Arabic-L:LING:more 'tooth' expression responses

[Dilworth Parkinson]

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Arabic-L: Tue 12 Apr  2005
Moderator: Dilworth Parkinson <dilworth_parkinson at byu.edu>
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1) Subject: more 'tooth' expression responses

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1)
Date: 12 Apr  2005
From:Dil Parkinson
Subject:more 'tooth' expression responses

A couple more responses came in after I posted the initial responses to  
the query, so for the sake of completeness, here they are:

Hi
Growing up in Lebanon I used to hear the following expression said many  
times when children start losing their milk teeth:
Ya Shams Ya Shammousi Wahyaat Ammi Mousi, Khedi Senn El Hmar wa  
A'eteeni Senn El Ghazal.
Meaning to exchange the ugly tooth with a nice bewutiful one with  
reference to the dee whom the Arabs consider as nice looking animal  
when they compare a girl's beautiful eyes to those of the deer
Regards
Nabil.
________

I am sure by now all Egyptians have responded and told you what the  
expression means.  However, I would like to put in my share.  First the  
last two words can be realized differently (senet alarees) for a boy  
and (senet al aruusa) for a girl.  This phrase is said when a child  
looses his or her baby tooth. The caretaker and the child recite this  
phrase together and throw the tooth in the air into the sun.  It means  
literally "Oh sun - shamousa is a nick name for sun- take the buffalo  
tooth and give us the tooth of a bride or a groom." Hope this helps

Sincerely,
Rajaa

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End of Arabic-L:  12 Apr  2005