دبوس

Arabic

Alternative forms

دَبُّوز (dabbūz), دَبُّوسَة (dabbūsa), دَبُّوزَة (dabbūza)

Etymology

A pre-Mamluk Turkic borrowing, from a cognate of Ottoman Turkish طوپوز (topuz, “iron mace”). The name of a pin may have additional connection to the root د ب ب (d b b) related to crawling, pushing in, compare also دَرْبَسَ (darbasa, “to shut”), and possibly, too, the name stuck owing to دِبْس (dibs, “molasses”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /dab.buːs/

Noun

دَبُّوس • (dabbūs) m (plural دَبَابِيس (dabābīs))

pin
(before that) peg, plug, rod, cudgel, any oblong instrument driven into or onto something
(figurative) penis
Synonyms: قَضِيب (qaḍīb), ذَكَر (ḏakar), زُبّ (zubb), أَيْر (ʔayr), آلَة (ʔāla)
(originally now historical) iron mace
(regional) government informant

Declension

Declension of noun **دَبُّوس** (dabbūs)
singular	basic singular triptote
singular	indefinite	definite	construct
informal	دَبُّوس dabbūs	الدَّبُّوس ad-dabbūs	دَبُّوس dabbūs
nominative	دَبُّوسٌ dabbūsun	الدَّبُّوسُ ad-dabbūsu	دَبُّوسُ dabbūsu
accusative	دَبُّوسًا dabbūsan	الدَّبُّوسَ ad-dabbūsa	دَبُّوسَ dabbūsa
genitive	دَبُّوسٍ dabbūsin	الدَّبُّوسِ ad-dabbūsi	دَبُّوسِ dabbūsi
dual	indefinite	definite	construct
informal	دَبُّوسَيْن dabbūsayn	الدَّبُّوسَيْن ad-dabbūsayn	دَبُّوسَيْ dabbūsay
nominative	دَبُّوسَانِ dabbūsāni	الدَّبُّوسَانِ ad-dabbūsāni	دَبُّوسَا dabbūsā
accusative	دَبُّوسَيْنِ dabbūsayni	الدَّبُّوسَيْنِ ad-dabbūsayni	دَبُّوسَيْ dabbūsay
genitive	دَبُّوسَيْنِ dabbūsayni	الدَّبُّوسَيْنِ ad-dabbūsayni	دَبُّوسَيْ dabbūsay
plural	basic broken plural diptote
plural	indefinite	definite	construct
informal	دَبَابِيس dabābīs	الدَّبَابِيس ad-dabābīs	دَبَابِيس dabābīs
nominative	دَبَابِيسُ dabābīsu	الدَّبَابِيسُ ad-dabābīsu	دَبَابِيسُ dabābīsu
accusative	دَبَابِيسَ dabābīsa	الدَّبَابِيسَ ad-dabābīsa	دَبَابِيسَ dabābīsa
genitive	دَبَابِيسَ dabābīsa	الدَّبَابِيسِ ad-dabābīsi	دَبَابِيسِ dabābīsi

Derived terms

دَبَّاسَة (dabbāsa, “stapler”)
دَبَّسَ (dabbasa, verb)
دَبُّوسِيّ (dabbūsiyy, adjective)

Descendants

→ Malay: dabus
- Indonesian: debus

References

Corriente, Federico, Pereira, Christophe, Vicente, Angeles, editors (2017), Dictionnaire du faisceau dialectal arabe andalou. Perspectives phraséologiques et étymologiques (in French), Berlin: De Gruyter, →ISBN, page 450, guesses as “probable” instead a Middle Iranian compound of Proto-Iranian *dwáH (“two”) and Proto-Iranian *baHjúš (“arm”) because of it being a two-handed weapon; the same compound would have engendered دَبَّاس (dabbās), دِبَاسَاء (dibāsāʔ, “praying mantis”) because of that animal’s forelegs.
Corriente, F. (1997), A Dictionary of Andalusi Arabic (Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 1 The Near and Middle East; 29)‎^[1], Leiden, New York, Köln: Brill, →ISBN, →LCCN, page 173b, as later.
Dozy, Reinhart Pieter Anne (1881), “دبوس”, in Supplément aux dictionnaires arabes‎^[2] (in French), volume 1, Leiden: E. J. Brill, page 423a
Freytag, Georg (1833), “دبوس”, in Lexicon arabico-latinum praesertim ex Djeuharii Firuzabadiique et aliorum Arabum operibus adhibitis Golii quoque et aliorum libris confectum‎^[3] (in Latin), volume 2, Halle: C. A. Schwetschke, page 6a
Kazimirski, Albin de Biberstein (1860), “دبوس”, in Dictionnaire arabe-français contenant toutes les racines de la langue arabe, leurs dérivés, tant dans l’idiome vulgaire que dans l’idiome littéral, ainsi que les dialectes d’Alger et de Maroc‎^[4] (in French), volume 1, Paris: Maisonneuve et C^ie, page 667a
Lane, Edward William (1863-1893), “دبوس”, in Arabic-English Lexicon, London: Williams & Norgate, page 840a.
Littmann, Enno (1954), “Türkisches Sprachgut im Ägyptisch-Arabischen”, in Fritz Meier, editor, Westöstliche Abhandlungen : Rudolf Tschudi zum 70. Geburtstag überreicht von Freunden und Schülern‎^[5], Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, →DOI, page 117
Procházka, Stephan (2004), “The Turkish Contribution to the Arabic Lexicon”, in Linguistic Convergence and Areal Diffusion: Case Studies from Iranian, Semitic and Turkic‎^[6], Routledge, →ISBN, page 199
Steingass, Francis Joseph (1884), “دبوس”, in The Student's Arabic–English Dictionary‎^[7], London: W.H. Allen, page 353b
Vollers, Karl (1897), “Beiträge zur Kenntniss der lebenden arabischen Sprache in Aegypten”, in Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft‎^[8] (in German), volume 51, page 306 Nr. 39

Hijazi Arabic

Etymology

From Arabic دَبُّوس (dabbūs).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /dab.buːs/

Noun

دبوس • (dabbūs) m (plural دَبَابِيس (dabābīs))

pin
(slang) snitch