בכתא

Lishana Deni

Etymology

Disputed, and found throughout Northeastern Neo-Aramaic, as well as in Mandaic. Yona Sabar and Hezy Mutzafi support an Aramaic-internal origin from an earlier meaning "spinster", comparing Classical Syriac ܒܟܬܬܐ (bāḵeṯtā, “weaving woman”), but irregularly derived from the absolute rather than the emphatic state. Geoffrey Khan instead suggests a borrowing from Northern Kurdish bext (“luck”), which is in turn either cognate with or borrowed from Persian بخت (baxt).

Noun

בכתא (baxta) f (plural בכתאתא (baxtāṯa), masculine counterpart גורא (gōra))

1. woman
2. wife
   • a. 1650-1950, printed in Tafsirs of Piyutim, Kinot and Azharot, in the dialects of Neo-Aramaic of the Jews of Kurdistan, Yona Sabar, 2009

     פתכלו פומוה קאמה ומרוליה חכמים דידה וזרש בכתיה עצייה.

     pṯəxlu pəmmu qāme ʾu-mə́rrule ḥaxāmim dīde ʾu-zērəš baxte ʿəṣye.

     His rebellious sages and wife Zeresh opened their mouth before him and said to him.