# All dialects: grandmother



## MarcB

Which countries use sito for grandmother?


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## Egyptlover

It's used in Egypt but it's pronounced "sitto", and there are several words used for grandmother beside it; for example: tita, nina, nannaa, anna. I myself never used the word "sitto"; I call my grandmother "tita".


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## elroy

"Sitto" is used in Palestinian Arabic as well.  We also use "taata" and "teeta."


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## MarcB

So sitto works in Egypt and Palestinian. I think I have heard it for Lebanon and Syria can anyone confirm?What words are used in other dialects?


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## rayloom

In Hijazi we use:
sitto for grandmother, and siido for grandfather.
teeta is quite rare.


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## Arabus

_Sitt _is an ancient Yemenite (Himyarite) word meaning a "woman." It means "Mrs." or "grandmother" in various urban dialects. In Syria it means "grandmother," except in the north (Aleppo) where it is never used. In Aleppo we call a grandmother _naane _(vocative: _naana_), which is also used in Turkish.


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## i_guess_i_am_a_genius

We use sitt in 9e3eedi too
but if we want to sound proper, we say jedda


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## Outlandish

Arabus said:


> _Sitt _is an ancient Yemenite (Himyarite) word meaning a "woman."



Is it really an ancient Arabic word? Others claim that the word  سـِتّ comes  from the name of the ancient Egyptian goddess Isis, originally Is-set.  It was not used in old days but rather in more recent times, and the  only known words were جدّة / جدّ. 

Regardless of the concrete reality about its origin, I think the word could be easily traced back to MSA. سـِتّو probably came from سـِـت which comes from the Arabic word سيدة.  It is an acknowledged colloquial tendency to reduce the number of  vowels in the one word, for example the Egyptians do not pronounce صالحة as (SaleHah) but as (SalHa), سامية  not (sameyah) but (samya). In _setto _"sayyidato",  the (ayy) part was turned to (i) as in many other instances and the (d)  "voiced alveolar" was assimilated to the (t) "voiceless alveolar" so we  have double (t) in _sitto_. Thus, (sayyidato) became (setto). 

This can be better explained with سيدو (sido). It comes from the Arabic word سيد (sayyid),  colloquially pronounced (seed), plus the (o) suffix. I think this makes  more sense and explains the relatively modern emergence of these two  usages, _sitto _and _sido_. 

Regarding the (o) endings affixed to the words used for calling some  second-degree relatives in Egyptian and Levantine dialects and other  dialects: سـِتّو، سـيدو، خالو، خالتو، عمو، عمتو, it may have resulted from confused usage of pronouns. The word a grandchild would use to call his grand mom/dad, etc are: سيدتي/ سيدى, خالي/خاتي... so the parents would call their own parents سيدته (sayidatuh/later: sittuh) literally: his granny/my child's granny, and سيده (sayyiduh/later: seeduh), خاله (khalahul later: khalo). 

In 19th century Egypt, and probably earlier, barriers were being built  in the relationships between relatives, they were strictly formalized.  An ordinary woman couldn't call her husband by his name when she talks  about him but would call him (si 'whatever'), (el-beyh bta3i), and he  would call her (Haramna), and grand parents (sett and seed), etc. This formality in many spheres of life was one of the hallmarks of the long Turkish presence in the Arab world.


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## WadiH

_Sitt _ is just a shorter form of _Sayyidah(t)_.


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## Sidjanga

elroy said:


> "Sitto" is used in Palestinian Arabic as well.  We also use "taata" and "teeta."


So where does the "o" (و, ه?) come from - or else: where does it go if you add a personal suffix?

I thought it was just ستي, ستك, etc.


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## Outlandish

Speaking about my country, and as I explained earlier Sidjanga, this is due to a cultural feature in our life that was especially present during the Ottoman presence and royal rule in Egypt. It is the formality which dominated all relationships, even husband-and-wife relationship, son and father, grandson and grandparent. There was excessive respect (to the point of being fake) and use of titles to call the nearest kins. Calling one's grandmother سيدتي is in itself a proof on this excess. Until today, remnants of this feature are still present. A woman would tell her friends :  مش حانقدر نيجى أصل بابانا مش حايقدر يوصلنا النهاردة
She calls her husband بابانا (baba-na). Of course he is not her father, she means to say: my children's father. Similarly the word probably was sometimes used as "my son's gramma", until the third person suffix was the only form used even when the first person pronoun (ي) is expected to be used.


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## Sidjanga

Thank you, Outlandish.





Outlandish said:


> ...until the third person suffix was the only form used even when the first person pronoun (ي) is expected to be used.


But in what situations do people actually say "ستّو" nowadays?

I only ever heard people say "ستّي"\"ستّك", or daugthers-in-law directly referring to them as "حماتي"(that's the word I believe).
I don't remember anyone ever saying "ستّو" (in Bethlehem and surroundings).


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## إسكندراني

In my family we distinguish between Maternal grandmother ستّو and Paternal grandmother نينا


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## WadiH

Sidjanga said:


> Thank you, Outlandish.But in what situations do people actually say "ستّو" nowadays?
> 
> I only ever heard people say "ستّي"\"ستّك", or daugthers-in-law directly referring to them as "حماتي"(that's the word I believe).
> I don't remember anyone ever saying "ستّو" (in Bethlehem and surroundings).


 
Some communities in Mecca, Medina and Jeddah use ستّو for grandmother and سيدو for grandfather.


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## rmly35

Hello,

I would like to find out how to say grandmother and the pronounciation in arabic. I know there is more than one way. My father is Palestinian my mother is American. I didn't learn arabic as much as I would like. I looked it up online extensively before I chose teta pronounced te (long a sound) and ta (as in the word "luck") for my grandchildren to call me but my relatives tell me this is wrong that it should be both a's with the long a sound or siti. I feel so dumb! I hope I don't have to change my name. Please help!


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## Mahaodeh

Don't feel dumb, you are not totally off.

If you are Palestinian and you are their mother's mother then teita is what you would use, if you are their father's mother then it could be either teita or sitto/sitti.

Teita is pronounced this way: T (and t) is like the english t, ei is like the a in rare (or the ai in fair) and the final a is a long a similar to the a in task.

I think your mistake is probably in the first vowel not the second one because if you got the first one right then the second one will be OK even if it's a little too short.

I hope this helps.


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## Abu Rashid

Or the standard Arabic word is "jaddah".


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## rmly35

Thank you both for your replys.

 Do you think I am "off" enough that I should change the spelling and pronounciation that I have been using? As you said I am not totally off but I don't want to insult the arabic language that I am very proud of even though I don't know enough of it. Both of my grandchildren are only 2 but they know my name (Teta) very well.

Thank you!


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## Mahaodeh

Oh, no, I don't think so; so what if you slightly mispronounced the vowel, I don't think it's a big deal - especially that it wouldn't have different meaning if you do.

I generally advise people to take it a little easy, things like pronunciation will fall in place in their own time.


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## rmly35

Thank you Mahaodeh, I feel better now. 
I was becoming very embarrased of the pronounciation I used. I can say that it is the way my grandchildren chose to say it.


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## Bruss04

In Libya I heard "7anna"


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## ayed

Abu Rashid said:


> Or the standard Arabic word is "jaddah".


 So do we use it out there in the desert..


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## baby_milkshake

rayloom said:


> In Hijazi we use:
> sitto for grandmother, and siido for grandfather.
> teeta is quite rare.



I was going to say.. that in 7ijazi dilect they use Sitto


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## hiba

I've heard بيبي used by Iraqis


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## Abu_721

My grandmother was syrian from Homs while my grandfather syrian as well from Hamah. We called then Tette (grandmother)and 2ejdedo (grandfather). This last form seems to derive from the broken plural of the word jadd which means grandfather in classical arabic, its broken plural is 2ajda:d. jadd/2ajda:d. 
By the way can some native arab tell me how do you spell and write tetta or tette (depending on the dialect) in arabic?


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## tounsi51

In Tunisia

نانا
عزيزتي
مماتي
حنينتي
امي يا
امي يامي
جدتي


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## emanko

In Egyptian
ستو - ستي  تيتا 
And some may choose westernized words such as 
انّا - نانّا
I personally use teita تيتا , but when my grandma was alive, I called her "Mama Aneesa" So, I used "mama + her first name.

As for the question about the final "o" or final "i" sound in sitto/sitti. In Egyptian, these are suffixes added to the words we use to call family members.
For example, 
خالتو/ خالتي
عمو/عمي
جدو/جدي
ستو / ستي
My personal preference is the "o" but sometimes I use the "i".
Example:
I love you , auntie. 
بحبك يا خالتو
بحبك يا عمو
I never hear people say:
بحبك يا خالة/ يا عم


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## aljogruber

We are Lebanese and my mother (who was from the north mountain village of Tourzah)  always used the term Sitti.  She said my father's mother (he was from the south- Nabathia) also used Sitti.


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## Dhawawdi

In Algiers it's most commonly لعجوزة which literally means old woman.


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## sdiab

rmly35, my grandma is from southern lebanon and her dialect shares many features with palestinian dialects, and i’ve always called her té-ta in the way you described, so i don’t think you should feel weird about it.

Could one say that forms ending in ‘o’ like ستّو, جدّو are used when speaking directly to the grandparent, while other forms (جدة, جد, جدتي, جدي etc) are more often used when referring to the grandparent?


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## emanko

No, Sdiab, at least not in Egyptian Arabic.
I say 
جدو ، خالتو،عمو
even when I'm talking about them.


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## sdiab

thanks emanko, yeah i didn’t grow up speaking much arabic beyond the basics so i’m actually just trying to clarify what’s normal usage for a fluent speaker. I’ve always called them تيتا وجدّو when talking to people within my family and ستّي وجدّي when talking to people outside of the close family. I wonder how normal that is. I would personally feel strange talking to a stranger and saying something like تيتا عملت كبة


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## emanko

Yes, you are right.
جدو/تيتا
are used more within the close family. When you're talking about them to a stranger, you can use both forms. It's up to you. 
I personally use the names of my uncles and aunts within the close family.
خالتو سمية /عمو سمير
And when I'm talking to someone who doesn't know them, I probably will prefer
خالتي/عمي


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## AbbyLineheart

rmly35 said:


> My father is Palestinian my mother is American. I didn't learn arabic as much as I would like. I looked it up online extensively before I chose teta pronounced te (long a sound) and ta (as in the word "luck") for my grandchildren to call me but my relatives tell me this is wrong that it should be both a's with the long a sound or siti.


We are Syrian and My entire family and extended families call our grandmothers Tita. And our grandfathers Gido or Giddo, other family members spell it with two “d’s”. Same ending sound as you described above as in the word “luck” that “uh” sound at the end of Tita = (uh). And who cares about the first vowel, we say a long “I” like Tiiiita but I think your Teta version like Taayta or Teeta is cute! Seeing as this post is like 8yrs old, your grand kids are probably so big now!!!

Cheers!!


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## She'lock Holmes

I grew up speaking Lebanese from my mother's family when I was a child but I ended up mixing them up (with a significant Syrian influence) later.

I do recall using تاتا (and/or تيتا?) when I was quite young which is probably why it feels 'childish' to me and I believe I used سِتّي too. But جدِّتي exists now too which I suppose is an influence from MWA.


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## Aliatas017

بعض العرب بيقولو حَبََب بالتركيا


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## Hemza

In Morocco, I know
حنّا
جدّة
أمّي لالّا (note that أمي has two pronunciation in Morocco: "ummi" and "emmoui" basically the former being urban the latter being rural).

I use جدّة

I always make fun at the way Moroccans (and even any Arab actually  ) call their grand mother/father . I find the words funny sounding. And this thread made me quite laugh hahaha.



hiba said:


> I've heard بيبي used by Iraqis


  this is turkey name in Morocco  (after its sound).



tounsi51 said:


> In Tunisia
> عزيزتي


I heard عزوزة too (by Tunisians and Libyans). Is grand mother the intended meaning or just old woman?


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## Finland

In Sudanese Arabic, "grandmother" is almost invariably حبوبة, pronounced 7abbooba.

HTH
s


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## fenakhay

Hemza said:


> In Morocco, I know
> حنّا
> جدّة
> أمّي لالّا (note that أمي has two pronunciation in Morocco: "ummi" and "emmoui" basically the former being urban the latter being rural).
> 
> I use جدّة
> 
> I always make fun at the way Moroccans (and even any Arab actually  ) call their grand mother/father . I find the words funny sounding. And this thread made me quite laugh hahaha.



There is also لالة/لالا (lālla) alone for grandmother. I use امي لالة (emmi lālla) for great-grandmother.
لالة/لالا is another word where its ending is either treated as ة or ا (لالاها (lāllāha) or لالتها (lāllatha) for her grandmother)


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## fenakhay

Hemza said:


> I heard عزوزة too (by Tunisians and Libyans). Is grand mother the intended meaning or just old woman?



We use عجوزة (3gūza) for mother-in-law in Morocco  (never used in their presence since it is offensive lol).


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## tounsi51

Hemza said:


> I heard عزوزة too (by Tunisians and Libyans). Is grand mother the intended meaning or just old woman?



It only means old woman


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## laa11c

We called our Libyan grandparents Henaina (grandmother) and Shadaydah (grandfather).


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## wriight

Some North Lebanese say تَيْتا _tayta_, vs. the _tēta_ (which is usually also spelled تيتا) that's found in surrounding areas. This is the vocative term everyone mostly uses these days, no matter its pronunciation, even though ستّو _sitto_ would still be understood because we use ستّ _sitt_ to mean "grandmother".


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## Schem

People in Gassim use يوه yōh or يُمَّه يوه yumma(h) yōh for 'grandmother'.

Personally, I use the former as a vocative for my mother while I employ the method of ummi + name for my grandmother yielding أمي نورة ummi nūreh.


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## y7alh

MarcB said:


> Which countries use sito for grandmother?


Al3rabia Ass3dia


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## y7alh

ستي Is hijazi for Maternal grandmother
bebe
gada
teteh
nana
habbooba
siti


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