تابوت

Arabic

FWOTD – 18 November 2013

Alternative forms

• تَابُوه (tābūh) — extinct Anṣār dialect
• تَاوْبُوت (tāwbūt) — extinct Quraysh dialect

Etymology

From earlier تَوَبُوت (tawabūt) or تَاوْبُوَّة (tāwbuwwa), from Classical Syriac ܬܝܒܘܬܐ (tēḇūṯā) or Ge'ez ታቦት (tabot). Cognate with Hebrew תיבה (tevá).

Ultimately from a merger of Egyptian (ḏbꜣt, “sarcophagus, coffin”) and (dbt, “chest, box”); compare Demotic tbyt (“sarcophagus, shrine, chest”), dbt, and tbt (“chest”) and Coptic ⲧⲁⲓⲃⲉ (taibe, “chest, coffin”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /taː.buːt/

Noun

تَابُوت • (tābūt) m (plural تَوَابِيت (tawābīt))

1. box, case, chest, coffer, ark
   • 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 20:39:

     أَنِ ٱقْذِفِيهِ فِي ٱلتَّابُوتِ فَٱقْذِفِيهِ فِي ٱلْيَمِّ فَلْيُلْقِهِ ٱلْيَمُّ بِٱلسَّاحِلِ

     ʔani qḏifīhi fi t-tābūti fa-qḏifīhi fi l-yammi fa-lyulqihi l-yammu bi-s-sāḥili

     Cast him into the chest and cast it into the river, and the river will throw it onto the bank.

2. coffin, casket, sarcophagus

   مَاذَا وَرَاءَ حِكَايَةِ ٱكْتِشَافِ تَابُوتِ ٱلْمَسِيحِ فِي ٱلْقُدْسِ؟

   māḏā warāʔa ḥikāyati ktišāfi tābūti l-masīḥi fi l-qudsi?

   What's behind the story of the discovery of the coffin of Christ in Jerusalem?

Declension

Declension of noun تَابُوت (tābūt)

Singular	basic singular triptote
	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	تَابُوت tābūt	التَّابُوت at-tābūt	تَابُوت tābūt
Nominative	تَابُوتٌ tābūtun	التَّابُوتُ at-tābūtu	تَابُوتُ tābūtu
Accusative	تَابُوتًا tābūtan	التَّابُوتَ at-tābūta	تَابُوتَ tābūta
Genitive	تَابُوتٍ tābūtin	التَّابُوتِ at-tābūti	تَابُوتِ tābūti
Dual	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	تَابُوتَيْن tābūtayn	التَّابُوتَيْن at-tābūtayn	تَابُوتَيْ tābūtay
Nominative	تَابُوتَانِ tābūtāni	التَّابُوتَانِ at-tābūtāni	تَابُوتَا tābūtā
Accusative	تَابُوتَيْنِ tābūtayni	التَّابُوتَيْنِ at-tābūtayni	تَابُوتَيْ tābūtay
Genitive	تَابُوتَيْنِ tābūtayni	التَّابُوتَيْنِ at-tābūtayni	تَابُوتَيْ tābūtay
Plural	basic broken plural diptote
	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	تَوَابِيت tawābīt	التَّوَابِيت at-tawābīt	تَوَابِيت tawābīt
Nominative	تَوَابِيتُ tawābītu	التَّوَابِيتُ at-tawābītu	تَوَابِيتُ tawābītu
Accusative	تَوَابِيتَ tawābīta	التَّوَابِيتَ at-tawābīta	تَوَابِيتَ tawābīta
Genitive	تَوَابِيتَ tawābīta	التَّوَابِيتِ at-tawābīti	تَوَابِيتِ tawābīti

Synonyms

• نَعْش (naʕš)
• عُلْبَة (ʕulba)
• صُنْدُوق (ṣundūq)

Derived terms

• تَابُوت اَلْعَهْد (tābūt al-ʕahd, “Ark of the Covenant”)
• تَابُوت رَفْعِ ٱلْمِيَاهِ (tābūt rafʕi l-miyāhi, “Archimedean screw”)

Descendants

• Maltese: tebut
• → Spanish: ataúd
  • → Catalan: taüt
  • → Occitan: ataüt (Provencal), ataüc
  • → Tagalog: ataul
• → Portuguese: ataúde
• → Neapolitan: tauto, tavuto
• → Sicilian: tabbutu
  • → Italian: tabbuto (regional)
• → Azerbaijani: tabut / تابوت
• → Bashkir: табут (tabut)
• → Kazakh: табыт (tabyt)
• → Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: تابوت (tabut)

  Northern Kurdish: tabût

• → Old Armenian: թափուտ (tʻapʻut)
• → Middle Armenian: թաբուտ (tʻabut), թապութ (tʻaputʻ), թաւութ (tʻawutʻ)
• → Persian: تابوت (tâbut)
  • Tajik: тобут (tobut)
    • → Uzbek: tobut
  • → Ottoman Turkish: تابوت (tâbût)
    • Turkish: tabut
    • → Albanian: tabut
    • → Serbo-Croatian: та̀бут, tàbut
  • → Hindustani:
    • Hindi: ताबूत (tābūt)
    • Urdu: تابوت (tābūt)

References

• Ačaṙean, Hračʻeay (1973) “թափուտ”, in Hayerēn armatakan baṙaran [Armenian Etymological Dictionary] (in Armenian), 2nd edition, a reprint of the original 1926–1935 seven-volume edition, volume II, Yerevan: University Press, page 166b
• Hübschmann, Heinrich (1897) Armenische Grammatik. 1. Theil: Armenische Etymologie (in German), Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, page 153
• Jeffery, Arthur (1938) The Foreign Vocabulary of the Qurʾān (Gaekwad’s Oriental Series; 79), Baroda: Oriental Institute, pages 88–89
• Lane, Edward William (1863) “تابوت”, in Arabic-English Lexicon‎^[1], London: Williams & Norgate, page 321
• Leslau, Wolf (1991) Comparative Dictionary of Geʿez (Classical Ethiopic), 2nd edition, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, →ISBN, page 570
• Nöldeke, Theodor (1910) Neue Beiträge zur semitischen Sprachwissenschaft‎^[2] (in German), Straßburg: Karl J. Trübner, page 49
• Wehr, Hans (1979) “تابوت”, in J. Milton Cowan, editor, A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, 4th edition, Ithaca, NY: Spoken Language Services, →ISBN