الجزائر

See also: الجزاير and الجزایر

Arabic

Etymology

The broken plural of جَزِيرَة (jazīra, “island”) has come to be the proper name for Algeria, its capital, and the islands in its bay, as there were once several small islands in the Bay of Algiers. Most of these islands are now connected to the shore or have been removed. الْجَزَائِر (al-jazāʔir) is itself a truncated form of the city's older name of جَزَائِر بَنِي مَزْغَنَّى (jazāʔir banī mazḡannā, “the islands of (the tribe) Ait Mazghanna”), which was used by early medieval geographers such as Muhammad al-Idrisi and Yaqut al-Hamawi.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /al.d͡ʒa.zaː.ʔir/
  • (Algerian) IPA^(key): /(ɪ)d.dzaː.jir/
  • (Morocco) IPA^(key): /(ɪ)l.ʒa.zaː.ʔir/, /(ɪ)l.ʒa.zaː.jir/

• Audio:

  (file)

Proper noun

الْجَزَائِر • (al-jazāʔir) f pl

1. Algeria (a country in North Africa)
2. Algiers (the capital and largest city of Algeria)

Declension

Declension of noun الْجَزَائِر (al-jazāʔir)

Singular	basic singular diptote
	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	—	الْجَزَائِر al-jazāʔir	—
Nominative	—	الْجَزَائِرُ al-jazāʔiru	—
Accusative	—	الْجَزَائِرَ al-jazāʔira	—
Genitive	—	الْجَزَائِرِ al-jazāʔiri	—

Derived terms

• جَزَائِرِيّ (jazāʔiriyy)

 

Descendants

• → Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܓܲܙܵܐܝܼܪ (gazzāˀīr)
• → Azerbaijani: Əlcəzair
• → English: Algeria, Algiers
• → Spanish: Argelia
• → Malay: Aljazair

  → Indonesian: Aljazair

• → Turkish: Cezayir
• → Urdu: الجزائر (aljaza'ir)

References

• Wehr, Hans (1979) “جزر”, in J. Milton Cowan, editor, A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, 4th edition, Ithaca, NY: Spoken Language Services, →ISBN

Urdu

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic الْجَزَائِر (al-jazāʔir).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /əl.d͡ʒə.zɑː.jɪɾ/

• Audio (Pakistan):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ir

Proper noun

اَلْجَزَائِر • (aljaza'ir) m (Hindi spelling अल-जज़ाइर)

1. Algeria (a country in North Africa)
   • 2004, ایوب صابر [Ayyūb Ṣābir], معترضین اقبال : معترضین و مخالفین کے مختلف گروہ [Muʻtariz̤īn-i Iqbāl : muʻtariz̤īn o muxālifīn ke muxtalif giroh], New Delhi: انترنیشنل اردو پبلیکیشنز [International Urdu Publications], →OCLC, page 84:

     چناچہ الجزائر میں اسلامک سالویشن فرنٹ کو اقتدار میں نہ آ نے دیا گیا اور ترکی میں رفاہ پارٹی کی بساط لپیٹ دی گئی۔

     cunācih aljazā'ir meṉ islāmik sālveśan franṭ ko iqtidār meṉ na ā ne diya giya aur turkī meṉ rifāh pārṭī kī bisāt̤ lapeṭ dī ga'ī.

     Therefore, the Islamic Salvation Front was not allowed to come to power in Algeria and the Welfare Party in Turkey was overthrown.

Related terms

• الجزائری (aljaza'irī)

Further reading

• “الجزائر”, in ریخْتَہ لُغَت (rexta luġat) - Rekhta Dictionary [Urdu dictionary with meanings in Hindi & English], Noida, India: Rekhta Foundation, 2024.