7sira حصيرة
Tunisian Derja · noun
“7sira” (حصيرة) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning woven mat laid on the ground.
Meanings
- woven mat laid on the ground
- rush prayer mat
Usage
The word hsira refers to the traditional mat woven from rush or esparto grass, spread on the ground for sitting, sleeping or praying, at home, in the mosque or outdoors in the shade of a tree. It is used with verbs like farech (to spread out) or lamm (to roll up). The word belongs to everyday and rural life vocabulary, and often appears in stories and childhood memories. For an English speaker, it is not a wool rug (zarbiya) or a mattress: the hsira is thin, stiff and woven. The common plural is hsayer.
Example
فرش الحصيرة تحت الزيتونة وقعد يرتاح.
farech el 7sira ta7t ez-zitouna w 9a3ed yerta7.
“He spread the mat under the olive tree and sat down to rest.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “7sira” but also “hsira”, “hssira”, “7ssira” and “hasira”. 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 “7sira” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “mat, woven rug”; “prayer mat”: 7sira in Moroccan.