مصباح

مصباح

Arabic

FWOTD – 21 November 2015

Etymology

Tool noun from the root ص ب ح‎ (ṣ-b-ḥ); compare صَبْح‎ (ṣabḥ, “dawn”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /misˤ.baːħ/

• Audio

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Noun

مِصْبَاح • (miṣbāḥ) m (plural مَصَابِيح‎ (maṣābīḥ))

1. lamp
   • 7th century CE, The Quran‎:

     ‏مَثَلُ نُورِهِ كَمِشْكَاةٍ فِيهَا مِصْبَاحٌ‎‎

     maṯalu nūrihi kamiškātin fīhā miṣbāḥun

     The likeness of his light is like a niche with a lamp in it.

2. headlight (of a car)

Declension

Declension of noun مِصْبَاح (miṣbāḥ)

Singular	basic singular triptote
	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	مِصْبَاح miṣbāḥ	الْمِصْبَاح‎ al-miṣbāḥ	مِصْبَاح miṣbāḥ
Nominative	مِصْبَاحٌ miṣbāḥun	الْمِصْبَاحُ‎ al-miṣbāḥu	مِصْبَاحُ miṣbāḥu
Accusative	مِصْبَاحًا‎ miṣbāḥan	الْمِصْبَاحَ‎ al-miṣbāḥa	مِصْبَاحَ miṣbāḥa
Genitive	مِصْبَاحٍ miṣbāḥin	الْمِصْبَاحِ‎ al-miṣbāḥi	مِصْبَاحِ miṣbāḥi
Dual	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	مِصْبَاحَيْن‎ miṣbāḥayn	الْمِصْبَاحَيْن‎ al-miṣbāḥayn	مِصْبَاحَيْ‎ miṣbāḥay
Nominative	مِصْبَاحَانِ‎ miṣbāḥāni	الْمِصْبَاحَانِ‎ al-miṣbāḥāni	مِصْبَاحَا‎ miṣbāḥā
Accusative	مِصْبَاحَيْنِ‎ miṣbāḥayni	الْمِصْبَاحَيْنِ‎ al-miṣbāḥayni	مِصْبَاحَيْ‎ miṣbāḥay
Genitive	مِصْبَاحَيْنِ‎ miṣbāḥayni	الْمِصْبَاحَيْنِ‎ al-miṣbāḥayni	مِصْبَاحَيْ‎ miṣbāḥay
Plural	basic broken plural diptote
	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	مَصَابِيح‎ maṣābīḥ	الْمَصَابِيح‎ al-maṣābīḥ	مَصَابِيح‎ maṣābīḥ
Nominative	مَصَابِيحُ‎ maṣābīḥu	الْمَصَابِيحُ‎ al-maṣābīḥu	مَصَابِيحُ‎ maṣābīḥu
Accusative	مَصَابِيحَ‎ maṣābīḥa	الْمَصَابِيحَ‎ al-maṣābīḥa	مَصَابِيحَ‎ maṣābīḥa
Genitive	مَصَابِيحَ‎ maṣābīḥa	الْمَصَابِيحِ‎ al-maṣābīḥi	مَصَابِيحِ‎ maṣābīḥi

Descendants

• Maltese: musbieħ
• → Persian: مصباح‎ (mesbâh) (obsolete)

References

• Wehr, Hans (1979), “صبح”, in J. Milton Cowan, editor, A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, 4th edition, Ithaca, NY: Spoken Language Services, →ISBN

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Ottoman Turkish

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic مِصْبَاح‎ (miṣbāḥ, “lamp, light”).

Noun

مصباح • (mısbah) (plural مصابیح‎)

1. lamp, especially an oil lamp

   Synonyms: چراغ‎ (çirag), سراج‎ (sirac), قندیل‎ (kandil), لامپه‎ (lampa)

2. sort of large bowl for wine

Descendants

• Turkish: mısbah

Further reading

• Çağbayır, Yaşar (2007), “mısbah”, in Ötüken Türkçe Sözlük (in Turkish), volume 1, Istanbul: Ötüken Neşriyat, page 3204
• Kélékian, Diran (1911), “مصباح”, in Dictionnaire turc-français, Constantinople: Mihran, page 1178
• Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1687), “Lucerna”, in Complementum thesauri linguarum orientalium, seu onomasticum latino-turcico-arabico-persicum, simul idem index verborum lexici turcico-arabico-persici, quod latinâ, germanicâ, aliarumque linguarum adjectâ nomenclatione nuper in lucem editum, Vienna, column 975
• Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1680), “مصباح”, in Thesaurus linguarum orientalium, Turcicae, Arabicae, Persicae, praecipuas earum opes à Turcis peculiariter usurpatas continens, nimirum Lexicon Turkico-Arabico-Persicum, Vienna, column 4696
• Redhouse, James W. (1890), “مصباح”, in A Turkish and English Lexicon, Constantinople: A. H. Boyajian, page 1877