خي

North Levantine Arabic

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From a form like Arabic أُخَيّ (ʔuḵayy), the diminutive of Arabic أَخ (ʔaḵ, “brother”). Compare also بي (bayy, “father”) vis-à-vis Arabic أَب (ʔab, “father”).

The modern use of خَيّ (ḵayy, “brother”) in Lebanon may have originated in a situation similar to that of the Cilician Arabic varieties Procházka describes, which use the stem خُو (ḵū-, “brother”) with almost all possessive pronouns (as in خُوها (ḵūwa, “her brother”)) but the stem خَيّـ (ḵayy-) only for خَيِّي (ḵayyi, “my brother”).^[1] The diminutive in my brother seems to serve the purpose of endearment or hypocorism, a sense that must have also existed in certain Lebanese dialects before bleaching and allowing the originally diminutive form to become the default.

Noun

خي • (ḵayy) m (plural إخوة (ʔiḵwe) or إخوات (ʔiḵwāt), feminine إخت (ʔiḵt))

(Lebanon) brother
Synonym: أخ (ʔaḵḵ)

Usage notes

Curiously, خيات (ḵayyāt) is only a valid plural of إخت (ʔiḵt, “sister”), even though the rhyming word بي (bayy, “father”) takes the plural بيات (bayyāt).

Etymology 2

Possibly from Arabic خَيْر (ḵayr, “good, goodness”, noun), making it a doublet of North Levantine Arabic خير (ḵayr /⁠ḵayr, ḵēr⁠/). The ر (r) would have been sporadically deleted before monophthongization became widespread. A bona-fide form خَيْر (ḵayr) may have occurred in the speech of folk historian Salam al-Rassi (1911–2003), but the recording available is unclear.^[2]

Additionally, two variant forms require extra consideration:

South Levantine Arabic خوي (ḵoy, same meaning) has an unexpected vowel. If not a sporadic vowel shift from خَيّ (ḵayy), it could be a reduction of a diminutive *خويّ (ḵwayy). This would in turn be either derived directly from خَيّ (ḵayy) or descended from *خوير (ḵwayr), itself a diminutive of خير (ḵayr).
Anis Freiha records a variant إِخَّي (ʔiḵḵay).^[3] This may be a univerbation of أخ (ʔaḵḵ, a type of sigh) +‎ خَيّ (ḵayy), but this etymology is not secure and it is also possible for it to be the source of خَيّ (ḵayy) by contraction rather than the other way around. However, إخَّي (ʔiḵḵay) is additionally recorded as its own lemma elsewhere in the dictionary,^[4] so another possibility is that it and خَيّ (ḵayy) are of independent origins and only later converged on certain senses.

Interjection

خي • (ḵayy)

relief! (expressing pleasure with a sudden absence of stress or noise)
- 2005, Stavro Jabra, التمثيل الناقص [Insufficient representation]‎^[5], Lebanon, archived from the original on 11 November 2019:
  خَيّْ... خلصنا من أَول جنرال...
  ḵayy... ḵluṣna min ʔawwal jinirāl...
  Thank goodness... we've gotten rid of the first general...

References

^ Stephan Procházka (2002) “Pronomen”, in Die arabischen Dialekte der Çukurova (Südtürkei) [The Arabic dialects of Çukurova (southern Turkey)] (Semitica Viva; 27)‎^[1], Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2.1.1.2, page 67: “Beim Nomen tritt ū nur bei den beiden Wörtern bū- „Vater” und xū- „Bruder” auf, wobei die 1. Person Sg. suppletiv von Deminutiv bayy- bzw. xayy- gebildet wird. Die Reihe lautet: bū́, būwa, būk, būki, bayyi, būwin, būkin, būna.”
^ سلام الراسي [Salam al-Rassi] as interviewee ((Can we date this quote?)), “مِسْك الختام” (18:42 from the start), in الأَدَب الشَّعْبِيّ فِي لُبْنَانْ: سِلْسِلَةْ أَحَادِيث مَعَ سَلَام الرَّاسِي [al-ʔadab aš-šaʕbiyy fī lubnān: silsilat ʔaḥādīṯ maʕa salām ar-rāsī, Folklore in Lebanon: a chain of narrations with Salam al-Rassi]‎^[2] (in North Levantine Arabic): “قال خي(ر؟) يلا ارتحت منها ― qāl ḵay(r?) yiḷḷa rtiḥt minha ― He said, ḵay(r?), I'm finally done with her”
^ أَنِيس خُورِي فْرَيْحَة [ʔanīs ḵūrī frayḥa, Anis Khuri Frayha, Anis Freiha] (1947) “خي”, in مُعْجَمُ الأَلْفَاظِ العَامِّيَّةِ فِي اللَّهْجَةِ اللُّبْنَانِيَّة [muʕjamu l-ʔalfāẓi l-ʕāmmiyyati fī l-lahjati l-lubnāniyya, A dictionary of non-classical vocables in the spoken Arabic of Lebanon]‎^[3], American University of Beirut, →OCLC, page 49b: “خَيّ! او إخَّي!: كلمة تقال عند الاستحسان والراحة ― ḵayy! ʔaw ʔiḵḵay!: kalima tuqālu ʕinda l-istiḥsāni war-rāḥa ― ḵayy! or ʔiḵḵay!: A word said upon feeling content and at ease”
^ أَنِيس خُورِي فْرَيْحَة [ʔanīs ḵūrī frayḥa, Anis Khuri Frayha, Anis Freiha] (1947) “خي”, in مُعْجَمُ الأَلْفَاظِ العَامِّيَّةِ فِي اللَّهْجَةِ اللُّبْنَانِيَّة [muʕjamu l-ʔalfāẓi l-ʕāmmiyyati fī l-lahjati l-lubnāniyya, A dictionary of non-classical vocables in the spoken Arabic of Lebanon]‎^[4], American University of Beirut, →OCLC, page 1b: “إخَّي: كلمة استحسان واظهار غبطة، واحيانًا للتشفي، يقولُ المرءُ الذي يُسرّ لبؤس صاحبه او عند حدوث مكروه له «إخَّي! بيستاهل» ― ʔiḵḵay: kalimatu stiḥsānin wa-ʔiẓhāri ḡabṭatin, wa-ʔaḥyānan lit-tašaffī, yaqūlu l-marʔu l-laḏī yusarru li-buʔsi ṣāḥibihi ʔaw ʕinda ḥudūṯi makrūhin lah ”ʔiḵḵay! byistēhal” ― ʔiḵḵay: A term of contentment and expressing a sense of bliss, and at times for [schadenfreude?]; one who is delighted by the misfortune of his companion, or when something bad happens to him, says: ʔiḵḵay! He deserves it”

[1] Stephan Procházka (2002) “Pronomen”, in Die arabischen Dialekte der Çukurova (Südtürkei) [The Arabic dialects of Çukurova (southern Turkey)] (Semitica Viva; 27)‎^[1], Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2.1.1.2, page 67: “Beim Nomen tritt ū nur bei den beiden Wörtern bū- „Vater” und xū- „Bruder” auf, wobei die 1. Person Sg. suppletiv von Deminutiv bayy- bzw. xayy- gebildet wird. Die Reihe lautet: bū́, būwa, būk, būki, bayyi, būwin, būkin, būna.”

[2] سلام الراسي [Salam al-Rassi] as interviewee ((Can we date this quote?)), “مِسْك الختام” (18:42 from the start), in الأَدَب الشَّعْبِيّ فِي لُبْنَانْ: سِلْسِلَةْ أَحَادِيث مَعَ سَلَام الرَّاسِي [al-ʔadab aš-šaʕbiyy fī lubnān: silsilat ʔaḥādīṯ maʕa salām ar-rāsī, Folklore in Lebanon: a chain of narrations with Salam al-Rassi]‎^[2] (in North Levantine Arabic): “قال خي(ر؟) يلا ارتحت منها ― qāl ḵay(r?) yiḷḷa rtiḥt minha ― He said, ḵay(r?), I'm finally done with her”

[3] أَنِيس خُورِي فْرَيْحَة [ʔanīs ḵūrī frayḥa, Anis Khuri Frayha, Anis Freiha] (1947) “خي”, in مُعْجَمُ الأَلْفَاظِ العَامِّيَّةِ فِي اللَّهْجَةِ اللُّبْنَانِيَّة [muʕjamu l-ʔalfāẓi l-ʕāmmiyyati fī l-lahjati l-lubnāniyya, A dictionary of non-classical vocables in the spoken Arabic of Lebanon]‎^[3], American University of Beirut, →OCLC, page 49b: “خَيّ! او إخَّي!: كلمة تقال عند الاستحسان والراحة ― ḵayy! ʔaw ʔiḵḵay!: kalima tuqālu ʕinda l-istiḥsāni war-rāḥa ― ḵayy! or ʔiḵḵay!: A word said upon feeling content and at ease”

[4] أَنِيس خُورِي فْرَيْحَة [ʔanīs ḵūrī frayḥa, Anis Khuri Frayha, Anis Freiha] (1947) “خي”, in مُعْجَمُ الأَلْفَاظِ العَامِّيَّةِ فِي اللَّهْجَةِ اللُّبْنَانِيَّة [muʕjamu l-ʔalfāẓi l-ʕāmmiyyati fī l-lahjati l-lubnāniyya, A dictionary of non-classical vocables in the spoken Arabic of Lebanon]‎^[4], American University of Beirut, →OCLC, page 1b: “إخَّي: كلمة استحسان واظهار غبطة، واحيانًا للتشفي، يقولُ المرءُ الذي يُسرّ لبؤس صاحبه او عند حدوث مكروه له «إخَّي! بيستاهل» ― ʔiḵḵay: kalimatu stiḥsānin wa-ʔiẓhāri ḡabṭatin, wa-ʔaḥyānan lit-tašaffī, yaqūlu l-marʔu l-laḏī yusarru li-buʔsi ṣāḥibihi ʔaw ʕinda ḥudūṯi makrūhin lah ”ʔiḵḵay! byistēhal” ― ʔiḵḵay: A term of contentment and expressing a sense of bliss, and at times for [schadenfreude?]; one who is delighted by the misfortune of his companion, or when something bad happens to him, says: ʔiḵḵay! He deserves it”

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