Talk:alibi

Re: Alibi

Hello, everyone,

With reference to Wiktionary's offered explanation as per the etymology of the word: alibi as originating in Latin, I would beg to DIFFER & offer a much OLDER etymological source thereof in (waht was known at the time as) Palestinian Aramaic in the expression: Aleeba dee... אַלִּיבָּא (דְּ־)-which means: according to (see here: https://he.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D7%90%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%91%D7%90) where, in "the compound structure", the first part is the adverb, 'aleeba'-meaning: 'according' & the second part, 'dee'-meaning: to!

This expression is most common in combinations, such as: aleeba dee'emet=according to/by the truth.

This makes perfect sense-as, an alibi is one's explanation of/as events transpired which can of course exonerate the person & eliminate him/her as being considered a suspect of committed crime (which means that it is THEIR OWN version of events/"their OWN story"-or, in other words: according to them!)

AK63 (talk) 10:00, 6 July 2023 (UTC)

This really requires more than a chance similarity. English, French, Latin, & Aramaic all have long written histories. We see this word in use in French before English going back to the late 14th century. There's a pretty clear 'elsewhere' meaning in some Middle French usage, such as when we see alibi forain. Legal books were largely in Latin, as was university instruction. Knowledge of Aramaic was very, very rare in Europe until much later. Pathawi (talk) 11:08, 6 July 2023 (UTC)