Persian

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Etymology

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An extended form of ـات (-ât), from Arabic ـَات (-āt). The /dʒ/ goes back to the Middle Persian /ɡ/ that also resurfaces with the plural suffix ـان (-ân), as in پرنده (parande)پرندگان (parandegân).[1] Before the Arabic suffix, this /ɡ/ was Arabised to /dʒ/ by analogy with Persian loanwords in Arabic; compare بَرْنامَج (barnāmaj) vis-à-vis Persian برنامه (barnâme) etc.

Pronunciation

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Readings
Classical reading?
Dari reading?
Iranian reading?
Tajik reading?

Suffix

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ـجات (-jât)

  1. forms the plural of some nouns; such plurals often have a collective sense, e.g. referring to products or plants
    روزنامه (ruznâme, newspaper) + ‎ـجات → ‎روزنامجات (ruznâmejât, the print media)
    میوه (mive, fruit) + ‎ـجات → ‎میوجات (mivejât, fruits)
    سبزی (sabzi, vegetable) + ‎ـجات → ‎سبزیجات (sabzijât, vegetables)
    صیفی (seyfi, summery) + ‎ـجات → ‎صیفیجات (seyfijât, spring/summer crops)
    شتوی (šatavi, wintry) + ‎ـجات → ‎شتویجات (šatavijât, autumn/winter crops)
    مربا (morabbâ, jam) + ‎ـجات → ‎مرباجات (morabbâjât, jams)
    دوا (davâ, medicine) + ‎ـجات → ‎دواجات (davâjât, pharmaceuticals)

Usage notes

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Sometimes a half-space is used when it follows a terminal ه (h) or ی (i). For example, one may come across روزنامه‌جات and صیفی‌جات rather than روزنامجات and صیفیجات.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Gernot Windfuhr, John R. Perry (2009) “Persian and Tajik” (chapter 8), in The Iranian Languages[1] (in English), page 430:
    Related, but irregular and rare, is suffixation of the generalizing plural suffix -j-āt to final vowel: ruz-nāme 'newspaper' > ruz-nāme-j-āt 'the printing media', sabzi 'greens, vegetable' > sabzi-j-āt 'vegetables' in the generic sense. (...) The alternation -i ­~ -i-j-āt originates in Middle Persian suffix -īg, which was loaned early into Arabic, with Pers. j > g, and, with the abstract feminine plural marker -āt, was later re-loaned into Persian, where it is moderately productive, where g thus still underlies the stem form.