[Sca-cooks] Memos from a Mastic Marathon....

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

Phlip wrote:
>On many of the Arabic recipes, there was the suffix,
>"iya", as in: Burinya, Tuffahiya, Madira, Raihaniya,
>Rutabiya, Labaniya, Hisrimiya, Halawiya, Rummaniya,
>Sumaqiya, Limuwiya, Mamquriya, Hubaishiya,
>Mishmishiya,
>Narenjiya, Masliya, Isfankiya, Rukhamiya, Itriya,
>Muhallibiya, Anbariya, Mishmishiya, Safarjaliya,
>Narenjiya, Fahtiya, Burniya, Basaliya, Raihaniya,
>Nurjisiya, Nujumiya, Buraniya al-Qar, Khudairiya,
>Makhfiya, Dinariya, and Rutabiya.
>
>Does this suffix have a particular meaning? Most of
>the above are some variant of lamb or red meat, but I
>think there were others which weren't, with that
>suffix. Also, was wondering if the "ija" in
>"Mudaqqaqat Sadhija" might be a variant of the "iya".
>Margali says that "iya" means "in the style of" much
>as the French "a la" does. Is that it, or is it an
>indicator of something else?

Like so many languages other than English, Arabic has masculine and
feminine gender for words, a terminology which confuses people, let's
say, blue and red color, and "iya" is the feminine, err, i mean red,
ending so that nouns and adjectives agree in gender, i mean color.

In the titles of food dishes it seems to be an adjective. In certain
names, it means it features a particular ingredient: as Thumiyya,
which means "Garlicy", that is featuring garlic, and "Tuffahiya"
which is "Apple-y", that is featuring apples. Rummaniya would feature
Pomegranates, Sumaqiya would feature sumac, Safarjaliya would feature
quinces, Labaniya would feature laban, sort of yogurt-cream cheese,
etc.

Or i suppose once could use "-like", as Mishmishiya, which is meat
balls shaped like apricots, thus "apricot-like". And "Bustaniyya",
which is "Orchardy", that is "Orchard-like", the Persian dish i
cooked that had almonds, pears, and peaches, all from the orchard.

Anahita