Arabic names of the first municipal neighborhoods of the city of N'Djamena A study in meanings and connotations

Abstract

This study discusses the implications of the Arabic names for the first municipal neighborhoods of the city of N'Djamena, the capital of the Republic of Chad, knowing that the city of N'Djamena consists of ten municipalities. Each municipality includes several neighborhoods. The study focuses on the linguistic aspect and the meanings of names, due to their cultural meanings and historical connotations related to the life of society, which are presented after consultation with a brief presentation of the origins of the region and the first people to inhabit it.

    The study adopted an integrative approach that combines the descriptive approach with the analytical and historical approach at times, and also used the personal interview tool. A number of local and municipal officials were interviewed, and those interviews were recorded with their dates.

    The study reached results including:

 Most of the names of the neighborhoods came from the grasses that were grazed by the livestock of the residents of those areas, before they were transformed into civilian neighborhoods, or from the trees, valleys, or prominent birds and animals in those areas. It is sometimes called after its first inhabitants. Some of them contain historical connotations related to the struggle of the Chadians and major events in their country. Most of them are named in classical Arabic, or in the Chadian Arabic dialect, and are sometimes influenced by the French language system.

    The study recommended conducting research into the characteristics of the dialect of the Arabs of N'Djamena and its environs, known as the Arabs of Shari Baqirmi, with emphasis on the phonetic and lexical aspects, and on the aspects of linguistic overlap between the Arabic dialect and the French language in Chad, and in N'Djamena in particular.