# Egyptian Arabic: ga3mez - قعمز/جعمز



## Hemza

Hello everyone,

What does mean the word جعمز mean? My Egyptian friend told me it by message without explaining me its meaning and I couldn't understand in spite the context
(جعمز يابني) I guess it's a verb but I have never met it before.

Thank you.


----------



## ahmedcowon

It's used in Upper Egypt (اللهجة الصعيدية) to mean اقعد/اجلس. We don't use it in other parts of Egypt.


----------



## djara

It's also used in some parts of Tunisia and Libya with the same meaning.


----------



## Hemza

Thanks


----------



## akhooha

I notice that someone has added the spelling "قعمز" to the heading of this thread. Given that this word is used, as ahmedcowon said, only in Upper Egypt, is there a justification for this spelling? Is there really an alternate pronunciation? Thank you.
Also, does anyone know the origin of this word? Is it perhaps Coptic?


----------



## analeeh

The justification would presumably be that in upper Egypt and other rural bits q is pronounced g and j is j.


----------



## akhooha

Yes, I understand that. My question has to do with the pronunciation of this particular word. Is it pronounced with a "j" or with a "g"? (I have a suspicion that it's pronounced with a "j" --- if this is so, what it the justification for writing it with qaaf?


----------



## Zoghbi

@akhooha 

This verb is well known in Algeria/Tunisia/Lybia and none of theses dialects have "g" for ج.


----------



## akhooha

Thank you.  Then there would appear to be no justification for writing it with a qaaf, right?


----------



## Hemza

Why? In many places, the ق is pronounced "g". I wrote it in the title with ج because this is how my friend wrote it to me but if I was at his place, I would either write it with ق or with ك (this latter I think is more common in Morocco than the rest of the Maghreb and I think Iraqis use it too). For example, my Egyptian friend writes اللغة الانجليزية while I write الانكليزية or الانقليزية but after all, we both pronounce it "ingliziia"


----------



## akhooha

Huh? You wrote it with a ج because your friend wrote it with a ج. Knowing that it's pronounced as a "j" (ahmedcowon observed that it was used only in اللهجة الصعيدية (which pronounces ج as "j") in Egypt and zoghbi has pointed out its use in Algeria/Tunisia/Lybia where it is pronounced only as "j"), what would possess you to write it with a ق or a ك??


----------



## Hemza

Because my friend isn't from الصعيد and doesn't speak صعيدي and I didn't know this word was used only in الصعيد. To make short, I had no idea about the existence of this word. I wrote it with ج because he wrote it to me like this.
In my last message, I meant that if I was at his place, as a non Egyptian, if I had to use this word, I would have written it with either ق or ك because these are the letters I use to represent the sound "g". And if comes an Algerian, Tunisian or Libyan to write  it, I'm sure he would write it with ق.


----------



## elroy

In Palestinian Arabic we have the word مجعمص (mja3maS) which means "picky" (as in "a picky eater").  We also have the verb جعص (ja3aS) meaning "to sit as if on a throne"; it's used to describe someone who sits in a prized or very comfortable seat or in a manner that suggests self-importance.  I wonder if this Upper Egyptian/North African verb has similar connotations?  I also wonder if it's related to our adjective مجعمص ("picky").  A connotation between "regal seating" and pickiness seems plausible.


----------



## cherine

elroy said:


> In Palestinian Arabic we have the word مجعمص (mja3maS) which means "picky" (as in "a picky eater").  We also have the verb جعص (ja3aS) meaning "to sit as if on a throne"; it's used to describe someone who sits in a prized or very comfortable seat or in a manner that suggests self-importance.  I wonder if this Upper Egyptian/North African verb has similar connotations?  I also wonder if it's related to our adjective مجعمص ("picky").  A connotation between "regal seating" and pickiness seems plausible.


I don't know if they're related. But we have the verb انجعص enga3aS, and the noun mag3uuS, for sitting too comfortably, but I've never heard مجعمص (for this we have enef إنِف).


----------



## akhooha

Perhaps it's obsolete, but ElSaid Badawi's dictionary of Egyptian Arabic records the verb جعمص and the adjective  مِجَعْمَص


----------



## djara

elroy said:


> I wonder if this Upper Egyptian/North African verb has similar connotations?


Not in Tunisian. 
مـڨعمز sitting
ڨعمز sit down, have a seat


----------



## Hemza

I heard that this word is also used in some places in Morocco (I don't know where but certainly not mine). I guess it might be near the Southern Moroccan border with Algeria/Mauritania. It's a pity we lack Mauritanian speakers, to know .


----------

