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Arabic

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ببغاءPsittacus erithacus

Etymology

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Perhaps of onomatopoeic origin. In view of the bird’s range, borrowing from an unknown African or South Asian language is possible. Related to Classical Syriac ܒܒܓܐ (/⁠bbgʾ⁠/), ܦܵܦܵܐ (ppʾ /⁠pāp̄ā⁠/), Old Armenian պապկայ (papkay), Persian ببغا (babğâ), بپغا (bapğâ, parrot).

Noun

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بَبَّغَاء or بَبْغَاء or بَبَغَاء (babbaḡāʔ or babḡāʔ or babaḡāʔm or f (dual بَبَّغَاوَانِ (babbaḡāwāni) or بَبْغَاوَانِ (babḡāwāni) or بَبَغَاوَانِ (babaḡāwāni), plural بَبَّغَاوَات (babbaḡāwāt) or بَبْغَاوَات (babḡāwāt) or بَبَغَاوَات (babaḡāwāt))

  1. parrot
  2. (figurative) one who repeats what was said
    لَا تَكُنْ مِثْلَ الْبَبَّغَاءِ
    lā takun miṯla l-babbaḡāʔi
    Do not parrot.

Declension

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Descendants

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References

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  • Ciancaglini, Claudia A. (2008) Iranian loanwords in Syriac (Beiträge zur Iranistik; 28), Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, page 120
  • Freytag, Georg (1830) “ببغاء”, in Lexicon arabico-latinum praesertim ex Djeuharii Firuzabadiique et aliorum Arabum operibus adhibitis Golii quoque et aliorum libris confectum[1] (in Latin), volume 1, Halle: C. A. Schwetschke, page 81
  • Lane, Edward William (1863) “ببغاء”, in Arabic-English Lexicon[2], London: Williams & Norgate, page 147
  • Steingass, Francis Joseph (1884) “ببغاء”, in The Student's Arabic–English Dictionary[3], London: W.H. Allen, page 104
  • Wehr, Hans (1979) “ببغاء”, in J. Milton Cowan, editor, A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, 4th edition, Ithaca, NY: Spoken Language Services, →ISBN, page 51