hamla حملة

Algerian Darja · noun

“hamla” (حملة) is a noun in Algerian Darja meaning campaign, organized collective action.

Meanings

1. campaign, organized collective action
2. flood, surge of a wadi

Usage

Hamla first refers to an organized action carried out by a group: a cleanup, reforestation, solidarity or collection campaign, or an election or advertising campaign. It is often used with the verb dar ("to do"): dar hamla, "to launch a campaign". The complement is built with the genitive taâ or directly: hamla taâ tandhif, "cleanup campaign". The word is also used for the sudden flooding of a wadi after heavy rain. In that case, the context (rain, wadi, flood) settles the meaning. This sense is rarer in online writing. The word belongs to the everyday register and presents no particular difficulty.

Example

How to write it in Latin letters

In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “hamla” but also “7amla” and “hmla”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.

Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 7 is ha (ح), a breathy h from the throat.

Type “hamla” on the Arabic keyboard

In Moroccan Darija

Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “flood, flash flood”; “campaign (electoral, awareness)”: 7emla in Moroccan.