Today's language tidbit

This week's unit was on food. And the language factoid: the Arabic translation or root of Bethlehem is "house of meat". According to my instructor because seasonally herds would end up there for butchering and sale. I haven't been able to find anything to corroborate that specifically, other than Wikipedia's and Britannica's intro notes. Interestingly, most American dictionaries that I can find online refer only to the Hebrew translation, house of bread. I wonder if there the Hebrew translation/version is a more accepted one? Or if the selection of one and ignoring of the other are examples of publisher/cultural bias?

After class, I went to Al-Hikma. It's a good think Claire told me it was in a building with dentists' and doctors' offices, otherwise, I'd've driven past and gotten lost in the wilds of Falls Church. I was tempted by a condensed translation of Jane Eyre with English on one page and Arabic on the opposite page, but managed to put it down -- to advanced for me right now. If there'd been a copy of Persuasion or Anne of Green Gables, I wouldn't have been able to resist. The owner was very helpful and gave me a mini lesson, based on his name, Dhiya, which means light. I thought noor meant light, and it does, but they have different connotations. Who knew?