سبطانة

Arabic

Alternative forms

زَرْبَطَانَة (zarbaṭāna), زَبَطَانَة (zabaṭāna)

Etymology

From Malay سومڤيتن / sumpitan (“blowpipe”), derived from Malay سومڤيت / sumpit (“blowpipe”), matched to the Arabic root س ب ط (s b ṭ) “related to slenderness, lankness”. Also passed into Persian (zabatâne), (zarbatâne).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /sa.ba.tˤaː.na/

Noun

سَبَطَانَة • (sabaṭāna) f (plural سَبَطَانَات (sabaṭānāt))

(weaponry) blowpipe
(firearms) barrel, pipe

Declension

Declension of noun **سَبَطَانَة** (sabaṭāna)
singular	singular triptote in ـَة (-a)
singular	indefinite	definite	construct
informal	سَبَطَانَة sabaṭāna	السَّبَطَانَة as-sabaṭāna	سَبَطَانَة sabaṭānat
nominative	سَبَطَانَةٌ sabaṭānatun	السَّبَطَانَةُ as-sabaṭānatu	سَبَطَانَةُ sabaṭānatu
accusative	سَبَطَانَةً sabaṭānatan	السَّبَطَانَةَ as-sabaṭānata	سَبَطَانَةَ sabaṭānata
genitive	سَبَطَانَةٍ sabaṭānatin	السَّبَطَانَةِ as-sabaṭānati	سَبَطَانَةِ sabaṭānati
dual	indefinite	definite	construct
informal	سَبَطَانَتَيْن sabaṭānatayn	السَّبَطَانَتَيْن as-sabaṭānatayn	سَبَطَانَتَيْ sabaṭānatay
nominative	سَبَطَانَتَانِ sabaṭānatāni	السَّبَطَانَتَانِ as-sabaṭānatāni	سَبَطَانَتَا sabaṭānatā
accusative	سَبَطَانَتَيْنِ sabaṭānatayni	السَّبَطَانَتَيْنِ as-sabaṭānatayni	سَبَطَانَتَيْ sabaṭānatay
genitive	سَبَطَانَتَيْنِ sabaṭānatayni	السَّبَطَانَتَيْنِ as-sabaṭānatayni	سَبَطَانَتَيْ sabaṭānatay
plural	sound feminine plural
plural	indefinite	definite	construct
informal	سَبَطَانَات sabaṭānāt	السَّبَطَانَات as-sabaṭānāt	سَبَطَانَات sabaṭānāt
nominative	سَبَطَانَاتٌ sabaṭānātun	السَّبَطَانَاتُ as-sabaṭānātu	سَبَطَانَاتُ sabaṭānātu
accusative	سَبَطَانَاتٍ sabaṭānātin	السَّبَطَانَاتِ as-sabaṭānāti	سَبَطَانَاتِ sabaṭānāti
genitive	سَبَطَانَاتٍ sabaṭānātin	السَّبَطَانَاتِ as-sabaṭānāti	سَبَطَانَاتِ sabaṭānāti

Descendants

→ Catalan: sarabatana, sarbatana
→ French: sarbacane
→ Italian: cerbottana
→ Portuguese: zarabatana, sarabatana, zarvatana
→ Spanish: cerbatana

References

Corriente, Federico (2008) “cerbatana”, in Dictionary of Arabic and Allied Loanwords. Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, Galician and Kindred Dialects (Handbook of Oriental Studies; 97), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 257, where they do not know the Malay origin and claim an influence of South Arabian variants of Proto-Semitic *šabaṭ- (“to beat”), which is semantically and chronologically unlikely. Note that they do not have this word in the Andalusi dictionary Corriente, Federico, Pereira, Christophe, Vicente, Angeles, editors (2017), Dictionnaire du faisceau dialectal arabe andalou. Perspectives phraséologiques et étymologiques (in French), Berlin: De Gruyter, →ISBN, which is another sign that this is borrowed later and from farther east.
Freytag, Georg (1833) “زبطانة”, in Lexicon arabico-latinum praesertim ex Djeuharii Firuzabadiique et aliorum Arabum operibus adhibitis Golii quoque et aliorum libris confectum‎^[1] (in Latin), volume 2, Halle: C. A. Schwetschke, page 223
Freytag, Georg (1833) “سبطانة”, in Lexicon arabico-latinum praesertim ex Djeuharii Firuzabadiique et aliorum Arabum operibus adhibitis Golii quoque et aliorum libris confectum‎^[2] (in Latin), volume 2, Halle: C. A. Schwetschke, page 278