زيتون

See also: زیتون

Arabic

زَيْتُون

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /zaj.tuːn/
• Rhymes: -uːn

Etymology 1

Related to زَيْت (zayt, “olive oil”); but the stem extension, unknown in Arabic morphology, directly relates to Aramaic, where -ōnā forms diminutive nouns; developing there the sense of an “olive tree” found for the simplex across Northwest Semitic to what is attested as Classical Mandaic ࡆࡉࡕࡅࡍࡀ (zētōnā, “little olive tree”) and then attaining based on the idea of the fruit being a miniature olive tree the meaning “olive”, as well as retaining the meaning of an olive tree.

Noun

زَيْتُون • (zaytūn) m (collective, singulative زَيْتُونَة f (zaytūna))

1. olive (fruit or tree)

Declension

Declension of noun زَيْتُون (zaytūn)

Collective	basic collective triptote
	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	زَيْتُون zaytūn	الزَّيْتُون az-zaytūn	زَيْتُون zaytūn
Nominative	زَيْتُونٌ zaytūnun	الزَّيْتُونُ az-zaytūnu	زَيْتُونُ zaytūnu
Accusative	زَيْتُونًا zaytūnan	الزَّيْتُونَ az-zaytūna	زَيْتُونَ zaytūna
Genitive	زَيْتُونٍ zaytūnin	الزَّيْتُونِ az-zaytūni	زَيْتُونِ zaytūni
Singulative	singulative triptote in ـَة (-a)
	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	زَيْتُونَة zaytūna	الزَّيْتُونَة az-zaytūna	زَيْتُونَة zaytūnat
Nominative	زَيْتُونَةٌ zaytūnatun	الزَّيْتُونَةُ az-zaytūnatu	زَيْتُونَةُ zaytūnatu
Accusative	زَيْتُونَةً zaytūnatan	الزَّيْتُونَةَ az-zaytūnata	زَيْتُونَةَ zaytūnata
Genitive	زَيْتُونَةٍ zaytūnatin	الزَّيْتُونَةِ az-zaytūnati	زَيْتُونَةِ zaytūnati
Dual	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	زَيْتُونَتَيْن zaytūnatayn	الزَّيْتُونَتَيْن az-zaytūnatayn	زَيْتُونَتَيْ zaytūnatay
Nominative	زَيْتُونَتَانِ zaytūnatāni	الزَّيْتُونَتَانِ az-zaytūnatāni	زَيْتُونَتَا zaytūnatā
Accusative	زَيْتُونَتَيْنِ zaytūnatayni	الزَّيْتُونَتَيْنِ az-zaytūnatayni	زَيْتُونَتَيْ zaytūnatay
Genitive	زَيْتُونَتَيْنِ zaytūnatayni	الزَّيْتُونَتَيْنِ az-zaytūnatayni	زَيْتُونَتَيْ zaytūnatay
Paucal (3-10)	sound feminine paucal
	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	زَيْتُونَات zaytūnāt	الزَّيْتُونَات az-zaytūnāt	زَيْتُونَات zaytūnāt
Nominative	زَيْتُونَاتٌ zaytūnātun	الزَّيْتُونَاتُ az-zaytūnātu	زَيْتُونَاتُ zaytūnātu
Accusative	زَيْتُونَاتٍ zaytūnātin	الزَّيْتُونَاتِ az-zaytūnāti	زَيْتُونَاتِ zaytūnāti
Genitive	زَيْتُونَاتٍ zaytūnātin	الزَّيْتُونَاتِ az-zaytūnāti	زَيْتُونَاتِ zaytūnāti

Descendants

• → Afar: daytuun
• → Amharic: ዘይቶን (zäyton)
• → Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܙܝܬܘܢܐ (zaytona, zaytúni, “olive”)
• → Armenian: զեյթուն (zeytʻun)
• → Azerbaijani: зејтун, zeytun
• → Bashkir: зәйтүн (zəytün)
• → Bengali: জয়তূন (zôytūn)
• → Crimean Tatar: zeytün, ziytin
• → Ge'ez: ዘይቶን (zäyton), ዘይጦን (zäyṭon)
• → Hausa: zaitun
• → Hindustani:
  • Hindi: ज़ैतून (zaitūn)
  • Urdu: زیتون (zaitūn)
• → Indonesian: zaitun
• → Kazakh: зәйтүн (zäitün)
• → Northern Kurdish: zeytûn
• → Kyrgyz: зайтун (zaytun)
• → Malay: zaitun
• → Ottoman Turkish: زیتون (zeytun), زیتین (zeytin)
  • Turkish: zeytin
  • → Bulgarian: зехти́н (zehtín, “olive oil”)
  • → Macedonian: зејтин (zejtin, “cooking oil”)
  • → Serbo-Croatian: зѐјтӣн / zèjtīn (“cooking oil”)
    • → Romanian: zăitin — Banat
  • → Ubykh: зеиҭын (zejtən)
• → Persian: زیتون (zeytun)
• → Pashto: زيتون m (zaytún)
• → Portuguese: azeitona

• → Spanish: aceituna
• → Swahili: zeituni, zaituni
• → Tajik: зайтун (zaytun)
• → Tatar: зәйтүн (zäytün) / zäytün
• → Tausug: jaytun
• → Turkmen: зейтун / zeýtun
• → Turoyo: ܙܰܝܬܘܢܳܐ (zaytuno, “olive”)
• → Uyghur: زەيتۇن (zeytun)
• → Uzbek: zaytun
• → Zazaki: zeytun

Etymology 2

Phono-semantic matching from Chinese 刺桐 (MC tshjeH duwng, “coral tree”) in 刺桐城 (MC tshjeH duwng dzyeng, “coral tree town”), an old name for Quanzhou.

Proper noun

زَيْتُون • (zaytūn) m

1. (historical geography) Zayton, the medieval trade name of the ports of Zhangzhou and Quanzhou in Fujian, China.

Declension

Declension of noun زَيْتُون (zaytūn)

Singular	basic singular diptote
	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	—	زَيْتُون zaytūn	—
Nominative	—	زَيْتُونُ zaytūnu	—
Accusative	—	زَيْتُونَ zaytūna	—
Genitive	—	زَيْتُونَ zaytūna	—

References

• Fraenkel, Siegmund (1886) Die aramäischen Fremdwörter im Arabischen (in German), Leiden: E. J. Brill, page 147
• Guidi, Ignazio (1879) Della sede primitiva dei popoli semitici (in Italian), Rome: Tipi del Salviucci, page 37
• Löw, Immanuel (1924) Die Flora der Juden‎^[1] (in German), volume 2, Wien und Leipzig: R. Löwit, page 294
• Shahîd, Irfan (1989) Byzantium and the Arabs in the Fifth Century, Washington D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, pages 249–250
• “zytwn”, in The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1986–

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South Levantine Arabic

Etymology

From Arabic زَيْتُون (zaytūn).

Noun

زيتون • (zētūn) m (collective)

1. Alternative form of زتون (zatūn, “olives”)