بنان

Arabic

Alternative forms

Etymology

From the root ب و ن (b-w-n), for the interstices between the fingers. Maybe also related to إِبْهَام (ʔibhām, “thumb”). The sense of bananas is from French banane.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ba.naːn/

Noun

بَنَان • (banān) pl (collective, singulative بَنَانَة f (banāna))

  1. the fingertips or fingers
    • 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 75:3-4:
      أَيَحۡسَبُ ٱلۡإِنسَـٰنُ أَلَّن نَّجۡمَعَ عِظَامَهُۥ ۝ بَلَىٰ قَـٰدِرِينَ عَلَىٰۤ أَن نُّسَوِّيَ بَنَانَهُۥ
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
    • a. 1200, القاضي الفاضل, وصغيرهم عبد العزيز فانني […]‎:
      إن البنان الخمس أكفاء معا
      والحلى دون جميعها للخنصر
      وإذا الفتى فقد الشباب سماله
      حب البنين ولا كَحُبّ الأصغر
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
    • a. 1954, الشاذلي خزنه دار, مسكت اليراع بطرف البنان […]‎:
      مسكت اليراع بطرف البنان
      وقلت إلى الفكر هل من بيان
      I grabbed the reed pen through the tips of the fingers
      And asked the mind whether it got any idea
  2. (modern, Morocco, Mauritania, Algeria, Tunisia) banana
    Synonym: مَوْز (mawz)

Declension

Descendants

  • → Wolof: banaana (perchance)

References

  • Behnstedt, Peter, Woidich, Manfred (2010) Wortatlas der arabischen Dialekte – Band I: Mensch, Natur, Fauna und Flora (Handbook of Oriental Studies – Handbuch der Orientalistik; 100) (in German), Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, →DOI, →ISBN, page 517
  • Freytag, Georg (1830) “بنان”, in Lexicon arabico-latinum praesertim ex Djeuharii Firuzabadiique et aliorum Arabum operibus adhibitis Golii quoque et aliorum libris confectum‎ (in Latin), volume 1, Halle: C. A. Schwetschke, page 158b
  • Kazimirski, Albin de Biberstein (1860) “بنان”, in Dictionnaire arabe-français contenant toutes les racines de la langue arabe, leurs dérivés, tant dans l’idiome vulgaire que dans l’idiome littéral, ainsi que les dialectes d’Alger et de Maroc‎ (in French), volume 2, Paris: Maisonneuve et Cie, page 166a
  • Landberg, Carlo, editor (1920), Glossaire daṯînois‎ (in French), Leiden: Brill, pages 210–212
  • Militarev, Alexander, Kogan, Leonid (2000) Semitic Etymological Dictionary, volumes I: Anatomy of Man and Animals, Münster: Ugarit-Verlag, →ISBN, pages 33–34 Nr. 34
  • Lane, Edward William (1863) “بنان”, in Arabic-English Lexicon‎, London: Williams & Norgate, pages 258b–c
  • Wehr, Hans (1979) “بنان”, in J. Milton Cowan, editor, A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, 4th edition, Ithaca, NY: Spoken Language Services, →ISBN, page 93

Moroccan Arabic

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /bnaːn/

Adjective

بنان • (bnān) pl

  1. plural of بنين (bnīn)

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /banaːn/

Noun

بنان • (banān) m (collective, singulative بنانة f (banāna), plural بنانات (banānāt))

  1. banana
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