Wednesday, October 28, 2020
Elder of Ziyon
As soon as the Jews set foot on the ground [in Algeria], they tried to desecrate and distort its heritage, and on a journey that wandered around the globe, they immigrated to Algeria, dissolving into society, learning its language, and wreaking havoc in it ... We open the archive of history, in search of Jewish profane linguists during their presence in guarded Algeria.
A number of examples are given of phrases that apparently are common in Algerian dialects of Arabic that they say are actually from Jews trying to destroy Algerian culture through language.
One is the word "makalah" which apparently means in colloquial Algerian "something that is not necessary." This article, and apparently many others, claim that the origin of the word is that Jewish traders in the market used to tell the Muslim traders with whom they traded that "ma kan ilah" which means "there is no Allah (in the market)." In other words, the Jews told the Muslim traders that they do not need to swear by Allah's name.
Another example - which may actually be true - is the Algerian word "haylula" which means tumult. They claim that it came from the Hebrew word "hilula," the celebration on the anniversary of the death of a major Jewish rabbinic figure.
They give a couple of examples where Jews apparently referred to Aisha, Mohammed's very young wife, in a derogatory manner - although they are not sure if that is of Shiite origin rather than Jewish.
Another example of "bakbuk," which means "bottle" in Hebrew as well as some Algerian dialects.
Why this is considered a desecration of language is anyone's guess.
(h/t Ibn Boutros)
