Language quiz
In which language might greet people in the morning by saying “ṣbah lkhīr” or in the afternoon or evening with “mselkhīr“?
In this language common ways of saying goodbye include “lla yhennīk“, “lla y’uwn” and “thella fārṣek“.
Another useful phrase in this language is: “bghiṭ nteferrezh walakīm mabghītsh ndekhul feha” (I’d like to watch but I don’t want to join in).
May 10th, 2009 in
Language, Quiz questions
Shot in the dark: Georgian?
First phrases are Arabic
Second And Third phrases kinda look Arabic
My guess is that it is a Semetic language
Maybe Somali or Berber?
My guess is some Maghrebi dialect of Arabic, probably Algerian or Moroccan.
looks like a dialect spoken by the hamsa-comunity in eastern mauretania.
Maltese?
It seems like Moroccan arabic. (MSA: sabah al kheer, masa’ al kheer.)
arabic, maghrebi dialect
What about Hassaniya,the national language of Mauritania?
maltese.
It is Arabic from the western boundaries… Moroccan is the first candidate for that. Second candidate would be Algerian.
Maltese is said to be the only semitic language that would be written in latin alphabet but surely no need for IPA or transliteration letters to write it down since it uses latin already!
Too easy.:)
Moroccan Arabic for sure. It’s not usually written in the Arabic alphabet anyway.
It is indeed Moroccan Arabic.
lla yhennīk = God give you tranquility
lla y’uwn = May God help you (to someone going to work)
thella fārṣek = Take care of yourself
The phrases come from my Moroccan Arabic phrasebook, which gives them in the Arabic and Latin alphabets.
Moroccan arabic is a puzzle for other speakers of Arabic on the eastern boundaries.
One funny story happens always to people going from here to Morocco is that, usually here when you do a favor for someone he would say to you Shokran (thanks) or Allah Yi`afeek (may God let you be sound “ever”). Now, the second phrase, in Moroccan is taken as a bad word and usually people get angry when they hear someone answer their favor that way. Someone told me that it means “may God put you in hell” instead the common meaning we have in here.
When I thought about it, I found it is indeed possible for both different meanings to occur in the same time. The only thing is that the original verb that the word of “Afiyah” (which means health or being-sound)is derived from differ. On the eastern boundaries people used one verbal root, while the western people used the other verbal root. In both cases, for the both roots, you can derive the word “Afiyah,” which in this situation has two meanings!
Easy, isn’t it?
Indeed :) 3afiyah is naar in MSA :D so do not use that phrase in Morocco!
Good to see some Moroccan Arabic : ) But even making allowances for the impressionistic transcription:
“fārṣek” should be “frāṣek“
“bghiṭ” should be “bghit”