Moroccan Arabic: cardinal points

R

Rainbowlight

Senior Member
Spanish
Hello everyone,

I would like to know how could the cardinal points in plain English (North, South, East, West) could be translated into Moroccan Arabic. Are they similar or different from those used in Standard Arabic? Are they used in common speech and everyday life?

Thank you in advance for your time and help.
 
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    • Hello,

    The cardinal points are up to my knowledge, not different in most Moroccan dialects (in Arabic) from most other dialects way of aaying:

    English/MSA/Moroccan:
    North/شمال/شمال
    South/جنوب/جنوب
    West/غرب/غرب
    East/شرق/شرق

    In Hassaniya though, it is... topsy turvy :D:
    North: ساحل
    West: قبلة (gible)
    South: شرق
    East: تل

    (In Hassaniya, it varies between Morocco and Mauritania, I forgot which forms are used where... since I myself never use these otherwise no one would understand).
    Now about if they're used in daily life, indeed they are otherwise how would people express the direction?
     
    Last edited by a moderator:
    Hemza said:
    Hello,

    The cardinal points are up to my knowledge, not different in most Moroccan dialects (in Arabic) from most other dialects way of aaying:

    English/MSA/Moroccan:
    North/شمال/شمال
    South/جنوب/جنوب
    West/غرب/غرب
    East/شرق/شرق

    In Hassaniya though, it is... topsy turvy :D:
    North: ساحل
    West: قبلة (gible)
    South: شرق
    East: تل

    (In Hassaniya, it varies between Morocco and Mauritania, I forgot which forms are used where... since I myself never use these otherwise no one would understand).
    Now about if they're used in daily life, indeed they are otherwise how would people express the direction?
    Click to expand...
    Thank you very much for your answer. Is there a reason why تل is represented by Google Images by pictures of tiaras and diadems? Is that the actual meaning of the word?

    Thanks in advance for your help.
     
    Rainbowlight said:
    Is there a reason why تل is represented by Google Images by pictures of tiaras and diadems? Is that the actual meaning of the word?
    Click to expand...
    Not in Arabic, no. In Arabic it means hill = the raised land that is not as high or steep as a mountain.

    I looked up google, the writings connected to those pictures uses an Arabic based alphabet but it is not Arabic.
     
    Mahaodeh said:
    Not in Arabic, no. In Arabic it means hill = the raised land that is not as high or steep as a mountain.

    I looked up google, the writings connected to those pictures uses an Arabic based alphabet but it is not Arabic.
    Click to expand...
    Thank you so much for your help.
     
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