحبل المتین in...

السلام عليكم I am wondering how you can translate "reconstruction of events" into Arabic. I post a sample-sentence to clarify the locution: "With respect to the reconstruction of events made by some Palestinian sources..." I would translate the sentence as it follows, but it still lacks of...