All dialects: با

[Hemza]

Hello,

I'm wondering about a specific way used to call "a father" across Arabic countries that's to say با. It's pretty widespread in Morocco and you even find toponyms containing this name, for instance قرية با محمد (my grand mother -father side- hails from there). In some areas, با سيدي means "my grand father" and I learnt recently that in Yemen, با is pretty widespread in Hadramawt. Is this particle used somewhere else?

Thank you.

 

[emanko]

I think in Egypt we use "abu".
أبو المطامير
أبو الدرداء

 

[WannaBFluent]

It's used in the Gulf, at least in Kuwait, and probably in Qatar, Bahraïn and the Emirates.
They use it several times in مسلسل قرقاشة, a Kuwaiti TV series.

 

[Hemza]

They use it several times in مسلسل قرقاشة, a Kuwaiti TV series.

I didn't know this series, endured almost one episode (تكرفست وبغيت نموت) and didn't hear it. I heard أُبوي and يوبا

 

[WannaBFluent]

I remember having heard it on a commercial promo of the series on Abu Dhabi TV YouTube channel.

 

[Hemza]

I remember having heard it on a commercial promo of the series on Abu Dhabi TV YouTube channel.

Thanks. Until now, I only heard it from Yemenis outside Morocco and Algeria.

 

[WadiH]

با is used in Hadhrami surnames and it is etymologically derived from the kunya with أبو/أبا/أبي. In Najd, there are a few surnames and place names with أبا, while there are Lebanese surnames with أبي (e.g. أبي نادر، أبي زيد and so on). Everywhere else it's أبو or بو that occurs in surnames and place names.

When used in ordinary speech, however, including actual kunyas, it's always أبو or بو. The only exception I've encountered is that Peninsular bedouins seem to say أبا in the vocative case (e.g. يا أبا الكذا وكذا). Whether this is a vestige of an older case system or just assmilation of أبو with the الـ, I can't say, especially since I don't recall hearing it without an الـ.

 

[Hemza]

In Morocco, you will mostly hear بو for كنية (i.e. بو كرش or بو راس or even بو بريص for gecko ) though با is used in some instances and is used in daily speech for "dad" in some dialects.

 

[HoopoeOfHope]

The only exception I've encountered is that Peninsular bedouins seem to say أبا in the vocative case (e.g. يا أبا الكذا وكذا). Whether this is a vestige of an older case system or just assmilation of أبو with the الـ, I can't say, especially since I don't recall hearing it without an الـ.

I don't know about this one. I've never heard it and it doesn't exist in my Bedouin dialect which is from the Northern parts of the peninsula. I would say يا أبو الكذا not أبا.

We do, however, keep a vestige of the older genitive in a very small number of words related to the family. Like بيت أبيه or ابن أبيه. This also works with the word أخو as in بيت أخيه and ابن أخيه. Otherwise it remains in the nominative with other kinds of words like قلم أبوه and سيارة أبوه. This genitive doesn't affect الكنية either which is always أبو.

 

[Hemza]

So I conclude that با is roughly used in Southern Arabia (and who knows where else) but not in the North.