ببك

Ottoman Turkish

ببك

Etymology

Of onomatopoeic origin; compare Bashkir бәпәй (bəpəy), Crimean Tatar bebey, Kazakh бөбек (böbek), Tatar бәбәй (bäbäy), Turkmen bäbek, Uyghur بوۋاق (bowaq) and, more distantly, English baby, French bébé, etc.

Noun

ببك • (bebek)

1. baby, infant, a very young human being, from birth to somewhere between six months and two years of age

   Synonyms: صبی (sabi), نوزاد (nevzad), وشاق (vuşak)

2. doll, puppet, marionette, any small model of a person or animal able to be moved by strings or rods

   Synonym: قوقله (kukla)

Derived terms

• ببك اشی (bebek eşi, “afterbirth”)
• گوز ببكی (göz bebeği, “pupil”)

 

Descendants

• Turkish: bebek
• → Armenian: պէպէք (pēpēkʻ)

Further reading

• Çağbayır, Yaşar (2007) “bebek”, in Ötüken Türkçe Sözlük (in Turkish), volume 1, Istanbul: Ötüken Neşriyat, page 517
• Kélékian, Diran (1911) “ببك”, in Dictionnaire turc-français‎^[1], Constantinople: Mihran, page 252
• Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1680) “ببك”, in Thesaurus linguarum orientalium, Turcicae, Arabicae, Persicae, praecipuas earum opes à Turcis peculiariter usurpatas continens, nimirum Lexicon Turkico-Arabico-Persicum‎^[2], Vienna, column 704
• Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–) “bebek”, in Nişanyan Sözlük
• Redhouse, James W. (1890) “ببك”, in A Turkish and English Lexicon‎^[3], Constantinople: A. H. Boyajian, page 338