tahara طهارة
Tunisian Derja · noun
“tahara” (طهارة) is a noun in Tunisian Derja meaning circumcision.
Meanings
- circumcision
- circumcision celebration
- ritual purity
Usage
In Tunisia, tahara refers above all to a little boy's circumcision. The word also refers to the celebration that goes with it: guests, music, traditional outfit (jebba, chechia) for the child. One says "3mal tahara l weldou" (he had his son circumcised, he organized the celebration) or "nhar et-tahara" (the day of the circumcision). The circumcised child is called "mtahher". The religious sense of ritual purity, linked to ablutions, also exists but is more formal. Pitfall: outside a religious context, an English speaker should not understand it as "cleanliness".
Example
عملوا طهارة كبيرة لولدهم
3amlou tahara kbira l weldhom
“They organized a big circumcision celebration for their son.”
How to write it in Latin letters
In Arabizi, Darija written in Latin letters, you will find “tahara” but also “thara” and “tahra”. No spelling is official: people write the sounds as they hear them.
Type “tahara” on the Arabic keyboard
In Moroccan Darija
Spelt the same way in Arabic, the word also exists in Moroccan Darija, where it means “circumcision and its celebration”; “ritual purity”: thara in Moroccan.