ربيثاء

Arabic

Etymology

The verb رَبَثَ (rabaṯa, “to bar someone from doing something”), رَبِيثَة (rabīṯa), رِبِيثَى (ribīṯā, “obstacle, what lies in front of something and impedes him”) seems semantically hard to be the model and is rare anyway. Apparently from the exact Aramaic term which is attested Jewish Babylonian Aramaic ריביתא / Classical Syriac ܪܒܝܬܐ / Classical Mandaic ࡓࡁࡉࡕࡀ (rəḇīṯā, “sea, ocean”) and with further meaning in Classical Mandaic ࡓࡁࡉࡕࡀ (rəḇīṯā, “flood waters”), so – perhaps supported by a connection to ܐܪܒܝܬܐ (ʾarbīṯā, “shrimp, prawn”) – the dish-name originates from an understanding of fish exposed multiple times to solution; a form and meaning direction spawned in Classical Mandaic from the form which is attested as Classical Syriac ܪܒܝܥܬܐ (rəḇīʿtā, “mountain”), from the root ר־ב־ע / ܪ-ܒ-ܥ (r-b-ʿ) “to lie or crouch down” cognate to the Arabic root ر ب ض (r-b-ḍ). From this idea of “lying or crouching down” then the same word must have acquired meanings of “a thing sitting in front of something”, something anent of man just like a herd of camels blocking the path must have been derived, thence Arabic رَبِيثَة (rabīṯa), رِبِيثَى (ribīṯā, “obstacle”), the latter a form not native to Arabic, the verb رَبَثَ (rabaṯa, “to bar someone from doing something”) only denominally; note also تَرَبَّثَ (tarabbaṯa, “to lollygag, to rest long before gettings things done”), اِرْبَثَّ (irbaṯṯa) and اِرْبَاثَّ (irbāṯṯa, “to advance slowly”) more directly related to the “crouching” meanings and using form IX and form XI in an unseen fashion, apparently in imitation of an Aramaic verb pattern. In sum no root ر ب ث (r-b-ṯ) exists in Arabic.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ru.baj.θaːʔ/

Noun

رُبَيْثَاء • (rubayṯāʔ) f

1. (obsolete, Iraq) a side dish from small fish in herbs and vinegar
   • 975–997, محمد بن أحمد الخوارزمي [muḥammad ibn ʕaḥmad al-ḵwārizmī], edited by Gerlof van Vloten, مفاتيح العلوم [mafātīḥ al-ʕulūm], Leiden: E. J. Brill, published 1895, pages 169 line 1–3:

     الرُبَيْثَاء وَالصَِحْنَاء والصِير والسُمَيْكَات تعمل من السمك الصغار والملح والسَمَك المَمْقُور المالح الذي ينقع في الخل نحوِه.

     Rubayṯaʾ and ṣiḥnāʾ and ṣīr and sumaykāt are made from small fish and salt and marinated salty fish that has staled in vinegar and the like.

   • a. 1000, المقدسي, edited by Michael Jan de Goeje, أحسن التقاسيم في معرفة الأقاليم [ʾaḥsan at-taqāsīm fī maʿrifa al-ʾaqālīm] (Bibliotheca Geographorum Arabicorum; 3)‎^[1], Leiden: E. J. Brill, published 1877, 1906, page 131, line 6 of the apparatus of:

Declension

Declension of noun رُبَيْثَاء (rubayṯāʔ)

Singular	basic singular triptote
	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	رُبَيْثَاء rubayṯāʔ	الرُّبَيْثَاء ar-rubayṯāʔ	رُبَيْثَاء rubayṯāʔ
Nominative	رُبَيْثَاءٌ rubayṯāʔun	الرُّبَيْثَاءُ ar-rubayṯāʔu	رُبَيْثَاءُ rubayṯāʔu
Accusative	رُبَيْثَاءً rubayṯāʔan	الرُّبَيْثَاءَ ar-rubayṯāʔa	رُبَيْثَاءَ rubayṯāʔa
Genitive	رُبَيْثَاءٍ rubayṯāʔin	الرُّبَيْثَاءِ ar-rubayṯāʔi	رُبَيْثَاءِ rubayṯāʔi

References

• “rby⁸”, in The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1986–
• “rbyˁh³”, in The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1986–
• Nöldeke, Theodor (1898) “H. Pognon, Inscriptions mandaïtes des coupes de Khouabir. Texte, traduction et commentaire philologique avec quatre appendices et un glossaire. Deuxième partie. Paris 1899. (Pg. 105–232.)”, in Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes‎^[2] (in German), volume 12, page 358, referring to Nöldeke, Theodor (1875) Mandäische Grammatik‎^[3] (in German), Halle: Verlag der Buchhandlung des Waisenhauses, page 52
• Seidel, Ernst (1915) “Die Medizin im Kitâb Mafâtîḥ al ʿUlûm”, in Sitzungsberichte der Physikalisch-Medizinischen Sozietät zu Erlangen‎^[4] (in German), volume 47, page 33 Anm. 82