Al Mo3ajam: The Arabic Urban Dictionary

As the readers (chirp chirp) of this blog may or may not know, Arabic today is distinguished by a marked diglossia-- a word made of Greek roots, meaning literally "two tongues." And if we keep in mind that in ancient times (and still in the speech of some people today) "tongue" could mean language, then the meaning of "diglossia" is apparent: it describes a language that in fact consists of two different languages, usually a higher variety used for writing, news broadcasting, sermonizing, oratory, etc. and a lower variety which is used for all other matters or affairs. Arabic is a prime example of this phenomenon, as the written language, when spoken quickly, would be unintelligible to one who knew only a dialect, and vice versa. Complicating the matter is the fact that they are many more dialects of Arabic than there are Arabic countries, and due to the vagaries of international contact and the ways they have evolved many of these dialects are unintelligible to one another.

About a year ago a Saudi computer student decided that this was a ridiculous situation, and attempted to do something about it. He created a website called المعجم -- Al Mo3jam or "the lexicon." It is more or less an Arabic version of the website "Urban Dictionary", where Arabs (or anyone who speaks some Arabic) can go to create new definitions for words or phrases particular to their dialect which might cause problems to a speaker of High Arabic attempting to speak or understand that dialect. This site is mostly in Arabic but also features entries in French and English.

The section of Omani Arabic currently hosts 9 entries, though in fact I intend to personally expand this section significantly. For now let me translate the nine articles currently found under the Omani Arabic section:

http://ar.mo3jam.com/dialect/Omani

سَبلَه
sablah

سَبله كلمة عمانية محلية وتعني " المظلة الكبيرة " والتي غالبا ما تكون مصنوعة من سعف النخيل أو الأسبلتو. وقد يرجع أصل الكلمة إلى " السَبل" وهو إنزال جفن العين لتغطية العين. وقديماً، كان لكل ولاية عمانية مجلس عام يُسمى بال " السبلة العمانية " وهو المجلس
اللذي تتناقش فيه قضايا المجتمع المحلي وتغطى جميع الإشكاليات بين الأفراد

خلا نروح نجلس تحت السبلة
الشمس حامية، قوموا نروح تحت السبلة
وابوي مطر، ركضوا تحت السبلة

Translation: "Sablah" is a local Omani word and means "a big gazebo" and which, predominantly, is what is produced from the fronds of the palm tree or the Aspoloto (?). The origin of this word goes back to "Al sabl" and this is the lowering of the eyelid to the covering of the eye. And in olden times, every Omani province had aa general Majlis (council) which was called "The Omani Sabla." And this was the Majlis which discussed/debated local social conflicts and covered all of the problems between individuals.

Examples:
Let's go and sit under the Sablah.
The sun is hot, get up and let's go under the Sablah
Because of the rain (I am translating "Abuuwi" as "because of" because this makes sense here, but as far as I know this is the Palestinian way of saying "my father"), they ran under the Sablah.

خاشوقه
khashojah (probably khashoqah in Oamn--CJ)

خاشوقه أو خاشوجه كلمة ذات أصل تركي بمعني شوكة.
و الشوكة هي اداة تستخدم لتناول الطعام.
تستخدم الكلمة بالعراق و المناطق الساحلية بدول مجلس التعاون.

يا ولد جيب الخاشوقه

ابا خاشقه اكلبها الماكرونه

Translation:
Khashuqa or khashuga is a word whose orgins are Turkish, and which means "fork." (And) the "fork" is a utensil which you use to eat food (lol?).
The word is used in Iraq and the coastal regions in the area of the common sitting room (Majlis).

Examples:

Hey boy, bring the khashuqa(fork!)

aba khashuqa aklabha al makaruni--Not really sure what to make of this one.

مقمشة
moqamshah


المقمشة هى الكلمة المرادة ل " ملعقة " في سلطنة عمان. ونطقة المقمشة نفسه يختلف من منطقة إلى آخرى في السلطنة. ففي الشمال تنطق " مقمشة " و في الساحل الجنوبي تنطق " قفشة
".

عطيني المقمشة
قربي مقمشة
كِل المهلبية بمقمشة

Translation

The moqamshah is the commonly expressed word for "spoon" in the Sultanate of Oman. And the pronounciation of "moqamshah" itself differs from one region to another in the Sultanate. In the North, it is pronounced "moqamshah" and the the southern coast it is said as "qafsha."

Examples

Give me the moqamshah (spoon).
Bring me (closer) the mogamshah (spoon).
All of the pudding is in the moqamshah (spoon).

كشمه
kashma

كلمة ذات أصل هندي و تعني نظاره.

و الكلمة لا تزال تستخدم من قبل الافراد الذين ولدو قبل ١٩٧١ ميلاديه
وين كشمتي . ما اقدر اقرا الكتاب


Translation: An English translation is given with this article.

Kashma is a word of Indian origins that means glasses. This word is mainly used by people who were born before 1970.

Example
I can not read the book, were is my kashma

القاشع
Qasha3

القاشع هو سمك السردين المجفف. وتستخدم الكلمة بكثرة في المناطق الساحلية من السلطنة نظرا لكثرة إستخدام سمك السردين.

الغداء اليوم قاشع
ريحة القاشع واصلة أخر البلاد

Translation:

The "qaasha3" is dried sardine fish. And the word is used alot in the coastal areas of the Sultanate, given the frequent use of sardine fish (there).

Examples:

Lunch today is "qaasha3" (dried sardines).
The smell of qaasha3 (dried sardine) reaches the end of the country.


طس
ts (Tass--CJ)

بمعنى " اذهب " غير انها تستخدم عند الضجر !

طس باللي مايحفظك


Translation:

"Tass" means "Go!" (and) is not used except in anger!

Example:

Go (away) from that which does not preserve (benefit) you.

hehehe if you click on this one you get a message in Arabic telling you that it's not appropriate for young children and in order to preserve a "family friendly" atmosphere at al mo3ajam you will have to be registered to see it. You've been warned!

سنبول
sanbool


هذه الكلمة تعني فتحتة الشرج, او القضيب

اغسل سنبولك بعد التبول


Translation:

This word means the opening of the anus, or of the penis.

Example:

Clean your "sanbuul" after urinating.


I LOLed! haha