3ara9iya عرقية
Tunisian Derja · noun
“3ara9iya” (عرقية) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning skullcap, small cap.
Meanings
- skullcap, small cap
- ethnic (adjective, from Standard Arabic)
Usage
3ara9iya means a small cotton cap or skullcap worn on the head, sometimes under the chechia. It is part of traditional men's dress, along with the jebba, the djellaba or the burnous. It should not be confused with the adjective 3er9iya, "ethnic", taken from Standard Arabic (tasfiya 3er9iya, "ethnic cleansing"). The two words are written the same way in Arabic, but they are pronounced differently and belong to different registers.
Example
لاباس جلباب و عرّقيّة و برنوس مقمّط في جد امّه ...
labes jelbeb wou 3ara9iya wou barnous m9amet fi jed ommou ...
“He's wearing a djellaba, a skullcap and a burnous, bundled up like his mother's grandfather…”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “3ara9iya” but also “3ara9ia”, “aragiya” and “3ar9iya”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 3 is ayn (ع), a voiced sound from deep in the throat with no English equivalent; 9 is qaf (ق), a k pronounced at the back of the throat.