اليابان

Arabic

Etymology

Etymology tree

Hokkien 日本 (Ji̍t-pún)bor.

Malay Jepangbor.

Dutch Japanbor.

Arabic اليابان

From Dutch Japan, from Malay Jepang, from Hokkien 日本 (Ji̍t-pún).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /al.jaː.baːn/

Proper noun

الْيَابَان • (al-yābān) f

1. Japan (a country in East Asia)

   سِيَاحَةُ ٱلْيَابَانِ تَتَضَمَّنُ مَزِيجًا مُثِيرًا مِنَ ٱلثَّقَافَةِ ٱلْقَدِيمَةِ وَٱلْحَدِيثَةِ.

   siyāḥatu l-yābāni tataḍammanu mazījan muṯīran mina ṯ-ṯaqāfati l-qadīmati wal-ḥadīṯati.

   Tourism in Japan includes an exciting blend of ancient and modern culture.

Usage notes

• This is one of the country names which requires the definite article ال (al-).

Declension

Declension of noun الْيَابَان (al-yābān)

singular	basic singular triptote
	indefinite	definite	construct
informal	—	الْيَابَان al-yābān	—
nominative	—	الْيَابَانُ al-yābānu	—
accusative	—	الْيَابَانَ al-yābāna	—
genitive	—	الْيَابَانِ al-yābāni	—

See also

• يَابَانِيّ (yābāniyy)

References

• Wehr, Hans (1979), “يابان”, in J. Milton Cowan, editor, A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, 4th edition, Ithaca, NY: Spoken Language Services, →ISBN

North Levantine Arabic

Etymology

From Arabic اليَابَان (al-yābān), from Dutch Japan, from Malay Jepang, from Hokkien 日本 (Ji̍t-pún).

The emphatic ب (ḅ) is likely by association with the emphatics of إِلْمَانْيَا (ʔilṃānya, “Germany”), إِسْبَانْيا (ʔisṗānya, “Spain”), and, presumably the original, إِيطَالْيَا (ʔiṭālya, “Italy”). In all cases, the emphasis reinforces the pronunciation of the following ا (ā) as a low back [ɑː], which, in the case of إِسْبَانْيا (ʔisṗānya, “Spain”) and إِيطَالْيَا (ʔiṭālya, “Italy”), better matches the original languages' /a/ than other allophones of North Levantine Arabic ا (ā).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /l-ja(ː).ˈbˤaːn/, [l̩jɑ(ː)ˈbˤɑːn]

Proper noun

اليابان • (l-yaḅān, l-yāḅān) m

1. Japan (a country in East Asia)

Derived terms

• يَابَانِي (yaḅāni, yāḅāni, “Japanese”)