Traffic Police Lahivaya

Alexey
By Alexey

Traffic Police in Doha, red jips,I saw they are called in Arabic LAHIVAYA. I learn Arabic and it's very interesting what is the origin or etimology of this word? I've failed to find it in the dictionaries.

By Alexey• 6 May 2009 22:47
Alexey

I've called them Traffic 'cause I saw them on the roads. I talked to one of the officers once and he helped me to find the Greek Orthodox Church. Great Deal!They are super!

By Alexey• 6 May 2009 22:39
Alexey

Mr. Bleu! Shukran lak and best regards! Tell me please what street did you mean, it's very fascinating!

By bleu• 6 May 2009 14:10
bleu

VIP protection is the role of the Amiri Forces, not lekhwia.

lekhwia is in french : Le Khwia, where Khwia is brother in Arabic. :P

By tallg• 6 May 2009 11:33
tallg

Yes, I guessed that was the case. Just seems a bit of a step down from VIP protection to traffic control. Does their job description include both jobs?

By bleu• 6 May 2009 11:17
bleu

tallg, not many national security issues, so they work on the traffic issues.

By Khanan• 6 May 2009 09:28
Khanan

I heard that the name was proposed by the HH Emir himself.

and They are doing wonderful job as an overtime in controlling the Traffic Flow.

____________________________________________________

Have Courage To Live.

Anyone Can Die.

By tallg• 6 May 2009 09:09
tallg

Alexey - Lakhwiya are the Internal Security Force, not the Traffic Police.

However, they do seem to spend most of their time directing traffic. Go figure.

By bleu• 6 May 2009 08:58
bleu

They keep changing the names.

By baldrick2dogs• 6 May 2009 07:37
baldrick2dogs

Now I'm confused. Last night I noticed a street sign telling me that Airport Road is actually Airport Street. Where will it end!?!?!?

By anonymous• 6 May 2009 07:27
anonymous

I like Street Number 10!

By smoke• 6 May 2009 07:25
smoke

Great like we dont have enough complicated street names, i'm going to call my friend and tell her to meet me at the low area between two high areas where the rain has poured as see from above at around 8.00pm tonight.

Good Fortune always comes knocking at your door...when you are sh*tting in the toilet!! :)

_[]~SMoKE~[]_

 

By bleu• 6 May 2009 06:51
Rating: 4/5
bleu

Lakhwiya, لخويه.

You'll never find it.

It comes from brother اﻷخ, brothers, brotherhood ....

It's in our local dialect of Arabic. It's what we called the people who used to ride around the cities to protect them. It's an old word.

We tend to pronounce ال or "the" lighter than in Standard Arabic or other dialects, so when they started writing local words, they omitted the first letter, and wrote them phonetically, as close as possible to what we would pronounce the word.

You'll be much more puzzled if you look at some of the newer street names, they are being named in very obscure (to a non-Qatari, or to the newer generations of Qataris) cultural references and words, like we have a word that means "The low area between two high areas where the rain has poured as seen from above" (it's in one of the street names, and it's a single word)

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