I don't think I can find a precise translation of the Arabic word na'iman. It is what you say to someone after he/she had a new haircut, a shower or a bath. I don't actually think that other languages have special expressions to greet people coming out of the barbershop or the bathroom! Anyway... Na'im in Arabic is comfort or bliss, but the expression na'iman probably means something like "may it be a bliss for you". The response (of the one with the new haircut) would be: "Allah yen'am 'alek" - "May God bestow bliss upon you".
3 comments:
i love your blog.. well done. i put a link to it on my own site, if you don't mind.
This word puzzeled me too and I too couldn't find a good translation for it. I like the pictuer and the subject. It brings sweet memories to me when we used to walk by such places and wonder what it feels like to have a hair cut there.
So he does have customers! I was in the souk the second day of the feast and passed by that very same barber shop in the photo. I thought it looked ancient and I wondered to myself whether anyone would actually cut their hair there....
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