''Sidi'' or ''Sayidi'', also Sayyidi and Sayeedi, ( ar, سيدي, Sayyīdī, Sīdī (dialectal) " milord") is an Arabic masculine

title of respect A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify either generation, an official position, or a professional or academic qualification. In some languages, titles may be inserted between the f ...

. ''Sidi'' is used often to mean "saint" or "my master" in Maghrebi Arabic and Egyptian Arabic. Without the first person possessive object pronoun ''-ī'' (ي-), the word is used similarly in other dialects, in which case it would be the equivalent to modern popular usage of the English '' Mr''. It is also used in dialects such as

Eastern Arabic Eastern Arabic may refer to: * Mashriqi Arabic, one of the two main varieties of Arabic (as opposed to Western Arabic, also called Maghrebi Arabic or Darija), spoken in the Mashriq, the eastern part of the Arab world, * Levantine Arabic Levant ...

, as well as by Muslims of the Indian subcontinent in the Urdu language where, however, it does not have as much currency as '' Sayyid (same spelling: سيد)'', '' Janab'' or '' Sahib''.

Specific usage

Occasionally a respected member of Muslim society will be given the title ''Sidi'' by default in recognition of upright standing and wisdom. This especially applies to marabouts, hence the term appears in places and mosques named after one.

Morocco

*''Sidi'', the title, translated as 'Lord', used as a substitute for

Moulay :''Moulay is also a form of the Arabic title Mulay or Lalla, a Prince du sang (Prince of the blood)''. Moulay () is a commune in the Mayenne department in north-western France. See also *Communes of Mayenne The following is a list of the 240 c ...

by those male members of the ruling

Alawi Alawi ( ar, علوي), also transliterated as Alevi, Alevi, Alavi, Alawid, or Alawite (french: Alaouite), is an adjective denoting "of or related to Ali", the Prophet Muhammad's cousin. As a proper noun it is used by individuals, dynasties, place ...

dynasty sharing the first name of the Islamic prophet Muhammad *''Smiyet (or Smiyit) Sidi'', a style usually reserved for the Sovereign or the Heir Apparent, loosely, but imperfectly, translated as 'His Lordship' or 'Monseigneur'. Also is a title of respect used for a son bearing the same name as his father or grandfather

Saudi Arabia

In the Hijaz region of Saudi Arabia, the word is used as an honorific when addressing an older brother by many of the more traditional families.

Tunisia

Separate variants and a shift of meaning appeared: * ''Si'' means "Mister" or " Sir", while ''Sidi'' means "Master" or "

Saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-Š, holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...

", depending on the context. For example, older conservative Tunisian women call their husbands "Sidi", not by the first name; older conservative Tunisians (both men and women) call their older brothers "Sidi", especially when there is a large age difference between them. Some Tunisian grandparents also call their grandsons "sidi". Babysitters of Tunisian children who live with their grandparents also call the child that they take care of "sidi" if the child is a boy. '' Lalla'' (of Amazigh origin) when used in a social context, and '' Sayyeda'' when speaking about female saints, for example "''(Es-)Sayyeda El-Manoubiyya''" are female equivalents.

Andalus (Islamic Iberia)

The term was also used by Arabic Spanish, Portuguese and Berbers in Mozarabic-speaking Moorish Spain (cf.

El Cid Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (c. 1043 – 10 July 1099) was a Castilian knight and warlord in medieval Spain. Fighting with both Christian and Muslim armies during his lifetime, he earned the Arabic honorific ''al-sīd'', which would evolve into El ...

Sources

*{{cite book, last1=Ben Sedira, first1=Belkassem, title=Dictionnaire français-arabe de la langue parlé en Algérie, date=1910, location=Alger, page=391, publisher=Alger, Jourdan, url=https://archive.org/stream/dictionnairefran00abaluoft#page/390/mode/1up