Hi all,
I've recently come back from fieldwork in Marakech, and there became interested in, amongst other things, an everyday word used in the city and, though I'm less sure, across the country.
The word is 'gaorri' گاورّي (with both "broken" and feminine plurals; the shadda is debatable, I believe), and describes "whites, Westerners, Europeans" and carries a series of very complex connotations: Stupid, clever, diligent, conniving, blessed, damned, depending, of course, on context.
Some friends and I, all of whom know Darija (Moroccan Arabic) and other variants of Arabic, plus between us French, Hebrew, Spanish, are stumped as the genealogy of the word.
So, first, does anybody have any ideas as the genealogy of the word? Second, any recommendations as to reading on methods to track the histories of words that, very largely, are "only spoken"?
Regards to all,
Joe
*************************************************************
* Anthropology-Matters Mailing List
* http://www.anthropologymatters.com *
* A postgraduate project comprising online journal, *
* online discussions, teaching and research resources *
* and international contacts directory. *
* To join this list or to look at the archived previous *
* messages visit: *
* http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/Anthropology-Matters.HTML *
* If you have ALREADY subscribed: to send a message to all *
* those currently subscribed to the list,just send mail to: *
* [log in to unmask] *
* *
* Enjoyed the mailing list? Why not join the new *
* CONTACTS SECTION @ www.anthropologymatters.com *
* an international directory of anthropology researchers
*
* To unsubscribe: please log on to jiscmail.ac.uk, and *
* go to the 'Subscriber's corner' page. *
*
***************************************************************
|