تنبال

Arabic

Root
ن ب ل (n b l)
5 terms

Alternative forms

تِنْبَل (tinbal), تُنْبُول (tunbūl), تِنْبَالَة (tinbāla), تُنْبُور (tunbūr), تَنْبُور (tanbūr), تِنْبُور (tinbūr)

Etymology

An augmentative pattern generally standing for someone who is sedulous in a business, from نَبُلَ (nabula, “to be noble, to be of high birth, to be endowed with skill”). The exact views on midgets in the ancient Near East leave little trace, but rather than being related to disability, or explained as a consequence of parental sin, by which standpoints the Jewish religion distinguished itself, they could be connected even to the divine, see for instance in the Egyptian pantheon the craftsman Ptaḥ and the dwarf-figurine nmw associated with him, and indeed even in the Germanic folklore dwarves decidedly were skilled craftsmen.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /tin.baːl/

Noun

تِنْبَال • (tinbāl) m (plural تَنَابِيل (tanābīl)) (obsolete)

dwarf, midget
- a. 730, Anthony Ashley Bevan, The Naḳāʾiḍ of Jarīr and Al-Farazdaḳ‎^[1], volume I, Leiden: E.J. Brill, published 1905–1907, page 280 line 12:
- a. 730, Anthony Ashley Bevan, The Naḳāʾiḍ of Jarīr and Al-Farazdaḳ‎^[2], volume II, Leiden: E.J. Brill, published 1908–1909, page 614 line 12:

Declension

Declension of noun **تِنْبَال** (tinbāl)
singular	basic singular triptote
singular	indefinite	definite	construct
informal	تِنْبَال tinbāl	التِّنْبَال at-tinbāl	تِنْبَال tinbāl
nominative	تِنْبَالٌ tinbālun	التِّنْبَالُ at-tinbālu	تِنْبَالُ tinbālu
accusative	تِنْبَالًا tinbālan	التِّنْبَالَ at-tinbāla	تِنْبَالَ tinbāla
genitive	تِنْبَالٍ tinbālin	التِّنْبَالِ at-tinbāli	تِنْبَالِ tinbāli
dual	indefinite	definite	construct
informal	تِنْبَالَيْن tinbālayn	التِّنْبَالَيْن at-tinbālayn	تِنْبَالَيْ tinbālay
nominative	تِنْبَالَانِ tinbālāni	التِّنْبَالَانِ at-tinbālāni	تِنْبَالَا tinbālā
accusative	تِنْبَالَيْنِ tinbālayni	التِّنْبَالَيْنِ at-tinbālayni	تِنْبَالَيْ tinbālay
genitive	تِنْبَالَيْنِ tinbālayni	التِّنْبَالَيْنِ at-tinbālayni	تِنْبَالَيْ tinbālay
plural	basic broken plural diptote
plural	indefinite	definite	construct
informal	تَنَابِيل tanābīl	التَّنَابِيل at-tanābīl	تَنَابِيل tanābīl
nominative	تَنَابِيلُ tanābīlu	التَّنَابِيلُ at-tanābīlu	تَنَابِيلُ tanābīlu
accusative	تَنَابِيلَ tanābīla	التَّنَابِيلَ at-tanābīla	تَنَابِيلَ tanābīla
genitive	تَنَابِيلَ tanābīla	التَّنَابِيلِ at-tanābīli	تَنَابِيلِ tanābīli

References

Barth, Jakob (1889, 1894), Die Nominalbildung in den semitischen Sprachen (in German), 2nd indices-extended edition, Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs’sche Buchhandlung, page 291 seqq.
Brockelmann, Carl (1908), Grundriss der vergleichenden Grammatik der semitischen Sprachen. I. Band. Laut- und Formenlehre‎^[3] (in German), Berlin: Reuther & Reichard, pages 384–385
Fischer, Wolfdietrich (2006), Grammatik des Klassischen Arabisch (in German), 4^th edition, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, →ISBN, page 38 § 66 a
Freytag, Georg (1830), “تنبال”, in Lexicon arabico-latinum praesertim ex Djeuharii Firuzabadiique et aliorum Arabum operibus adhibitis Golii quoque et aliorum libris confectum‎^[4] (in Latin), volume 1, Halle: C. A. Schwetschke, page 201
Grzesiak, Hannah (2020), “Dwarfism in ancient times: from worship to rejection”, in Interdisciplinary Contexts of Special Pedagogy‎^[5], number 31, Poznań, →DOI, pages 305–318
Kazimirski, Albin de Biberstein (1860), “تنبال”, 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^[6] (in French), volume 1, Paris: Maisonneuve et C^ie, page 208a
Steingass, Francis Joseph (1884), “تنبال”, in The Student's Arabic–English Dictionary‎^[7], London: W.H. Allen, page 190