Urdu: لخت جگر

[MonsieurGonzalito]

Friends,

In the following sentence, should laxt-jigar be translated as "pieces of (his) heart (liver)"?
I would think so, because of the plural:

جوں جوں اس کے ہاتھ تاروں پر پڑتے تھے توں توں اس کی پلکوں سے لخت جگر جھڑتے تھے

and it should be translated word-by-word, not as an izafat laxt-e-jigar? Is the zer missing?

Additionally, does لَخْت have independent usage in everyday language, or it is confined to expressions?
(I found it in the dictionary, but with the meanings of "continously" o "naked", not "piece")

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[aevynn]

should laxt-jigar be translated as "pieces of (his) heart (liver)"

because of the plural... not as an izafat laxt-e-jigar...

I don't think a plural translation is in contradiction with the izaafat. Uninflected laxt can mean "pieces," so laxt-e-jigar can very well be "pieces of one's liver/heart."

Tangentially... Here are some laxt-e-jigar couplets from Ghalib from Pritchett's website: {214,6}, {173,3}, {80,11x} (and close but not the same: {233,2}). FWIW, kaleje kaa TukRaa is also a common idiom. I guess one or the other of these idioms is probably historically a calque, but I'm not sure which; possibly your other thread will help us figure that out!

 

[Qureshpor]

Friends,

In the following sentence, should laxt-jigar be translated as "pieces of (his) heart (liver)"?
I would think so, because of the plural:

جوں جوں اس کے ہاتھ تاروں پر پڑتے تھے توں توں اس کی پلکوں سے لخت جگر جھڑتے تھے

and it should be translated word-by-word, not as an izafat laxt-e-jigar? Is the zer missing?

Additionally, does لَخْت have independent usage in everyday language, or it is confined to expressions?
(I found it in the dictionary, but with the meanings of "continously" o "naked", not "piece")

Thanks in advance for any help.

لختِ جگر (laxt-i-jigar) is a common Urdu expression, in verse, prose as well as speech. Its literal meaning is, as has been already explained, "a piece of liver" and idiomatically it is a term of endearment for a child... a darling child.

لخت لخت (laxt-laxt) torn to pieces

یک لخت (yak-laxt) suddenly

In the quote provided, I would say that the person listening to the music eminating from the stringed instrument was so emotionally affected that tears (darlings) dropped from his/her eyelashes. Shakespeare talks about the "darling buds of May". Here I suppose we have "darling tears of lashes"!

It is possible this quote is connected with this Ghalib's shi3r

مژگاں تلک رسائی ِ لختِ جگر کہاں
اے واے گر نگاہ نہ ہو آشنائے گُل

مِژگاں = eyelashes