Talk:تيتا

Etymology

Could tēta تيتا perhaps originate from a diminutive of sitt سِتّ: stēte/sutaita ستيتة? The loss of the "s" could be explained by the fact that this is a very common/colloquial word that is often used be young children who might have a hard time with the initial consonant cluster of "st".

Although it wouldn't explain why the word isn't pronounced with imāla as tēte/tēti تَيتِة, perhaps it lost its initial "s" before the spread of imala and ended up being analysed as a vocative/appellative word like māma ماما and nāna نانا (Aleppine for grandma) that ends in an ا instead of a ة, or maybe because of dissimilation to the initial syllable "tē".

I was watching this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EY82SazJuT0 @16.15) where a Hijazi woman uses the word stēta سْتَيتَة in the meaning of "older sister" which made me wonder if it was related to the Levantine word tēta تيتا. Majd Kajan (talk) 15:28, 20 December 2024 (UTC)

Such a dimunitive would match the word 3mēme عْمَيمِة which is used when addressing one's paternal aunt or 3amme عَمِّة. Majd Kajan (talk) 15:32, 20 December 2024 (UTC)