Translation of Arabic Folk Medical Terms with Om and Abu by AI: A Comparison of Microsoft Copilot and DeepSeek

Abstract

Although "أم om" and " أبو abu" in Arabic literally mean "mother" and "father", they have several meanings, usages, and are used in numerous contexts. They are used in some surnames, technical expressions, metonyms, general collocations, and idioms. They are used in names of people, cities, monuments, birds, insects, fish, animals, plants, brands, names of medicines (أبو نمر Tiger balm), body organs (أم التلافيف many plies), and disease names and medical conditions (أبو دغيم mumps) where they are used as a prefix and do not mean “mother”. Due to their extensive use in folk medical terms, this study investigates the translation of Arabic folk medical terms containing Om and Abu by Microsoft Copilot (MC) and DeepSeek (DS) in terms of accuracy, the translation strategies they use, the causes of translation errors and whether translation students can depend on AI in translating such terms. Analysis of a sample of 205 Arabic folk medical terms containing Om- and Abu by MC and DS showed that 46% of the terms were correctly translated by MC and 66% by DS (أُمُّ الدَّمِ الأَوَّلِيَّة primary aneurysm,أُمُّ الدَّمِ البَطْنِيَّة  abdominal aneurysm). MC rendered more literal word-for word translations than DS (16% and 11% respectively). Here أم Om and أبو Abu were literally translated as “mother” and “father” not as a prefix. أبو الرّكَب was translated as “father of the knees” instead of “dengue”, أم التلافيف “mother of folds” instead of omasum psalterium. MC and DS rendered lexical variants (synonyms) as cerebral aneurysm for أُمُّ الدَّمِ الدِّماغِيَّة instead of brain aneurysm. Both MC and DS rendered equivalents with a different word order from the dictionary definition (cavernous carotid aneurysm for أُمُّ الدَّمِ السُّباتِيَّةُ الكَهْفِيَّة instead of caroticocavernous aneurysm). AI translated folk medical terms containing أم Om & أبو Abu with lower accuracy than modern medical terms but higher accuracy rate than expressions of impossibility, Gaza-Israel war terminology, grammatical terms used metaphorically, and zero expressions which are current and commonly used by Arabic speakers. Comparisons with human translation of Om and Abu expressions, strategies used, causes of mistranslations and why DS outperformed MC in translating were made. Users need to understand how to prompt and guide AI models by specifying the context, intent, and audience and should interpret AI outputs critically.