Re: Telling time in Tunisia: the "drej"


Dr. Jamshid Ibrahim wrote:
benlizross wrote:


The first thing that occurred to me, being largely ignorant of Arabic,
was that a reflex of Latin tretius 'third' might be involved (e.g.
Italian terzo). Have you checked to see if they do this in Maltese?


The French infleunce on Tunesian Arabic is evident in the contraction
or shortening of Standard Arabic words. The similarity in sound could

the contractions have nothing to do with french influence. probably
combined berber influence and arabic stress patterns.

of course suggest some sort of relationship (if not folk etymology

.