دبوس

Arabic

Alternative forms

• دَبُّوز (dabbūz), دَبُّوسَة (dabbūsa), دَبُّوزَة (dabbūza)

Etymology

A pre-Mamluk Turkic borrowing, from a cognate of Ottoman Turkish طوپوز (topuz, “iron mace”). The name of a pin may have additional connection to the root د ب ب (d-b-b) related to crawling, pushing in, compare also دَرْبَسَ (darbasa, “to shut”), and possibly, too, the name stuck owing to دِبْس (dibs, “molasses”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dab.buːs/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

دَبُّوس • (dabbūs) m (plural دَبَابِيس (dabābīs))

1. pin
2. (before that) peg, plug, rod, cudgel, any oblong instrument driven into or onto something
3. (figurative) penis

   Synonyms: قَضِيب (qaḍīb), ذَكَر (ḏakar), زُبّ (zubb), أَيْر (ʔayr), آلَة (ʔāla)

4. (originally now historical) iron mace
5. (regional) government informant

Declension

Declension of noun دَبُّوس (dabbūs)

Singular	basic singular triptote
	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	دَبُّوس dabbūs	الدَّبُّوس ad-dabbūs	دَبُّوس dabbūs
Nominative	دَبُّوسٌ dabbūsun	الدَّبُّوسُ ad-dabbūsu	دَبُّوسُ dabbūsu
Accusative	دَبُّوسًا dabbūsan	الدَّبُّوسَ ad-dabbūsa	دَبُّوسَ dabbūsa
Genitive	دَبُّوسٍ dabbūsin	الدَّبُّوسِ ad-dabbūsi	دَبُّوسِ dabbūsi
Dual	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	دَبُّوسَيْن dabbūsayn	الدَّبُّوسَيْن ad-dabbūsayn	دَبُّوسَيْ dabbūsay
Nominative	دَبُّوسَانِ dabbūsāni	الدَّبُّوسَانِ ad-dabbūsāni	دَبُّوسَا dabbūsā
Accusative	دَبُّوسَيْنِ dabbūsayni	الدَّبُّوسَيْنِ ad-dabbūsayni	دَبُّوسَيْ dabbūsay
Genitive	دَبُّوسَيْنِ dabbūsayni	الدَّبُّوسَيْنِ ad-dabbūsayni	دَبُّوسَيْ dabbūsay
Plural	basic broken plural diptote
	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	دَبَابِيس dabābīs	الدَّبَابِيس ad-dabābīs	دَبَابِيس dabābīs
Nominative	دَبَابِيسُ dabābīsu	الدَّبَابِيسُ ad-dabābīsu	دَبَابِيسُ dabābīsu
Accusative	دَبَابِيسَ dabābīsa	الدَّبَابِيسَ ad-dabābīsa	دَبَابِيسَ dabābīsa
Genitive	دَبَابِيسَ dabābīsa	الدَّبَابِيسِ ad-dabābīsi	دَبَابِيسِ dabābīsi

Derived terms

• دَبَّاسَة (dabbāsa, “stapler”)
• دَبَّسَ (dabbasa, verb)
• دَبُّوسِيّ (dabbūsiyy, adjective)

Descendants

• → Malay: dabus
  • Indonesian: debus

References

• Corriente, Federico, Pereira, Christophe, Vicente, Angeles, editors (2017), Dictionnaire du faisceau dialectal arabe andalou. Perspectives phraséologiques et étymologiques (in French), Berlin: De Gruyter, →ISBN, page 450, guesses as “probable” instead a Middle Iranian compound of Proto-Iranian *dwáH (“two”) and Proto-Iranian *baHjúš (“arm”) because of it being a two-handed weapon; the same compound would have engendered دَبَّاس (dabbās), دِبَاسَاء (dibāsāʔ, “praying mantis”) because of that animal’s forelegs.
• Corriente, F. (1997) A Dictionary of Andalusi Arabic (Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 1 The Near and Middle East; 29)‎^[1], Leiden, New York, Köln: Brill, →ISBN, →LCCN, page 173b, as later.
• Dozy, Reinhart Pieter Anne (1881) “دبوس”, in Supplément aux dictionnaires arabes‎^[2] (in French), volume 1, Leiden: E. J. Brill, page 423a
• Freytag, Georg (1833) “دبوس”, 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 6a
• Kazimirski, Albin de Biberstein (1860) “دبوس”, 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^[4] (in French), volume 1, Paris: Maisonneuve et C^ie, page 667a
• Lane, Edward William (1863) “دبوس”, in Arabic-English Lexicon‎^[5], London: Williams & Norgate, page 840a
• Littmann, Enno (1954) “Türkisches Sprachgut im Ägyptisch-Arabischen”, in Fritz Meier, editor, Westöstliche Abhandlungen : Rudolf Tschudi zum 70. Geburtstag überreicht von Freunden und Schülern‎^[6], Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, page 117
• Procházka, Stephan (2004) “The Turkish Contribution to the Arabic Lexicon”, in Linguistic Convergence and Areal Diffusion: Case Studies from Iranian, Semitic and Turkic‎^[7], Routledge, →ISBN, page 199
• Steingass, Francis Joseph (1884) “دبوس”, in The Student's Arabic–English Dictionary‎^[8], London: W.H. Allen, page 353b
• Vollers, Karl (1897) “Beiträge zur Kenntniss der lebenden arabischen Sprache in Aegypten”, in Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft‎^[9] (in German), volume 51, page 306 Nr. 39

Hijazi Arabic

Etymology

From Arabic دَبُّوس (dabbūs).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dab.buːs/

Noun

دبوس • (dabbūs) m (plural دَبَابِيس (dabābīs))

1. pin
2. (slang) snitch