bahhar بحار
Tunisian Derja · noun
“bahhar” (بحار) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning sailor, fisherman.
Meanings
- sailor, fisherman
- seas (plural of 'sea')
Usage
Ba77ar refers to someone who lives from the sea: a sailor, seaman, and above all a fisherman in the Tunisian coastal towns. The word is common and neutral; the plural is ba77ara. One says for example khdem ba77ar, 'he worked as a sailor'. Written pitfall: the same Arabic spelling, without vowels, can be read bi7ar, plural of ba7r ('sea'), especially in standard Arabic sentences or in a figurative sense (bi7ar el-jahl, 'the seas of ignorance'). The doubled h distinguishes the profession. Only context can settle it, since arabizi rarely marks this doubled consonant.
Example
بوه بحّار في صفاقس
bouh ba77ar fi sfax
“His father is a sailor in Sfax.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “bahhar” but also “ba7ar”, “ba77ar” and “bahar”. 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.