t7iya تحية
Tunisian Derja · noun
“t7iya” (تحية) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning greeting, salute.
Meanings
- greeting, salute
- tribute, mark of respect
- salute addressed to someone
Usage
The word t7iya means a greeting or a tribute. It is found mainly in written or somewhat solemn formulas: alf t7iya ("a thousand greetings"), t7iya l-… ("greetings to…"), very common on social media to greet someone, a country or a group. In speech, to greet someone, people usually say aslema or ahla. The religious expression t7iyet el-jemaa (the greeting prayer of the mosque) belongs to religious vocabulary. The plural t7iyet is also used at the end of a message, like "regards".
Example
ألف تحية لكل التوانسة في الغربة
alf t7iya l kol ettwensa fel ghorba
“A thousand greetings to all Tunisians abroad.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “t7iya” but also “ta7iya”, “t7iyya”, “ta7iyya”, “tahiya” and “ta7ia”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Its Arabic spelling is not fixed either: you will find تحية and تحيه, all the same word.
Digits stand in for Arabic letters that have no Latin equivalent: 7 is ha (ح), a breathy h from the throat.
Type “t7iya” on the Arabic keyboard
In Algerian Darja
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Algerian Darja, where it means “greeting, salute to someone”; “tribute, shout-out”: tahiya in Algerian.