Understanding the ‘Talahon’ Trend in Germany and its Arabic Origins

In the summer of 2024, there is a strange phenomenon in Germany: “Talahon”. It is a term used on TikTok and is said to be so popular among young people that the word has been included in the list of possible youth words of the year 2024 in Germany.

There is hardly a medium that has not written about “Talahon”. Talahon, what?

In this article, we will take a look at the origin of the term “Talahon” in Germany. We will also analyze the imperative form تَعالَ and see that we are dealing with a rather old expression. And we will see why “Talahon” has become a topic of discussion in the first place.

Let’s first start and see how Germany ended up with the word “Talahon”.

The bizarre ‘Talahon’ trend in Germany

“Talahon” is a self-designation and an external designation of young men. The Langenscheidt publishing house, which is well-known for producing dictionaries in Germany, recently selected “Talahon” as one of the top ten contenders for the German “Youth Word of the Year 2024“. On its website, the publisher writes:

The word “Talahon” is used for people with stereotypical characteristics or behavior. For example: “With my breast pocket, I feel like a Talahon today.”

The German magazine Der SPIEGEL gave a more detailed description of the word “Talahon”:

In general, “Talahon” refers to men with a migrant background. They have some stereotypical characteristics. These include men’s handbags and (mostly fake) fanny packs from brands such as Gucci, EA7 jackets, soccer jerseys from international teams such as Paris Saint-Germain, and the like.

The following TikTok video went viral (more than 1.3 million views as of August 2024) and is often used to give people an idea of what a “Talahon” looks like:

At this point, I hope you are not confused and asking yourself: What does this have to do with Arabic? We will get to that.

The source of the German expression “Talahon”

It is not clear how the term “Talahon” came to Germany. The most likely origin is the song Ta3al Lahon by the rather unknown German rapper Hassan, which was released in August 2022 and later got a sequel. The song in German is about street life, violence and crime.

The most popular line in the song can be translated as follows: “Ta3al lahon, I’ll give you a stab, I’m the boss.” (Original: “Ta3al lahon, ich geb’ dir ein’n Stich, bin der Patron.“)

Anyone who knows Arabic will quickly identify in “Ta3al” the Arabic phrase تَعالَ, which means come (here)! The number 3 in Arabic dialects usually stands for the letter ع. And the second part, hon (هُون), is the Levantine version of هُنا which means here. Remark: In many situations, the word “here” is already understood in the imperative تَعالَ and not needed, but it can work well as reinforcing.

We will now delve into the intricacies of تَعالَ.

An analysis of تَعالَ

In Arabic dialects, the expression تَعالَ is very common and is used in the same way as in Modern Standard Arabic (apart from a few minor sound differences). So that we are all on the same page, let’s quickly look at all the forms in formal Arabic:

Now let’s dig deeper.

The root of تَعالَ is ع-ل-و and means to be or become high, elevated. We can apply the VI-verb pattern (تَفاعَلَ) and get يَتَعالَى – تَعالَى which means to rise (above).

You may know the expression اللهُ سُبْحانَهُ وَتَعالَى which means Allah, glorified and exalted is He. This is because when referring to Allah, the VI-verb تَعالَى is only used in the past tense and has the meaning of an interjection. In grammar, an interjection is a word or expression which you use to express a strong feeling.

The phrase اللهُ تَعالَى means Allah the Sublime and قَوْلُهُ تَعالَى means the word of the Sublime (introducing a verse of the Qur’an). And you may have seen the phrase انْتَقَلَ إلى رَحْمَتِهِ تَعالى المَأْسوفُ عَلَيْهِ in obituaries, which expresses: the dearly departed has gone to his eternal reward.

Interestingly, we can read in Lane’s Lexicon that the imperative form of the VI-verb تَعالَى which is تَعالَ (the weak letter drops in the imperative and gets compensated by the فَتْحةٌ “a”) was used to address a man and that it had the original meaning of “be thou elevated”. It was said by a man in a high place in calling a man in a low place.

Then, by reason of frequency of usage, it got to become employed in the sense of هَلُمَّ which means “you, come!” – whether the place of the person called be high or low or on the same level. So, originally, it was applied to denote a particular meaning and then it became used in a general meaning.

However, understanding the word type and form is complex and lacks a simple answer, as we will see.

The nature of تَعالَ

The form and type of تَعالَ has been a debate among scholars. Is it just the imperative form of the verb? Or is it a special device, kind of particle of attention? Or just a fixed type of noun which has some features of a verb? Let’s see.

• A group of grammarians considered تَعالَ to be a special device with the qualities of a noun that has fixed, cemented forms (اسم فعل أمر), an interjection denoting a sense of a verb. Such nouns point to the meaning of a verb and carry its meaning as well as its time and function. We could say that we actually deal with a “hybrid“.
• However, most grammarians today say that it is just a verb in the imperative (فعل أمر). This is explained by the fact that it indicates a request, and the feminine second-person singular pronoun is added (ي). The verb, when conveying this meaning, is not used otherwise than in the imperative form.

Interestingly, تَعالَ was already used in the Holy Qur’an to express the meaning of come! Let’s quickly check that.

The imperative تَعالَ in the Qur’an

There are many verses in the Qur’an that include تَعالَ in the meaning of come! I will just give two examples:

Sura 63:5 (The Hypocrites – المنافقون)

وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمْ تَعَالَوْا۟ يَسْتَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ رَسُولُ ٱللَّهِ لَوَّوْا۟ رُءُوسَهُمْ وَرَأَيْتَهُمْ يَصُدُّونَ وَهُم مُّسْتَكْبِرُونَ

And when it is said to them, “Come, so that the Messenger of God may ask forgiveness for you”, they turn their heads aside and you see them walking away arrogantly.

Sura 3:167 (Āl ʿImrān – The Family of Imran)

…وَقِيلَ لَهُمْ تَعَالَوْا۟ قَـٰتِلُوا۟ فِى سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ أَوِ ٱدْفَعُوا…

…when it was said to them, ‘Come, fight for Allah’s cause, or at least defend yourselves,’… (starts at 0:14 in the audio)

Why did “Talahon” strike a nerve in Germany?

The term Talahon and the trend that follows it are truly a strange phenomenon. Perhaps the most absurd thing about it is that German native speakers pronounce the word with German rhythm, sound, and emphasis.

But how did an Arabic imperative that has been in use for over 1,400 years suddenly become a new term for certain young people that made headlines in Germany?T his new expression, which is used in the German plural (= Talahons), could literally be translated as “the ‘come here!’-guys“? (Which of course makes no sense.) A word that is already used by right-wing extremists as a derogatory term for people they don’t want in their country?

➤ SHORT ANSWER: because the young men described by the newly coined noun “Talahon” are a big topic of discussion in Germany.

Since 2015, the German public has been divided over how to deal with asylum seekers and illegal immigrants. But also young people born in Germany whose parents or ancestors have an Arab or Muslim background, who often do not have a real mother tongue, who struggle in school and experience rejection from all sides, are increasingly being discussed.

The term “Hittistes” in Algeria

There have always been neologisms especially for young people. The German writer Mey Dudin wrote in the Rheinische Post newspaper about the German “Talahon” phenomenon and mentioned in her text the example of the word Hittistes.

To understand this word, we have to go back in time: to the Algerian civil war in the early 1990s.

“Hittiste” was a word used to describe young, bored and unmotivated people – a combination that often does not end well. The word Hittiste is a corruption of the Arabic word heet (حيط), which in several dialects means wall (Modern Standard Arabic: حائِط). But why a wall? Because it was the object these men leaned against, spending their days and nights. These young men were often illiterate in two languages ​​(French and Arabic). Men of this description joined the most radical Islamist groups in large numbers.