# zine diali



## kam01008

Hello, Could anyone tell me what "zine diali" means? Thanks.


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## Whodunit

I think that they mean زينة (ziina) by "zine", however I can't find what diali is supposed to mean. It doesn't sound very Arabic to me, actually.


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## kam01008

It is a message from my Moroccan friend, and it says: “bonne nuit zine diali”; Maybe it is a Moroccan dialect??


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## ayed

Could it be :
_Zain ad-dalali_ which means his"beloved one--Sweetheart"?It is just a mere guess


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## fatiha

Hi 
its a Moroccan dialect
it means: my beauty
الزين ديالي 
zine=beauty
diali=for me

titi


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## kam01008

Thanks a lot. 
Do you know which part of Morocco this dialect comes from?


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## Mery_Dian

kam01008 said:
			
		

> Do you know which part of Morocco this dialect comes from?



Hi kam01008, 

This phrase is actually common to all regions in Morocco.
Zine : means beauty (as fatiha said) in Moroccan Arabic, and 
diali : means "my" or "mine"
So, _zine diali_ could be literally translated as "my beauty" ; but the phrase is an affectionate term of address, whose equivalent in English would be "sweetheart" or "honey"...


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## ayed

So my guess is right?
In Saudi, folk poets often describe their beloved ones"sweethearts"in their poems as:
_*Zain al-Dalali*_
_*Haseen al-Dalali*_


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## Mery_Dian

ayed said:
			
		

> So my guess is right?



Yes, your guess is definitely right ayed!


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## kam01008

Thank you all and have a great day!!


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## suma

can someone explain  what is this word "diali" is it from standard Arabic? how has is come to mean my or mine?

never heard this before. thanks


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## CarlosPerezMartinez

I was asked the same question by my Moroccan teacher when I was studying in Morocco. The fact is in their dialect they express possession by that word: dial- (diali, dialek, dialu..."el-kteb dialu= his book", etc.). He thought it comes from the Spanish "del" (of, from) which I doubt.
Sorry but I have no answer to your question...for the moment.


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## suma

OK interesting, it's a start anyway towards figuring where diali comes from.

the Egyptians have a similar thing I believe, b'ta3ee, b'ta3ak, b'ta3ah, etc.
il-3arabiyah b'ta3ah mu3atalah
his car is not working


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## ayed

In Saudi , we say sometimes :
Instead of saying" My book -- Kitabi (*كتابي*), we say " al-Kitab haqqi"(*الكتاب حقي*)


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## cherine

suma said:
			
		

> Egyptians have a similar thing I believe, b'ta3ee, b'ta3ak, b'ta3ah, etc.
> il-3arabiyah b'ta3ah mu3atalah
> his car is not working


Nice try, but we don't say mu3talah in colloquial, we say 3aTlaana عطلانة
and "his car" can either be : 3arabitoh/3arabeyyetoh عربيته or el-3arabeyya bta3toh العربية بتاعته.

I guess that the etymology of this word بتاع is from the word تبع (taba3) which mean affiliate or pertain to.


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## MarcB

في ليبيا و تونس يقولو متاع​


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## Mery_Dian

MarcB said:
			
		

> في ليبيا و تونس يقولو*ن* متاع​



In Moroccan Arabic we also use interchangeably (depending on the region) "ديال " and "نتاع " (originally "متاع").   
"ديال " is, by and large, more widespread. We also express possession or ownership in colloquial Moroccan Arabic by the final "ي "  (i: sound) as in most Arab dialects, like in "كتابي " or  "جاري " ...
NB: In Algerian Arabic, they, omit the "m" sound and would rather say "تاع " (ta3).



			
				suma said:
			
		

> can someone explain  what is this word "diali" is it from standard Arabic? how has is come to mean my or mine?



As for the etymology of _dial_, I do not have an exact idea about its origin. But as far as I know, Moroccan Arabic is a mix of Classical Arabic, Berber/Amazigh, French and Spanish, and has been much influenced by the Berber morphology and sound pattern.
I don't think that there exists even in old classical Arabic a word whose root is akin to _diali_. The same thing applies to berber/Amazigh, in which the possessive pronoun has no similarity with _diali_.



			
				CarlosPerezMartinez said:
			
		

> it comes from the Spanish "del" (of, from)



Hence, I assume that CarlosPerezMartinez's theory is the most plausible one. It is indeed possible that "dial" derives from the Spanish "del" and went through the process of _"moroccanisation"_. This wouldn't be surprising, bearing in mind that some Spanish words have probably been brought by Moriscos who spoke Andalusi Arabic (a variety heavily influenced by Spanish - more exactly Castilian), while other words might have been brought in through trade contacts with Spain.

_Meryem_


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