mastaba

English

Alternative forms

• mastabah

Etymology

From Arabic مِصْطَبَة (miṣṭaba, “bench”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmæstəbə/, sometimes /mæˈstaːbə/

Noun

mastaba (plural mastabas)

1. A wide stone bench built into the wall of a house, shop etc. in the Middle East.
   • 1855, Sir Richard Burton, Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah & Meccah, Dover, published 1963, page 68:

     A wooden shutter which closes down at night-time, and by day two palm-stick stools intensely dirty and full of fleas, occupying the place of the Mastabah or earthern bench, which accomodated[sic] purchasers, complete the furniture of my preceptor's establishment.

2. (architecture) A rectangular structure with a flat top and slightly sloping sides, built during Ancient Egyptian times above tombs that were situated on flat land. Mastabas were made of wood, mud bricks, stone, or a combination of these materials. Some are solid structures, while others can contain one or more rooms, sometimes decorated with paintings or inscriptions.

   The pyramids at Giza are flanked by large cemeteries containing hundreds of mastabas.

Translations

wide stone bench

• German: Steinbank (de) f

rectangular tomb structure with a flat top and slightly sloping sides

• Catalan: mastaba (ca) f
• Coptic: please add this translation if you can
• Danish: please add this translation if you can
• Dutch: mastaba (nl) f
• Egyptian: (jz m)
• Finnish: mastaba (fi)
• French: mastaba (fr) f
• Galician: mastaba (gl) f
• German: Mastaba (de) f
• Greek: μασταμπάς (el) m (mastampás)
• Italian: mastaba (it) f
• Japanese: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Malay: please add this translation if you can
• Persian: please add this translation if you can
• Polish: mastaba (pl) f
• Portuguese: mastaba f
• Russian: маста́ба (ru) f (mastába)
• Spanish: mastaba (es) f
• Swahili: please add this translation if you can
• Swedish: please add this translation if you can

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Arabic: ^{(please verify)} مِصْطَبَة f (miṣṭaba)

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic مِصْطَبَة (miṣṭaba, “bench”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɑs.taː.baː/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: mas‧ta‧ba

Noun

mastaba f (plural mastaba's)

1. A mastaba (ancient Egyptian tomb structure).

French

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

mastaba m (plural mastabas)

1. mastaba

Further reading

• “mastaba”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Italian

Etymology

From Arabic مِصْطَبَة (miṣṭaba, “bench”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈma.sta.ba/
• Rhymes: -astaba
• Hyphenation: mà‧sta‧ba

Noun

mastaba f (plural mastabe)

1. mastaba

Spanish

Noun

mastaba f (plural mastabas)

1. mastaba

Further reading

• “mastaba”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014