Bsaha

What it is

B'ssaha literally means “with health” and is a set phrase of Moroccan Arabic that fits many situations: said to someone who is eating or drinking, wearing new clothes or coming from the barber¹. Extended to “B'ssaha u raha”, with health and well-being, it corresponds when eating and drinking roughly to “enjoy your meal” or “cheers”².

Richard S. Harrell’s dictionary of Moroccan Arabic (Georgetown University, 1966) lists ṣeḥḥa with the meanings “health” and “strength” and records the exclamation b-ṣeḥḥtek in its own right: it is said to someone who has just had a haircut or a bath or is wearing a new shirt or a new suit³. The same root is found in ṣḥiḥ, “strong, healthy, genuine, correct”, and in the query be-ṣ-ṣeḥḥ?, “really?”⁴.

There is also the form addressed to the person, “B'sahtak”, to several people “B'sahtkoum”, which is said to someone who has just had a haircut, come from the baths or is wearing something new⁵.

Where it comes from

The phrase goes back to the Arabic ṣiḥḥa, in Standard Arabic “health”, but also “correctness, genuineness, validity”; the related verb ṣaḥḥa means “to be healthy, to recover”, but also “to be true, to be correct”⁶. Harrell’s dictionary accordingly gives “truth” and “firmness” for the Moroccan ṣeḥḥ⁷.

When

The reply to all these formulas with ssaha is “Allah yaʿtik ssaha”, may Allah give you health too⁸; Harrell’s dictionary likewise records ḷḷah yaʿṭik ṣ-ṣeḥḥa as the set reply to b-ṣeḥḥtek⁹.

Towards the host there is a formula of its own: at the end of the meal, or when one cannot eat any more, one thanks him with “Allah yakhlef”, may Allah reward you¹⁰.