Yiften @yiften.bsky.social · 12/10/2026#Awal_n_Wass Kabyle word of the day: >Amzeɣzaf (adj.): elongated. From the Amazigh root ƔZF, which also gave us the adjective "Aɣezfan" (long, tall), the noun "Teɣzi" (length), and the verb "iɣzif" (to be long). 020
Yiften @yiften.bsky.social · 10/10/2026That was my initial thought too ! But I couldn't find an arabic word with the root ص-و-ك whose meaning was even close to ṣewwek. Hence my old Amazigh root hypothesis. 010
Yiften @yiften.bsky.social · 25/09/2026But I also heard it used in regular phrases, e.g. "sliɣ-as kan i ccix yṣewwek, kkreɣ-dd" (Just as I heard the muezzin call to prayer, I got up). I have no idea what its etymology is. Maybe an old ṢWK/ẒWK root? [2/2] 110
Yiften @yiften.bsky.social · 25/09/2026#Awal_n_Wass Kabyle word of the day: Ṣewwek [sˁəpʷːəç] (v.): call to prayer, do the adhan. Today it is mainly used in the expression "Aḥq ccix-agi yṣewwekn akka" when swearing during a call to prayer. [1/2] 111
Yiften @yiften.bsky.social · 17/07/2026Interesting! So, since the endonym is Daktǝwari and not Dakawari, does this mean that the Tamajeq name Attawari is actually Ayt Tawari, and not Ayt Awari? Also, I'm curious: what's the singular of Daktǝwari in Tetserret? Is it Aktǝwari? 110
Yiften @yiften.bsky.social · 14/07/2026In Kabyle Sduqqes means "to startle". We also have Dduqqes which means "to flinch, to get startled" but more commonly "to wake up with a start". For exploding we instead use ṭṭerḍeq (to explode) and sṭerḍeq (to make explode). 010
Yiften @yiften.bsky.social · 12/07/2026In Kabyle it has both meanings actually, daytime in general and the hottest part of the day. According to Dallet, there are 3 different "izilan": Azal n yiɣiden (Kids' azal) at 8 a.m. Azal n yimeksawen (shepherds' azal) at 10 a.m. Azal azaylal (stunning azal) between 11h and 14h 062
Yiften @yiften.bsky.social · 12/07/2026Thanks. It really is fascinating how Tetserret managed to keep both words with their original meanings while being surrounded by Tamajeq! 010
Yiften @yiften.bsky.social · 12/07/2026In Kabyle (and I guess in Northern Tamazight in general?), these 2 terms have different meanings: Azal is daytime (as opposed to nighttime) Ass is day (24h period) Does Tetserret also have an equivalent to "azal"? 220
Yiften @yiften.bsky.social · 17/06/2026In Kabyle, we have an old expression for a very cute little girl: "Tapupit n Manupri" which literally translates to "Doll from Monoprix", an old french retail chain. 110
Yiften @yiften.bsky.social · 17/06/2026In Algeria (translingual) we have: Omo for washing powder Isis for dish soap Laḥḍa for powdered milk Sɛida for bottled water Danone for yoghurt is only used in the western part of the country AFAIK 110
Yiften @yiften.bsky.social · 07/05/2026And apparently there are also similar proverbs (with meat and biscuits) in Sicilian and Corsican. Could this actually be a pan-Mediterranean proverb? Or did they inherit it from North Africans during the early islamic conquests? (2/2) 120
Yiften @yiften.bsky.social · 07/05/2026Thanks for the update! So it looks like this version (beans and no teeth) is a pan-Moroccan proverb. Was curious and foud out that it also exists in Darija: "Rebbi taye3ti lfoul ghir li ma3endou dras" Source: www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZBI... (1/2) 121
Yiften @yiften.bsky.social · 17/04/2026It also exists in Algerian darja (Algiers' dialect): "Rebbi 3ta l7em l li ma3endouch snan" (God gave meat to the one who has no teeth) Here it's with meat, and no teeth instead of bad teeth. I'm sure it's also present elsewhere. Isn't it the case in Tarifit? 2/2 230
Yiften @yiften.bsky.social · 17/04/2026I think this proverb and its variants are present all over North Africa. In Kabyle we say: "Yefka Rebbi irden i yir-tuɣmas" (God gave wheat to [those who have] bad teeth) In this variant it's wheat instead of beans, and it's to those who have bad teeth instead of no teeth. 1/2 131
Yiften @yiften.bsky.social · 09/03/2026Oh my bad, I thought ⵢ was a "Y" like in northern Neo-Tifinagh 110
Yiften @yiften.bsky.social · 09/03/2026Wait, is it ⵜⵜⵙⵔⵢⵜ instead of ⵜⵜⵙⵔⵜ? I always thought it was pronounced [tǝtsǝrrǝt], is it pronounced [tǝtsǝrrǝjt] instead? 100
Yiften @yiften.bsky.social · 06/03/2026Thanks for the info, I just checked Umadi's dictionnary (from Kitab al Barbariya) and found "Fuyyen". So the the G is actually a geminated Y, it's Afeyyan rather than Afgan! He also gave another definition: رحمة. Can't really see the semantic link between slavery and mercy though. 010
Yiften @yiften.bsky.social · 05/03/2026In Ibn Tunart's dictionnary (12th century) Afgan means "slave" rather than "person". It had the same semantic shift as the word عبد in arabic, where it used to mean slave but today refers to a person, probably due to the religious expression slave of God, عبد الله (?) 110
Yiften @yiften.bsky.social · 11/02/2026Of course it's going to be that Frankenstein language written in neo-Tifinagh. However I'm wondering: where are they going to find their corpus? AFAIK there aren't lots of publications in "Standard Moroccan Tamazight". And LLMs need A LOT of data to be trained correctly. 110
Yiften @yiften.bsky.social · 14/08/2025Always wondered why in Algeria (a former french colony) the name مصطفى is usually written "Mustapha" instead of "Moustafa", the expected french translitteration. The "ph" in particular is surprising, since in French it's only used with words that have a Greek origin. Can anyone explaine this pls? 130
Yiften @yiften.bsky.social · 07/05/2025But it is never used to call your grandma (we use Setti or Jida instead) Tabuslimant is untranslatable in my opinion, the closest attempt might be "The Solomonic one (fem.)" (?). I think in this case the feminine is litteral, not a diminutive formation (I'm not totally sure about this though) 2/2 110
Yiften @yiften.bsky.social · 07/05/2025Thank you for sharing it to a wider audience, I got a few comments regarding some translations: All of these names are feminine, so it should be mare instead of horse. In Kabyle, "Nanna" isn't granny (like in Darja), it designates a paternal aunt, an older sister, or any older woman we respect. 1/2 110
Yiften @yiften.bsky.social · 06/05/2025In Kabyle it actually has A LOT of different names: Tagmart n [Sidi/Sidna] [Sliman/Ɛli/Yaḥya/Ɛisa] Tagmart n Lalla Faḍma Tagmart n [Ṛsel/Nbi] Tasardunt n [Ccix/Ɛmi Ɛli] Tabuslimant Nanna Ḥaǧǧa Lalla Faṭima welt Nbi The common theme is that all of these names are related to a religious figure. 020
Yiften @yiften.bsky.social · 06/05/2025Interesting! I've already heard the first 2 ones, but "Bu Yetran" is new to me! Some folk etymologies claim that "Baba Rebbi" is a remnant of the christian era in North Africa. I have always suspected that it comes from "bab" instead, which would actually be a calque of "Rebbi". 120
Yiften @yiften.bsky.social · 04/05/2025In this context, is it Baba (father) or Bab (owner, master)? As these are 2 distinct words in northern Tamazight (like Kabyle). Because I noticed that in the Tetserret word you mentioned, the vowel after the second b is a schwa, not an "a". 261
