# كوبرى



## seta

Hi! Could you tell me what كوبرى mean in Arabic? There is not a typo..it is not kubra from kabir. In my dictionary I have found kubri = bridge.Is it correct?


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## londonmasri

AS far as I know كوبرى (kobri) means bridge in Egyptian Arabic (possibly some other dialects?)


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## seta

Thanks a lot


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## Blue_Rose

londonmasri is correct, but I wanted to add that it's also used in many other dialects and is understood perfectly in most Arabic dialects.


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## Daybreaker

Hi,

just wanted to add, that كوبري derives from the Turkish word "köprü" (bridge).


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## Xence

> understood perfectly in most Arabic dialects.



Not in the Maghreb, as far as I know.


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## Mahaodeh

Blue_Rose said:


> it's also used in many other dialects



Really? I didn't know that? Can you tell us which dialects?

All the dialects I'm familiar with use جسر.


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## Archaeomania

Peace to be with u,

I'm Egyptian, and yeah..Kobri means "bridge" or "puente" en español...as u know...bridge means the physical structure which leads from on side to the other..viz.. spans river, ravin..etc. But what i wanna add is that, Kobri or Jiser or Qantara mean also the mean by which something transfer from one place to the other...

namely..for example: "Spain is the bridge which transfered Arabic culture to Europe"

إسبانيا هي الجسر أو القنطرة التي نقلت الثقافة العربية إلى أوربا


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## rayloom

Mahaodeh said:


> Really? I didn't know that? Can you tell us which dialects?
> 
> All the dialects I'm familiar with use جسر.



kubri (plural kabaari) is used commonly in Saudi Arabia. It's reserved though for segmental bridges.
جسر covers all bridge types.


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## إسكندراني

جسر in egypt implies a longer bridge, while كوبري applies to any bridge
I dont think it is a widespread word outside of areas where there had been strong turkish influence, i'm surprised they use it in saudi but i suppose we are your neighbours and had been the engineer-providers prob too..
a curiousity is that the spelling كوبري is evidence that this is definitely a turkish loanword, bc the و is not a long sound and arabs sometimes like to do this when importing words (فيسبوك not فيسبُك). In fact our sudanese neighbours officially write it as كُبرِي - which is how I prefer it tbh as thats how everyone pronounces it


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## RestlessSoul

Hello everybody,

I'm new to the forums. Well, I joined a long time ago but never had the courage to participate .  I hope you accept me with you here )
I saw the heading of this thread and entered because of something that happened to me a couple of days ago.  I was translating the word 'bridge' within a certain text, and the client told me specifically that the translation will be viewed by 'Jordanian' audience (it as a subtitle to a small video clip).  Being of Egyptian origin I translated it as كوبري (without much thinking).  My client sent the translation to a checker who picked up on the word and said "it seems your translator is Egyptian.  We "Jordanians" don't use this word.  We use جسر instead".
That's why I changed it.

I think this proves that this كوبري/جسر is regional and one will be more readily understood in some parts of the Arab world than the other.
Regards to all


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## إسكندراني

I wonder if they use this word in syria then?


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## Xence

I would like to add that in Algeria we use the term قنطرة (pronounced _gantra_, in many regions), or the French "_pont_". The first time I came across the word كوبري, that was in the last century 60's when I discovered my first Egyptian magazines, like Al-Musawwir, Akher Sa3a, etc. But since Egyptian printing-houses put the final ي without dots, I have always read it as _kobra_, which was sounding very weird.. not too far from some snake name !


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## Masjeen

إسكندراني said:


> I wonder if they use this word in syria then?



سوريا والعراق يستخدمون كلمة جسر


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## Xence

Xence said:


> in Algeria we use the term قنطرة (pronounced _gantra_, in many regions),



Sorry, the correct transliteration is _gan*T*ra _.


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## إسكندراني

كلمة قنطرة (وجمعها قناطر) إذاً الظاهر أنّها مقبولة عند الجميع. هل ((جسر)) نادرة الإستخدام في المنطقة المغاربية إذاً؟


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## Archaeomania

Good day for all..

Actually i know what is the linguistic root of the word "Qantara" which affected on the spanish language as "Alqantara"..which means actually "the arched bridge" from the root "Qan´tara" (with stress on n)- "yoqanter"-"Qan´tara"...

but i really don´t know what is the actual root of the word "Jisr"??...and i looked up in the Arabic Lexicon but was unfortunately in vain!!.

Regards helpers...


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## Archaeomania

But i forgot to say that...although "alqantara" means really "the arched bridge"...with the passing of time..became conferring to all the bridges, whatever they shape.....but we have to keep in mind that..that word was giving to the medieval bridges which were all with arches...

Adios..


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## Xence

> هل ((جسر)) نادرة الإستخدام في المنطقة المغاربية إذاً؟



طبعا، كلمة "جسر" تستخدم في اللغة الرسمية.. أما الدارجة فلازالت تحافظ على كلمة "قنطرة".. وقد تجد بعض الأماكن التي تحمل اسم "قنطرة كذا"، بل هنالك بلدة صغيرة بولاية بسكرة تدعى *القنطرة*


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## Mahaodeh

قنطرة is also used in colloquial in the Levant to mean "small bridge", up to my knowledge.


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## إسكندراني

إذاً
-١|الإنتشار-
==في وادي النيل والسعودية==
»جسر» = واصل ضفّتين طويل و مُسَطَّح نسبيّاً
»كُوبْرِي» (مصر والسعودية) \ «كُبْرِي» (السودان) = أيّ واصل ضفّتين
»قنطرة» = واصل صغير،  و توجد عدّة قرى إسمها «القناطر» و «القنطرة» في أنحاء الوجه البحري في مصر
_== في المغارب ==ـ
»جسر» = أي واصل (رسميّاً)ـ
قنطرة» = أي واصل (في الدارجات)، وتوجد قُرى إسمها «القنطرة» في تونس والجزائر
«پونت» = أي واصل - وأصلها فرنسي
=في الشام وبقية الدول=
«جسر» = واصل كبير
«قنطرة» = واصل صغير
-٢|الأصل-
«قنطرة» أصلها عربي وتتعلّق بالتقوّس ولم نقدر تحديده بالضبط
«جسر» أصلها عربي ولم نقدر تحديده بالضبط
«كُوبْرِي \ كُبْرِي» أصلها تركي وتُنطق كلاهما كالأخيرة لكن فرق الإملاء في الأولى بسبب قواعد كتابة اللغات الأجنبية بالأبجدية العربية.ـ
«pont» أصلها فرنسي


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## WadiH

In Riyadh, it usually only refers to an underpass or (less commonly) an overpass on a highway.  It's also used in football to mean passing the ball between an opponent's legs.


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## RestlessSoul

وفي مصر أيضًا هناك
"القناطر الخيرية" وتستخدم كسدود على ما أعتقد


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## إسكندراني

القناطر الخيرية إسم مدينة صغيرة، وهي سدود للزراعة فعلاً ولكن أيضاً يمر من فوقها المشاة.


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