9er9aba قرقابة
Moroccan Darija · noun
“9er9aba” (قرقابة) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning metal castanets of the Gnawa.
Meanings
- metal castanets of the Gnawa
Usage
Refers to a pair of large metal castanets, emblematic of Gnawa music. Musicians hold them in each hand and strike them together to produce a continuous rhythm, which accompanies the guembri and the songs during the lila. The word is used mostly in the plural, 9ra9eb, which means the instrument and sometimes, by extension, the characteristic sound of the Gnawa. The singular 9er9aba is rarer. It is not used for Spanish wooden castanets.
Example
الكناوة كيضربو بالقراقب
gnawa kaydarbo b l9ra9eb
“The Gnawa play the metal castanets.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “9er9aba” but also “9ar9aba”, “qarqaba” and “gar9aba”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 9 is qaf (ق), a k pronounced at the back of the throat.