أبونا

أبونا • (transliteration needed) m

1. genitive construct state of أَب (ʔab, “father”) + ـنَا • (-nā) (enclitic form of نَحْنُ (naḥnu)): “our father”

Learned borrowing from Arabic أَبُونَا (ʔabūnā, “our father”), generally still understandable as Arabic أَبُو (ʔabū, “father, Father”) +‎ ـنَا (-na, “our”). However, the common-noun sense below demonstrates that some speakers came to treat the word as an indivisible unit, making this a rare case of a possessive pronoun fusing into its base word.

أبونا • (ʔabūna) m

1. Father

أبونا • (ʔabūna) m

1. (Christianity, mostly used by Christians) priest

   Synonym: خُورِي (ḵūri) (used by everyone)

   • 2024 March 10, سام بشاركنا قصّة آخر مرة اعترف فيها [sām bišērekna ʔoṣṣet ʔēḵir marra ʕtaraf fiya, Sam sharing the story of the last time he made a confession.]‎^[1], spoken by Sam Ghazal, via awk.word:

     ليشتا عن تتضحكي وتتطلعي؟ قالتلي شو سام مغروم بجارتكن ماري؟ خبرها الأبونا أش اعترفتلو

     "...lešta ʕan tetḍaḥḥki w tetṭallʕi?" ʔālitle "šū sām maḡrūm b jāritkon marī?" ḵabbára l-ʔabūna ʔaš ʕtraftello

     "...why are you snickering and looking [at me]?" She said, "What's this I'm hearing, Sam, you like your neighbor Marie?" The priest told her what I'd confessed to him.

Learned borrowing from Arabic أَبُونَا (ʔabūnā, “our father”).

أبونا • (ʔabūnā) m

1. Father (title used when addressing a priest or referring to one)

أبونا • (ʔabūnā) m

1. priest