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

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

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 Maghrebi Arabic (, Western Arabic; as opposed to Eastern or Mashriqi Arabic) is a vernacular Arabic dialect continuum spoken in the Maghreb region, in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Western Sahara, and Mauritania. It includes Moroccan, Alger ...

and

Egyptian Arabic Egyptian Arabic, locally known as Colloquial Egyptian ( ar, العامية المصرية, ), or simply Masri (also Masry) (), is the most widely spoken vernacular Arabic dialect in Egypt. It is part of the Afro-Asiatic language family, and o ...

. Without the first person possessive object pronoun ''-ī'' (ي-), the

word A word is a basic element of language that carries an semantics, objective or pragmatics, practical semantics, meaning, can be used on its own, and is uninterruptible. Despite the fact that language speakers often have an intuitive grasp of w ...

is used similarly in other dialects, in which case it would be the equivalent to modern popular usage of the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

'' 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 The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...

in the

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

Sayyid ''Sayyid'' (, ; ar, سيد ; ; meaning 'sir', 'Lord', 'Master'; Arabic plural: ; feminine: ; ) is a surname of people descending from the Prophets in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad through his grandsons, Hasan ibn Ali and Husayn ibn Ali ...

(same spelling: سيد)'', ''

Janab Janab, Janaab or Janob (Persian spelling) (; ) is an Islamic honorary title, which means "Sir" in English. The title has been carried by many Islamic poet and writers. The compound style Janab-e-Ashraf (جانبِ الشرف ''janāb-i ashraf'' - ...

'' or ''

Sahib Sahib or Saheb (; ) is an Arabic title meaning 'companion'. It was historically used for the first caliph Abu Bakr in the Quran. The title is still applied to the caliph by Sunni Muslims. As a loanword, ''Sahib'' has passed into several langua ...

''.

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 A marabout ( ar, مُرابِط, murābiṭ, lit=one who is attached/garrisoned) is a Muslim religious leader and teacher who historically had the function of a chaplain serving as a part of an Islamic army, notably in North Africa and the Saha ...

, 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 Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...

*''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 The Hejaz (, also ; ar, ٱلْحِجَاز, al-Ḥijāz, lit=the Barrier, ) is a region in the west of Saudi Arabia. It includes the cities of Mecca, Medina, Jeddah, Tabuk, Yanbu, Taif, and Baljurashi. It is also known as the "Western Provinc ...

region of

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

, 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 A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or Adolescence, adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female hum ...

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 Al-Andalus translit. ; an, al-Andalus; ast, al-Ándalus; eu, al-Andalus; ber, ⴰⵏⴷⴰⵍⵓⵙ, label= Berber, translit=Andalus; ca, al-Àndalus; gl, al-Andalus; oc, Al Andalús; pt, al-Ândalus; es, al-Ándalus () was the Mu ...

(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