زربية

See also: زريبة

Arabic

Etymology

William Hoyt Worrell considers it a genuine Arabic word. It is according to him from زِرْب (zirb, “canal”) and originally meant a “rug streaked with canals”, a “striped rug”, formed as فِسْقِيَّة (fisqiyya, “fountain”), شَمْسِيَّة (šamsiyya, “parasol”), حَنَفِيَّة (ḥanafiyya, “faucet, spigot”).
It could be borrowed from Ge'ez ዘርቤት (zärbet) from ዘረበ (zäräbä, “to trample”), which Theodor Nöldeke and Arthur Jeffery find most appealing, but Wolf Leslau and Siegmund Fraenkel assume that the Ge'ez word is from the Arabic.
It has been suggested to be from a Middle Persian *hcdl-pdy (/⁠azēr-pay⁠/, literally “under the foot”) by Georg Hoffmann, but this is doubtful for not being attested in any Persian.
It would rather be a Middle Persian *DHBʾ-pay (/⁠zar-pay⁠/, literally “gold-foot”), as Jeffery corrects, but it is unsensible that this would come to mean a carpet.
It could be a *DHBʾ-ʾby (/⁠zar-ābī⁠/, literally “goldeny”), a parallel to such a formation being found in Persian (simâbi, “silvery”), to which Wilhelm Eilers and Johnny Cheung lean, and when borrowed been treated as a broken plural with the singular back-formed from the plural, but one has to assume for Persian (âb) an unusual meaning “splendour, lustre” from Sanskrit आभा (ābhā, “appearance, splendour, lustre”) and the frequency of such a term is doubtful.
It could, as Nabīl al-Waġlīsiyy reconstructs, reflect the name of the land of Azerbaijan as it is renowned yore and today for opulent rug manufacturing, being a doublet of أَذَرِيّ (ʔaḏariyy, “Azeri”) of a different segmentation including /b/ and lacking the hamzated onset.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /zir.bij.ja/, /zur.bij.ja/, /zar.bij.ja/

Noun

زَرْبِيَّة or زُرْبِيَّة or زِرْبِيَّة • (zarbiyya or zurbiyya or zirbiyya) f (plural زَرَابِيّ (zarābiyy))

carpet, rug
- 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 88:16:
  وَزَرَابِيُّ مَبْثُوثَةٌ
  wa-zarābiyyu mabṯūṯatun
  and carpets spread out
- 2015 June 12, “"زرابي" أزلغ الأمازيغية..احتفالية قبائلية لغزل الصوف في المغرب”, in Anadolu Agency‎^[1], archived from the original on 2020 November 26:
  أَجْمَلُ أَنْوَاعِ ٱلزَّرَابِيِّ ٱلَّتِي تَحْبِكُهَا نِسَاءُ "وَرْزَازَاتَ" فِي ٱلْأَمَاسِيِّ ٱلدَّافِئَةِ مَمْزُوجَةٌ بِأَهَازِيجِ ٱلْأَمَازِيغِ ٱلْقَدِيمَةِ، تِلْكَ ٱلْمُلَقَّبَةُ بِـ"ٱلزَّرْبِيَّةِ ٱلْوَاوْزَكِيتِيَّةِ" (نِسْبَةً لِقَبَائِلِ وَمِنْطَقَةِ زَكِيتْ قُرْبَ تَازْنَاخَتْ).
  ʔajmalu ʔanwāʕi z-zarābiyyi llatī taḥbikuhā nisāʔu "warzāzāta" fī l-ʔamāsiyyi d-dāfiʔati mamzūjatun biʔahāzīji l-ʔamāzīḡi l-qadīmati, tilka l-mulaqqabatu bi-"z-zarbiyyati l-wāwzakītiyyati" (nisbatan liqabāʔili waminṭaqati zakīt qurba tāznāḵat).
  (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Declension

Declension of noun زَرْبِيَّة (zarbiyya)‎; زُرْبِيَّة (zurbiyya)‎; زِرْبِيَّة (zirbiyya)

Singular	singular triptote in ـَة (-a)
Singular	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	زَرْبِيَّة‎; زُرْبِيَّة‎; زِرْبِيَّة zarbiyya‎; zurbiyya‎; zirbiyya	الزَّرْبِيَّة‎; الزُّرْبِيَّة‎; الزِّرْبِيَّة az-zarbiyya‎; az-zurbiyya‎; az-zirbiyya	زَرْبِيَّة‎; زُرْبِيَّة‎; زِرْبِيَّة zarbiyyat‎; zurbiyyat‎; zirbiyyat
Nominative	زَرْبِيَّةٌ‎; زُرْبِيَّةٌ‎; زِرْبِيَّةٌ zarbiyyatun‎; zurbiyyatun‎; zirbiyyatun	الزَّرْبِيَّةُ‎; الزُّرْبِيَّةُ‎; الزِّرْبِيَّةُ az-zarbiyyatu‎; az-zurbiyyatu‎; az-zirbiyyatu	زَرْبِيَّةُ‎; زُرْبِيَّةُ‎; زِرْبِيَّةُ zarbiyyatu‎; zurbiyyatu‎; zirbiyyatu
Accusative	زَرْبِيَّةً‎; زُرْبِيَّةً‎; زِرْبِيَّةً zarbiyyatan‎; zurbiyyatan‎; zirbiyyatan	الزَّرْبِيَّةَ‎; الزُّرْبِيَّةَ‎; الزِّرْبِيَّةَ az-zarbiyyata‎; az-zurbiyyata‎; az-zirbiyyata	زَرْبِيَّةَ‎; زُرْبِيَّةَ‎; زِرْبِيَّةَ zarbiyyata‎; zurbiyyata‎; zirbiyyata
Genitive	زَرْبِيَّةٍ‎; زُرْبِيَّةٍ‎; زِرْبِيَّةٍ zarbiyyatin‎; zurbiyyatin‎; zirbiyyatin	الزَّرْبِيَّةِ‎; الزُّرْبِيَّةِ‎; الزِّرْبِيَّةِ az-zarbiyyati‎; az-zurbiyyati‎; az-zirbiyyati	زَرْبِيَّةِ‎; زُرْبِيَّةِ‎; زِرْبِيَّةِ zarbiyyati‎; zurbiyyati‎; zirbiyyati
Dual	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	زَرْبِيَّتَيْن‎; زُرْبِيَّتَيْن‎; زِرْبِيَّتَيْن zarbiyyatayn‎; zurbiyyatayn‎; zirbiyyatayn	الزَّرْبِيَّتَيْن‎; الزُّرْبِيَّتَيْن‎; الزِّرْبِيَّتَيْن az-zarbiyyatayn‎; az-zurbiyyatayn‎; az-zirbiyyatayn	زَرْبِيَّتَيْ‎; زُرْبِيَّتَيْ‎; زِرْبِيَّتَيْ zarbiyyatay‎; zurbiyyatay‎; zirbiyyatay
Nominative	زَرْبِيَّتَانِ‎; زُرْبِيَّتَانِ‎; زِرْبِيَّتَانِ zarbiyyatāni‎; zurbiyyatāni‎; zirbiyyatāni	الزَّرْبِيَّتَانِ‎; الزُّرْبِيَّتَانِ‎; الزِّرْبِيَّتَانِ az-zarbiyyatāni‎; az-zurbiyyatāni‎; az-zirbiyyatāni	زَرْبِيَّتَا‎; زُرْبِيَّتَا‎; زِرْبِيَّتَا zarbiyyatā‎; zurbiyyatā‎; zirbiyyatā
Accusative	زَرْبِيَّتَيْنِ‎; زُرْبِيَّتَيْنِ‎; زِرْبِيَّتَيْنِ zarbiyyatayni‎; zurbiyyatayni‎; zirbiyyatayni	الزَّرْبِيَّتَيْنِ‎; الزُّرْبِيَّتَيْنِ‎; الزِّرْبِيَّتَيْنِ az-zarbiyyatayni‎; az-zurbiyyatayni‎; az-zirbiyyatayni	زَرْبِيَّتَيْ‎; زُرْبِيَّتَيْ‎; زِرْبِيَّتَيْ zarbiyyatay‎; zurbiyyatay‎; zirbiyyatay
Genitive	زَرْبِيَّتَيْنِ‎; زُرْبِيَّتَيْنِ‎; زِرْبِيَّتَيْنِ zarbiyyatayni‎; zurbiyyatayni‎; zirbiyyatayni	الزَّرْبِيَّتَيْنِ‎; الزُّرْبِيَّتَيْنِ‎; الزِّرْبِيَّتَيْنِ az-zarbiyyatayni‎; az-zurbiyyatayni‎; az-zirbiyyatayni	زَرْبِيَّتَيْ‎; زُرْبِيَّتَيْ‎; زِرْبِيَّتَيْ zarbiyyatay‎; zurbiyyatay‎; zirbiyyatay
Plural	basic broken plural diptote
Plural	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	زَرَابِي zarābī	الزَّرَابِي az-zarābī	زَرَابِي zarābī
Nominative	زَرَابِيُّ zarābiyyu	الزَّرَابِيُّ az-zarābiyyu	زَرَابِيُّ zarābiyyu
Accusative	زَرَابِيَّ zarābiyya	الزَّرَابِيَّ az-zarābiyya	زَرَابِيَّ zarābiyya
Genitive	زَرَابِيَّ zarābiyya	الزَّرَابِيِّ az-zarābiyyi	زَرَابِيِّ zarābiyyi

Descendants

Moroccan Arabic: زربية (zarbiyya)

References

Cheung, Johnny (2017) On the (Middle) Iranian borrowings in Qurʾānic (and pre-Islamic) Arabic‎^[2], Leiden: Leiden University, pages 10–11
Eilers, Wilhelm (1962) “Iranisches Lehngut im arabischen Lexikon”, in Indo-Iranian Journal (in German), volume 5, number 3, page 205
Fraenkel, Siegmund (1886) Die aramäischen Fremdwörter im Arabischen (in German), Leiden: E. J. Brill, pages 92–93
Freytag, Georg (1833) “زربية”, in Lexicon arabico-latinum praesertim ex Djeuharii Firuzabadiique et aliorum Arabum operibus adhibitis Golii quoque et aliorum libris confectum‎^[3] (in Latin), volume 2, Halle: C. A. Schwetschke, page 232
Jeffery, Arthur (1938) The Foreign Vocabulary of the Qurʾān (Gaekwad’s Oriental Series; 79), Baroda: Oriental Institute, pages 150–151
Leslau, Wolf (1991) Comparative Dictionary of Geʿez (Classical Ethiopic), 2nd edition, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, →ISBN, page 643
Nöldeke, Theodor (1910) Neue Beiträge zur semitischen Sprachwissenschaft‎^[4] (in German), Straßburg: Karl J. Trübner, page 53
Al-Waġlīsiyy, Nabīl (2018 April 13) “أصل كلمة زربية وتسمية أذربيجان”, in على رصيف الكلمات‎^[5]
Wehr, Hans with Kropfitsch, Lorenz (1985) “زربية”, in Arabisches Wörterbuch für die Schriftsprache der Gegenwart‎^[6] (in German), 5th edition, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, published 2011, →ISBN, page 521
Worrell, William Hoyt (1934) “On Certain Arabic Terms for “Rug””, in Ars Islamica, volume 1, number 2, →DOI, pages 220–221