São Paulo – Monsignor Alphonse Nagib Sabbagh died this Sunday (8th) in Rio de Janeiro at 95 years old due to pneumonia. A prominent figure in the teaching of the Arabic in Brazil, he was born in the Lebanese city of Deir El Kamar and lived in Rio. The professor had been hospitalized for a week.
Sabbagh founded the Arab Studies Department at Rio de Janeiro Federal University (Ufrj) and published two dictionaries, Portuguese to Arabic and Arabic to Portuguese. The latter, from 2011, was a co-edition from publishers Almádena and National Library Foundation. Among his works there are also translations in partnership with professor João Batista Vargens, such as the book “Autumn Quail” (in Portuguese, As Codornas e o Outono), by Naguib Mahfouz, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1988.
The Lebanese was a monsignor at Melquita Greek-Catholic Church and spent his life dedicated to these two areas, religious and education. He was responsible for the surge of a new generation of Brazilian Arabic experts.
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
