تابوت

Arabic

FWOTD – 18 November 2013

Alternative forms

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

Etymology

Etymology tree

Egyptian ḏbꜣ

Egyptian -t

Egyptian ḏbꜣtder.

Egyptian dbtder.

Classical Syriac ܬܝܒܘܬܐ (tēḇūṯā)bor.

▲

Egyptian ḏbꜣtder.

Egyptian dbtder.

Ge'ez ታቦት (tabot)bor.

Arabic تَاوْبُوَّة / تَوَبُوت (tawabūt / tāwbuwwa)

Arabic تابوت

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

Descendants

• → Bashkir: табут (tabut)
• → Catalan: taüt
• → Crimean Tatar: tabut
• → Occitan: ataüt, (Provencal) ataüc
• → Portuguese: ataúde
• → Neapolitan: tauto, tavuto
• → Sicilian: tabbutu
  • → Italian: tabbuto (regional)
• → Azerbaijani:

  Arabic script: تَابُوت

  Cyrillic script: табут

  Latin script: tabut

• → Bashkir: табут (tabut)
• → Kazakh: табыт (tabıt)
• → Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: تَابُوت

  Northern Kurdish: tabût

• → Kyrgyz: табыт (tabıt)
• → Maltese: tebut
• → Old Armenian: թափուտ (tʻapʻut)
• → Middle Armenian: թաբուտ (tʻabut), թապութ (tʻaputʻ), թաւութ (tʻawutʻ)
• → Ottoman Turkish: تَابُوت (tâbût)
  • Turkish: tabut
  • → Albanian: tabut
  • → Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: та̀бут

    Latin script: tàbut

• → Classical Persian: تَابُوت (tābūt)
  • Dari: تَابُوت (tābūt)
  • Iranian Persian: تَابُوت (tâbowt)
  • Tajik: тобут (tobut)
  • → Hindustani:

    Hindi: ताबूत (tābūt)

    Urdu: تَابُوت (tābūt)

  • → Punjabi:

    Gurmukhi script: ਤਾਬੂਤ (tābūt)

    Shahmukhi script: تَابُوت (tābūt)

• → Spanish: ataúd
  • → Tagalog: ataul
• → Tatar: табут (tabut)
• → Turkmen: tabyt
• → Uyghur: تاۋۇت (tawut)
• → Uzbek: tobut, tovut

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 (1863-1893), “تابوت”, in Arabic-English Lexicon, London: Williams & Norgate, page 321.
• Leslau, Wolf (1987), Comparative Dictionary of Geʿez (Classical Ethiopic), Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, →ISBN, reprinted 1991, 1997 and 2006, page 570
• Nöldeke, Theodor (1910), Neue Beiträge zur semitischen Sprachwissenschaft‎^[1] (in German), Straßburg: Karl J. Trübner, →DOI, 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

Gawar-Bati

Etymology

Borrowed from Pashto تابوت or Urdu تابوت (tābot), from Persian تابوت, ultimately from Arabic تَابُوت (tābūt).

Noun

تابوت (tābot)

1. coffin

Ottoman Turkish

تابوت

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic تَابُوت (tābūt), from Classical Syriac ܬܝܒܘܬܐ (tēḇūṯā), ultimately from a merger of Egyptian

ḏbꜣt (“sarcophagus, coffin”) and

ṯb (“chest, box”).

Noun

تابوت • (tabut) (definite accusative تابوتی (tabutu), plural توابیت (tevâbit))

1. coffin, casket, burial case, a closed box in which the body of a dead person is placed for burial

Derived terms

• تابوت السكینه (tabutüʼl-sekine, “ark of the covenant”)
• تابوت العهد (tabutüʼl-ʼahd, “ark of the covenant”)
• تابوتلاتمق (tabutlatmak, “to make or let be put in a coffin”)
• تابوتلامق (tabutlamak, “to put in a coffin”)
• تابوتلانمق (tabutlanmak, “to be put in a coffin”)

Descendants

• Turkish: tabut
• → Albanian: tabut
• → Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic script: та̀бут

  Latin script: tàbut

Further reading

• Barbier de Meynard, Charles (1881), “تابوت”, in Dictionnaire turc-français, volume I, Paris: E. Leroux, page 428
• Çağbayır, Yaşar (2007), “tabut”, in Ötüken Türkçe Sözlük (in Turkish), volume 1, Istanbul: Ötüken Neşriyat, page 4524
• Hindoglu, Artin (1838), “تابوت”, in Hazine-i lûgat ou dictionnaire abrégé turc-français‎^[2], Vienna: F. Beck, page 141b
• Kélékian, Diran (1911), “تابوت”, in Dictionnaire turc-français‎^[3] (in French), Constantinople: Mihran, page 333
• Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1687), “Feretrum”, in Complementum thesauri linguarum orientalium, seu onomasticum latino-turcico-arabico-persicum, simul idem index verborum lexici turcico-arabico-persici, quod latinâ, germanicâ, aliarumque linguarum adjectâ nomenclatione nuper in lucem editum‎^[4], Vienna, column 562
• Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1680), “تابوت”, in Thesaurus linguarum orientalium, Turcicae, Arabicae, Persicae, praecipuas earum opes à Turcis peculiariter usurpatas continens, nimirum Lexicon Turkico-Arabico-Persicum‎^[5], Vienna, column 1029
• Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–), “tabut”, in Nişanyan Sözlük
• Redhouse, James W. (1890), “تابوت”, in A Turkish and English Lexicon‎^[6], Constantinople: A. H. Boyajian, page 471

Persian

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic تَابُوت (tābūt)

Pronunciation

• (Classical Persian) IPA^(key): /taː.ˈbuːt/

 

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [t̪ʰɑː.búːt̪]

• (Dari, formal) IPA^(key): [t̪ʰɑː.búːt̪]
  • (Kabuli) IPA^(key): [t̪ʰɑː.búːt̪]
  • (Hazaragi) IPA^(key): [t̪ʰɔː.bút̪]

• (Iran, formal) IPA^(key): [t̪ʰɒː.búːt̪ʰ]

• (Tajik, formal) IPA^(key): [t̪ʰɔ.bút̪]

• Rhymes: -uːt

Readings
Classical reading?	tābūt
Dari reading?	tābūt
Iranian reading?	tâbut
Tajik reading?	tobut

Noun

تابوت • (tābūt / tâbut) (Tajik spelling тобут)

1. coffin

   Synonym: نعش (na'š)

   یا تخت یا تابوت

   yâ taxt yâ tâbut

   either the throne or the coffin

   (aphorism about the dangers of succession wars)

Further reading

• Hayyim, Sulayman (1934), “تابوت”, in New Persian–English dictionary, Teheran: Librairie-imprimerie Béroukhim

Urdu

Etymology

Borrowed from Classical Persian تابُوت, from Arabic تَابُوت (tābūt).

Pronunciation

• (Standard Urdu) IPA^(key): /t̪ɑː.buːt̪/

Noun

تابُوت • (tābūt) m (Hindi spelling ताबूत)

1. coffin

Further reading

• “تابوت”, in ریخْتَہ لُغَت (rexta luġat) - Rekhta Dictionary [Urdu dictionary with meanings in Hindi & English], Noida, India: Rekhta Foundation, 2026.
• Qureshi, Bashir Ahmad (1971), “تابوت”, in Kitabistan's 20th Century Standard Dictionary, Lahore: Kitabistan Pub. Co.