Arabic-L:LING:mawthabaan

[Dilworth Parkinson]

------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
-
Arabic-L: Mon 01 Dec  2003
Moderator: Dilworth Parkinson <dilworth_parkinson at byu.edu>
[To post messages to the list, send them to arabic-l at byu.edu]
[To unsubscribe, send message from same address you subscribed from to
listserv at byu.edu with first line reading:
            unsubscribe arabic-l                                      ]

-------------------------Directory------------------------------------

1) Subject:mawthabaan
2) Subject:mawthabaan

-------------------------Messages-----------------------------------
1)
Date: 01 Dec  2003
From: Michael Fishbein <fishbein at humnet.ucla.edu>
Subject:mawthabaan

The Arabic dictionaries note that in the language of South Arabia  
(lughat Himyar) the root w-th-b meant "to sit." They quote an anecdote  
about a northern Arab who, when told "thib" by a South Arabian prince,  
cast himself to his death from a cliff. Someone explained that in  
Northern Arabia "thib" meant "jump," not "sit down"; whereupon the  
prince offered an apology for the linguistic confusion: "laysa 'indanaa  
'arabiyyat, man dakhala Zafaari Hammar." (We don't have Arabic; anyone  
who enters Zafar speaks Himyari.)

Cognates in other Semitic languages with similar meaning include Hebrew  
y-sh-b and Akkadian w-sh-b. One might speculate that the semantic  
development from sitting to being a prince or ruler came from the idea  
of enthronement as an attribute of kingship. The Arabic dictionary  
quoted by Lane (I think Mukhtar al-Sahih) explains the term mawthaban  
as meaning a ruler who does not go on military expeditions (i.e., sits  
at home). This seems a bit fanciful. In any case, however, the Arabic  
lexicographic tradition was aware that mawthaban in the sense of prince  
or king was a South Arabian term.

------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
--
2)
Date: 01 Dec  2003
From: Dr. Gerhard Wedel <gwedel at zedat.fu-berlin.de>
Subject:mawthabaan

Dear Haruko,

considering the Arabic root  w-th-b it really looks very queer at first
sight to have the two meanings "to jump" and "to sit down", because they
have the opposite meaning.
At once it came into my mind, that there is the Hebrew word moshav =
sitting. Regarding other Semitic roots there are possibilities to solve  
the
dilemma. Although I cannot offer textual evidence, I rely on Arabic,
Hebrew, Aramaicdictionaries evidence alone. Perhaps someone else has  
more
information for prove!

The Arabic meaning seems to be deviating from a Gemeinsemitisch (German
expression denoting "common Semitic") root meaning "to sit down". If you
take into account that there was a Lautverschiebung (German expression
denoting "sound shift") between Arabic, Hebrew and Aramaic you will  
find a
possible explanation:
Arabic w-th-b = Hebrew y-sh-b = Aramaic y-t-b

1. Hebrew y-sh-b "to sit down, to dwell"; this includes the opposit
concepts of Nomadic roaming around and the settling of peasants in  
places
where they stay
Hebrew moshab = moshav "seat, meeting = sitting, place to stay = town";  
in
modern Ivrit moshab = "settlement on collective basis"

2. Aramaic y-t-b "to sit" etc.

3. Old South Arabic w-sh-b "to stay, to dwell"

Especially the Old South Arabic is worth considering, because I found in
"Adolf Wahrmund, 'Handwoerterbuch der arabischen und deutschen Sprache',
Giessen 1898, reprint Graz, Austria 1970, vol. 2, p. 1154" a remark
concerning the I basic form of the Arabic root w-th-b = q-´-d  "to sit"
parallel to Himyaritic which is a South Arabic dialect.
But for the II stem you will find in ordinary Arabic diactionaries also  
the
causative meaning "to let some sit down" = aq´adahu.

I hope this will be helpful.
Gerhard Wedel, Berlin Germany

------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
--
End of Arabic-L:  01 Dec  2003
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: text/enriched
Size: 4004 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/arabic-l/attachments/20031201/37e77f7e/attachment-0001.bin>