dostour دستور
Moroccan Darija · noun
“dostour” (دستور) is a noun in Moroccan Darija meaning constitution (legal text).
Meanings
- constitution (legal text)
- formula asking permission
Usage
Dostour means the constitution of a state, notably in the expression dostour dial lblad (the country's constitution). You hear it mostly in political discussions and on television, where it comes from Standard Arabic. In a completely different register, the interjection dstour, often pronounced without the initial vowel, is a traditional formula for asking permission. It is said, for example, before pouring hot water on the ground or entering a place believed to be inhabited by spirits. The two uses must be distinguished by context.
Example
الدستور الجديد بدّل بزاف ديال الحوايج
dostour jdid beddel bzaf dial l7wayej
“The new constitution changed a lot of things.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “dostour” but also “dstour”, “doustour” and “destour”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “dostour” on the Arabic keyboard
In Tunisian Derja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Tunisian Derja, where it means “constitution (a state's fundamental law)”; “phrase asking permission before acting”: dostour in Tunisian.