All dialects: forehead

elroy

elroy

Moderator: EHL, Arabic, Hebrew, German(-Spanish)
Chicago, IL
US English, Palestinian Arabic bilingual
Hello!

In Palestinian Arabic we use صَباح for "forehead" (جبين is used as well).

Do any other dialects use صَباح with this meaning?

(By the way, there's no confusion with "morning," because "morning" is صُبُح except in the fixed expressions صباح الخير/صباح النور.)

Thanks!
 
    • I'm not sure that this is used all over Palestine, none of my relatives use it, including those that are still living in the West Bank today. They all seem to use جبين. I also never heard it in Jordan, which is highly affected by Palestinian Arabic. But then again my experience is with the dialect spoken in the West Bank and Jerusalem.

    However, since you are asking about how other dialects use it, in Iraq it's called قُصة.
     
    Mahaodeh said:
    However, since you are asking about how other dialects use it, in Iraq it's called قُصة.
    Click to expand...
    Not قُصة (quSah) this means story, at least in my dialect, we say كصة (guSSah) for forehead, from Arabic قُصة means, according to almaany, the hair of the forehead.
     
    I know how it's pronounced, but it's more correctly written with a qaaf than a kaaf, since this is the origin of the word.
     
    In TA, depending on the region, forehead is جبين (jbeen) or جبهة (jabha).
    قُصة (qussa, gussa) is hair over the forehead
     
    Thanks for the responses! I'm going to assume from the low number of responses that صَباح for "forehead" is most likely a Palestinian (or Galilean) quirk. :D
     
    Yes, I think it's a particularity of your dialect :D
    In Egypt, we call it جبين gebiin or gabha جبهة. (we have a proverb/saying: المكتوب ع الجبين لازم تشوفه العين = what's written (i.e. pre-destined/fated) will surely happen).
    The word oSSa قُصّة means bangs/fringe.
     
    Before this thread I didn't know that any dialect used جبهة with this meaning! In Palestinian Arabic I've only come across جبهة with a political meaning ("front").

    And in Palestinian Arabic قصّة isn't used with any meaning related to the head, to my knowledge. The only meaning I've come across other than "story" is a paved stretch of ground in front of someone's house (I don't know of a specific word for this in English), and even that is regional (in Jerusalem we say مدّة for that).

    "Bangs" in Palestinian Arabic is غرّة.
     
    elroy said:
    Before this thread I didn't know that any dialect used جبهة with this meaning! In Palestinian Arabic I've only come across جبهة with a political meaning ("front").
    Click to expand...
    Yes, جبهة has this meaning too, maybe more related to war جبهة القتال. And I believe gebiin is more common for forehead.
    And in Palestinian Arabic قصّة isn't used with any meaning related to the head, to my knowledge. The only meaning I've come across other than "story" is a paved stretch of ground in front of someone's house (I don't know of a specific word for this in English), and even that is regional (in Jerusalem we say مدّة for that).
    Click to expand...
    Interesting.
    For story we say eSSa/qeSSa (yes, one of the words where we keep the ق). I'm not sure about the paved stretched thing because it would only be used it rural areas and I can't remember if I've heard a word for it before.
    "Bangs" in Palestinian Arabic is غرّة.
    Click to expand...
    Well, that's فصيح ! :)
     
    Yes! How could I forget this? But maybe because I haven't heard it in a while.
    By the way, just to add a little info, when we attach a pronoun to the word uura, the first vowel is shortened and changed: orti, orto, oret'ha, ortak...
     
    djara said:
    In my local Tunisian dialect, غرّة is used for a white spot on a horse's forehead.
    Click to expand...

    I read once that this meaning is the origin of the meaning of bangs. Anyhow, if you check classical dictionaries, you would find this meaning, but you would not find the meaning of bangs so it seems to be a later usage.
     
    I'm not saying that they may have the same origin, I would just like to point out that the switch between غ and ق does happen in some dialects.
     
    cherine said:
    Not really, there's the غ-ق and the doubled ر unless you're pronouncing one or both words differently than we do.
    Click to expand...
    It was a shortcut. I meant that if a Palestinian added a possessive pronoun to غرة it would sound close to Egyptian in your example. orti/ghorti, orto/ghorto, oret'ha/ghoret'ha, ortak/ghortak... Only one sound would be different and as Mahaodeh said "the switch between غ and ق does happen in some dialects"
     
    djara said:
    I meant that if a Palestinian added a possessive pronoun to غرة it would sound close to Egyptian in your example. orti/ghorti, orto/ghorto, oret'ha/ghoret'ha, ortak/ghortak...
    Click to expand...
    The r is doubled even in the possessive: ghurrti, ghurrto, ghurritha, ghurrtak.
     
    elroy said:
    Before this thread I didn't know that any dialect used جبهة with this meaning! In Palestinian Arabic I've only come across جبهة with a political meaning ("front").
    Click to expand...

    According to Lisaan Al Arab, جبهة is a forehead. It also means ما استُقبِل من الشيء, probably related to forehead. It also has to do with the verb جابه = to face (in a quarrel).

    In MSA, it has both those meanings, in addition to the meaning of front of a battle and a political entity.

    elroy said:
    There are some Palestinian political groups with جبهة in their name, like الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين.
    Click to expand...

    Note how this is translated to: Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

    In Iraqi Arabic, جبهة is also used for forehead although guSSa is more common. It's also used to mean the front part of a plot of land that is facing the street as well as the front of a building.

    djara said:
    قُصة (qussa, gussa) is hair over the forehead
    Click to expand...

    Just a guess, this might be the origin of the meaning of forehead in Iraq. It might originally have meant 'the part of the hair that is cut above the eyes.

    In Iraqi Arabic, the hair over the forehead is قُذْلة.
     
    In a different thread, @WadiH has just shared an interesting insight as to the possible etymology of صباح = "forehead" in Palestinian Arabic:
    WadiH said:
    in Arabic it's common to associate the forehead with 'light' (e.g. وضّاح الجبين)
    Click to expand...
     
    elroy said:
    In a different thread, @WadiH has just shared an interesting insight as to the possible etymology of صباح = "forehead" in Palestinian Arabic:
    Click to expand...

    I've been thinking about this and searching around ... one thing I've noticed is that in addition to foreheads being likened to the sun or moon or just described as luminous (e.g. بلجاء الجبين, وضاح الجبين, etc.), I've found expressions where the sun itself or the morning has a جبين, e.g. جبين الصبح, جبين الشمس. I can't think of the sun or morning being described as having any other body part.

    Could it be that way back in the ancient past جبين meant 'sun' or 'daylight'? Think of someone appearing in the distance from behind a hill -- the first thing you'll probably see is a shiny forehead, much like the sun as it begins to appear above the horizon.

    I'm purely speculating as I couldn't find any evidence for this in the dictionaries. Would be interesting to know if there is anything similar in the other Semitic languages.
     
    In some Syrian dialects forehead is called سنطيحة perhabs it has to do with نطح but I am not sure of the etymology to be honest.
     
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