# cigarette / tobacco



## Josh_

Many western words are commonly used in Arabic for certain everyday objects.  A small list includes bus = باص or أوتوبوس ; television = تلفزيون or تلفاز ; telephone = تلفون ; sandwich = سندويتش ; etc.  But there are true Arabic words for all these objects:  حافلة ، مرناة ، هاتف ، شطيرة respectively.  In that vein I would like to know the Arabic word (or phrase, what I heard might have been more than one word) for cigarette, which is commonly rendered as سيجارة or سيكارة -- a western derived word.  I remember hearing the Arabic word one time, but for the life of me I cannot recall it.  So I was wondering if anyone knows what the word/phrase is?


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## baa7ith

I don't think a uniquely Arabic word exists...at least not in fus7a.

In Hijazi it's called دُخّان which comes from the fus7a تدخين.

I probably shouldn't be telling you this.  Please don't smoke.  Thanks.


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## WadiH

As Ba7ith said, a pack of cigarettes (but not an individual stick) is often referred to as دخّان (_di55an or du55an_) in Saudi Arabia.  Another popular but somewhat old-fashioned word is تتن (_titin, _verb: _yitattin_), which if I'm not mistaken, comes from Turkish.  However, I've never heard an individual cigarette ever referred to by anything other than زقاره (_zgarah_), which of course is the Arabianized form of سيجارة.


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## Mahaodeh

I've never heard of one other than dukhaan.


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## asadxyz

Hi
cigarette = دخينة = dakheena
Ref: Hans Wehr


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## avok

Wadi Hanifa said:


> Another popular but somewhat old-fashioned word is تتن (_titin, _verb: _yitattin_), which if I'm not mistaken, comes from Turkish.



Tütün


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## Haroon

I think it may be لفافة تبغ


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## cherine

Wadi Hanifa said:


> However, I've never heard an individual cigarette ever referred to by anything other than زقاره (_zgarah_), which of course is the Arabianized form of سيجارة.


Some Egyptians also pronounce it with a "z" instead of "s", but it's usually pronounced "segaara" (plural: sagaayer).



asadxyz said:


> Hi
> cigarette = دخينة = dakheena
> Ref: Hans Wehr


Although it sounds very good morphology-wise, I've never heard it or read it. So, I wouldn't recommend it.


Haroon said:


> I think it may be لفافة تبغ


Wow! bravo 3alek 
Yes, that's a correct word, it's been a long time I've never read this 

Note that the word تبغ itself is not Arabic


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## Haroon

^First , thanks for your nice reply.
Second , I'm trying to search to prove that تبغ  has an Arabic origin. If you have a prove of your opinion will you kindly tell us, I mean the source.
Note : as usual my slogan in Fair coversation is the Arabic proverb " أختلاف _الود_ لا يفسد _للرأى_ قضية " .


http://64.233.183.104/search?q=cache5uhOY30OywJ:www.sehetna.com/pages.php?PageID=69+"+التبغ+"&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=5&gl=eg

http://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/التبغ
" تحية بدون دخان "


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## cherine

Haroon said:


> I'm trying to search to prove that تبغ has an Arabic origin. If you have a prove of your opinion will you kindly tell us, I mean the source.
> Note : as usual my slogan in Fair coversation is the Arabic proverb " أختلاف _الود_ لا يفسد _للرأى_ قضية ".


بالتأكيد، اختلاف الرأي لا يفسد للود قضية

What I think is that تبغ is simply an arabization of the French word tabac (or the English word tobacco).
We need to know how our Arab neighbors pronounce the غ in تبغ , if they pronounce it as a "g", then this would explain why the word is transliterated with a غ (like كيلوغرام ) 

By the way, the links you provided don't give any cluse about the etymology of the word itself


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## Haroon

Oh , It just refers to the fact that there is an Arabic word ; which may be the origin and not the mere translation of the word Tobacco.You may say ( this is just a thought needs to be verified ) that Tobacco is the English word for the Arabic word تبغ.


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## cute angel

Here in Algeria we use the word دخان which derived from the word دخان (smoke)


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## clevermizo

I know this is getting off topic, but I think it merits being said: It may be that the word تبغ is of Arabic origin, but it must have meant something different in antiquity. Tobacco is a New World crop that was brought to Europe from the Americas by Europeans (15th/16th centuries), and then subsequently spread in trade throughout the rest of the world.

Legend has it that the word may be named after the island of _Tobago_ in the Caribbean. That may not be true, but one thing is sure, it is a Native American word of Caribbean origin.

*1535* OVIEDO _Hystoria de las Indias_ (1851) I. 131 A aquel tal instrumento con que toman el humo, o a las cañuelas que es dicho,* llaman los Indios* *Tabaco*: e no a la yerva o sueño que les toma (como pensavan algunos). _Ibid._ IV. 96 En lengua desta isla de Haiti o Española se dice tabaco.

*1588* HARRISON _Chronol._ in _England_ (1877) I. App. i. p. lv, In these daies [1573] the taking-in of the smoke of *the Indian herbe called Tabaco,* by an instrument formed like a litle ladell, wherby it passeth from the mouth into the hed & stomach, is gretlie taken-vp & vsed in England.

*Note "Indian" or "indios" in these references refers only to Native American, and not India.

**Can you find تبغ in لسان العرب? The 13th century precedes the arrival of the crop from the New World.


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## cherine

Haroon said:


> Oh , It just refers to the fact that there is an Arabic word ; which may be the origin and not the mere translation of the word Tobacco.You may say ( this is just a thought needs to be verified ) that Tobacco is the English word for the Arabic word تبغ.


Well, I wasn't say it's a "translation"  it's only an arabization, like تلفزيون، تليفون ...



clevermizo said:


> **Can you find تبغ in لسان العرب? The 13th century precedes the arrival of the crop from the New World.


Good remark  
I went to check, and there was no تبغ in Lisan al-3arab.


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## Haroon

^well , err.., I also didn't find any تبغ in any Arabic Mo3gam..
This may be due to the fact that the authors ( of these Ma3agem) were aganist smoking as it is a bad habit ...who Knows?

Edit: Here we are : in  المعجم العربي الحديث  لاروس I found the word تبغ but with the word  معرب in front of it.


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## Mery_Dian

I'd like to add something about the origin of _tobacco_. I think that the word has been borrowed twice: Europeans borrowed it from Arabic "_tabbaq_" to refer to the plant discovered in America; later on, the newly-coined word "*tabaco*" or "*tabacco*" underwent arabization process to become "*تبغ* ".

Here's what I found on the the _Online Etymology Dictionary_ and _answers.com_:



> Tobacco*:* 1588, from Sp._ tabaco,_ in part from an Arawakan language of the Caribbean, said to mean "a roll of tobacco leaves" (Las Casas, 1552) or "a kind of pipe for smoking tobacco" (Oviedo, 1535). Scholars of Caribbean languages lean toward Las Casas' explanation. But Sp. *tabaco (also It. tabacco) was a name of medicinal herbs from c.1410, from Arabic tabbaq,** attested since 9c. as the name of various herbs.* So the word may be a European one transferred to an American plant.


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## Josh_

I kept forgetting to return to this thread.  I want to thank all who participated.  لفافة تبغ might be the term I heard.  As it has been a while now since I heard it I can't quite remember.


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## Mahaodeh

You wouldn't hear it in everyday speach (at least not in the east), but you would find it in written texts in MSA.


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## TripoliTrotter

In the early 60's in Libya the common word was pronounced like "sipsee".


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## Bakr

*في اللهجة المغربية تستعمل كلمة
جارّو(الجيم تنطق مثل الجيم القاهرية)ـ Garro*


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## akhooha

TripoliTrotter said:


> In the early 60's in Libya the common word was pronounced like "sipsee".


 As far as I know, the word "سبسي" ("sebsi") is Moroccan Arabic and is used to refer to a long clay pipe...


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## TripoliTrotter

Thanks akhooha
I'm sure that 'sebsi' must be the word, nonetheless I regularly heard Tripolitanians of the time use it to refer to a cigarette.


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