בכתא

Lishana Deni edit

Etymology edit

Disputed, and found throughout Northeastern Neo-Aramaic, as well as in Mandaic. Yona Sabar and Hezy Mutzafi support an Aramaic-internal origin from an earlier meaning "spinster", comparing Classical Syriac ܒܟܬܬܐ (bāḵeṯtā, “weaving woman”), but irregularly derived from the absolute rather than the emphatic state. Geoffrey Khan instead suggests a borrowing from Northern Kurdish bext (“luck”), which is in turn either cognate with or borrowed from Persian (baxt).

Noun edit

בכתא (baxta) f (plural בכתאתא (baxtāṯa), masculine counterpart גורא (gōra))

woman
wife
- a. 1650-1950, printed in Tafsirs of Piyutim, Kinot and Azharot, in the dialects of Neo-Aramaic of the Jews of Kurdistan, Yona Sabar, 2009
  פתכלו פומוה קאמה ו מרוליה חכמים דידה וזרש בכתיה עצייה.
  pṯəxlu pəmmu qāme ʾu-mə́rrule ḥaxāmim dīde ʾu-zērəš baxte ʿəṣye.
  His rebellious sages and wife Zeresh opened their mouth before him and said to him.