بنان

See also: بيان‎, تیان‎, بیان‎, تبان‎, and يبان‎

Arabic

Alternative forms

بَنَام‎ (banām) – from ʿUmar ibn ʾAbī Rabīʿa
بَنَّة‎ (banna) – Yemen, plural بِنَان‎ (binān) and بَنَّات‎ (bannāt)

Etymology

From the root ب و ن‎ (b-w-n), for the interstices between the fingers. Maybe also related to إِبْهَام‎ (ʾibhām, “thumb”). The sense of bananas is from French banane.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ba.naːn/

Noun

بَنَان • (banān) pl (collective, singulative بَنَانَة‎ f (banāna))

the fingertips or fingers
- 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 75:3-4:
  ‏أَيَحۡسَبُ ٱلۡإِنسَـٰنُ أَلَّن نَّجۡمَعَ عِظَامَهُۥ ۝ بَلَىٰ قَـٰدِرِينَ عَلَىٰۤ أَن نُّسَوِّيَ بَنَانَهُۥ‎‎
  ʾa-yaḥsabu l-ʾinsānu ʾan lan najmaʿa ʿiẓāmahū ۝ balā qādirīna ʿalā ʾan nusawwiya banānahū
  (please add an English translation of this quote)
- a. 1200, القاضي الفاضل, وصغيرهم عبد العزيز فانني […]‎:
  ‏إن البنان الخمس أكفاء معا
  والحلى دون جميعها للخنصر
  وإذا الفتى فقد الشباب سماله
  حب البنين ولا كَحُبّ الأصغر‎
  (please add an English translation of this quote)
- a. 1954, الشاذلي خزنه دار, مسكت اليراع بطرف البنان […]‎:
  ‏مسكت اليراع بطرف البنان
  وقلت إلى الفكر هل من بيان‎
  I grabbed the reed pen through the tips of the fingers
  And asked the mind whether it got any idea
(modern, Morocco, Mauritania, Algeria, Tunisia) banana
Synonym: مَوْز‎ (mawz)

Declension

Declension of noun بَنَان (banān)

Plural	basic broken plural triptote
Plural	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	بَنَان banān	الْبَنَان‎ al-banān	بَنَان banān
Nominative	بَنَانٌ banānun	الْبَنَانُ‎ al-banānu	بَنَانُ banānu
Accusative	بَنَانًا‎ banānan	الْبَنَانَ‎ al-banāna	بَنَانَ banāna
Genitive	بَنَانٍ banānin	الْبَنَانِ‎ al-banāni	بَنَانِ banāni

Descendants

→ Wolof: banaana (perchance)

References

Behnstedt, Peter; Woidich, Manfred (2010) Wortatlas der arabischen Dialekte – Band I: Mensch, Natur, Fauna und Flora (Handbook of Oriental Studies – Handbuch der Orientalistik; 100) (in German), Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, DOI:10.1163/9789004224674, →ISBN, page 517
Freytag, Georg (1830), “بنان”, in Lexicon arabico-latinum praesertim ex Djeuharii Firuzabadiique et aliorum Arabum operibus adhibitis Golii quoque et aliorum libris confectum (in Latin), volume 1, Halle: C. A. Schwetschke, page 158b
Kazimirski, Albin de Biberstein (1860), “بنان”, in Dictionnaire arabe-français contenant toutes les racines de la langue arabe, leurs dérivés, tant dans l’idiome vulgaire que dans l’idiome littéral, ainsi que les dialectes d’Alger et de Maroc (in French), volume 2, Paris: Maisonneuve et C^ie, page 166a
Landberg, Carlo, editor (1920) Glossaire daṯînois‎ (in French), Leiden: Brill, page 210–212
Militarev, Alexander; Kogan, Leonid (2000) Semitic Etymological Dictionary, volume I: Anatomy of Man and Animals, Münster: Ugarit-Verlag, →ISBN, pages 33–34 Nr. 34
Lane, Edward William (1863), “بنان”, in Arabic-English Lexicon, London: Williams & Norgate, page 258b–c
Wehr, Hans (1979), “بنان”, in J. Milton Cowan, editor, A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, 4th edition, Ithaca, NY: Spoken Language Services, →ISBN, page 93

Moroccan Arabic

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /bnaːn/

Adjective

بنان • (bnān) pl

plural of بنين‎ (bnīn)

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /banaːn/

Noun

بنان • (banān) m (collective, singulative بنانة‎ f (banāna), plural بنانات‎ (banānāt))

banana