See also: زیتون

Arabic

edit
 
زَيْتُون

Pronunciation

edit

Etymology 1

edit

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

edit

زَيْتُون (zaytūnm (collective, singulative زَيْتُونَة f (zaytūna))

  1. olive (fruit or tree)
Declension
edit
Descendants
edit

Etymology 2

edit

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

edit

زَيْتُون (zaytūnm

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

References

edit
  • 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–

Hijazi Arabic

edit

Etymology

edit

From Arabic زَيْتُون (zaytūn).

Pronunciation

edit

Noun

edit

زيتون (zaytūnm (collective, singulative زيتونة f (zaytūna), plural زيتونات (zaytūnāt))

  1. olive (fruit or tree)

South Levantine Arabic

edit

Etymology

edit

From Arabic زَيْتُون (zaytūn).

Noun

edit

زيتون (zētūnm (collective)

  1. Alternative form of زتون (zatūn, olives)