# Levantine Arabic: بستوطي حيطي



## analeeh

السلام عليكم

أنا عندي سؤال عن تعبير سمعته بمسلسل سوري وشفت بعد بحث بالانترنت بس ما عم بقدر شوفله معنى واضح من السياق بس. ما بعرف اذا ها المصطلح شامي فقط او اذي بينحكى بلهجات تانية فاذا غلطت بتصنيفه كسوري انا اسف.

المصطلح هو <بستوطي حيطي> وبظن اني فهمان المعنى الحرفي صح: <بعتقد حيطي واطي>. بس واضح انه في معنى تاني من السياق اللي ما بيتعلق بالحيطان ابدا:

* اذا انتو اهلي وعم بتعاملوني هيك وتهينوني بكرا بستوطي حيطي! شو اعمل؟*​​ 
عم يتحكي عن تصرف اخوها قدام حبيبها وكذا. كإنه المصطلح بيجي بمعنى <give up the ghost> او هيك شي, يعني رح تقلع عن الحياة... بس يمكن في معنى تاني

شكرا على مساعدتكم​
​


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## Banet Eagle

نعم المعني الحرفي الذي أوردته صحيح.

هذا التعبير مجازي figurative يقصد به هنا أن الشخص المقصود(حبيبها) سيفقد احترامه لها ويتطاول عليها ويعاملها بشكل سيء لأنه يعتقد (بسبب رؤيته لكيفيّة معاملة أهلها لها وسكوتها عن الرد) أنها ضعيفة ولا تقيم وزنا لنفسها
وبذلك فإن التعبير give up the ghost لا يصح هنا

أنا أيضا غير متأكد فيما إذا كان هذا التعبير مستخدماً في لهجات أخرى لكن لن أكون متفاجئا إذا كان
I'll leave it to you to suggest an equivalent English expression  ​​


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## analeeh

اااااه تمام فهمت عليك. شكرا 

بس مين الفاعل هونة؟ قصدي هي اللي بتستوطي حيطها أو حبيبها؟


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## Banet Eagle

الفاعل هنا هو حبيبها
أيّ حبيبها هو الذي سيستوطي حيطها


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## analeeh

تمام

He'll think less of me, he'll lose his respect for me, he'll think badly of me... الخ

شكرا


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## Banet Eagle

Thanks for that.
How about "He'll belittle her" because he thinks "she does not stand up for herself"?


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## analeeh

Hmm, so يستوطي حيطها means very specifically that he will lose his respect for her because she's being treated in this way? 

In that case 'he'll think I'm a pushover' is a nice translation. Unless يستوطي حيطها means he will specifically be rude to her or mistreat her as a result (as opposed to just thinking less of her), 'belittle' doesn't really work (because belittle is pretty similar to يسخر من).


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## Banet Eagle

analeeh said:


> Hmm, so يستوطي حيطها means very specifically that he will lose his respect for her because she's being treated in this way?
> ...


Yes. It also has the connotation that he can do whatever he wants to her (forbid her from going out, forcing her to do all the housework, etc ...) because he thinks she's weak (maybe a pushover) and got no body to stand by her as well.



analeeh said:


> ...
> In that case 'he'll think I'm a pushover' is a nice translation. Unless يستوطي حيطها means he will specifically be rude to her or mistreat her as a result (as opposed to just thinking less of her), 'belittle' doesn't really work (because belittle is pretty similar to يسخر من).


I don't think 'he'll think I'm a pushover' is enough. And yes he's gonna mistreat (abuse) her because he thinks less of her.
I looked "belittle" up on almaany.com and found the Arabic phrases يستصغر or يستهين or يحطّ من قدر or ينتقص من قيمتها and all of those meanings might be under the umbrella term, so to speak, of يستوطي حيطها


Edit:
I feel I have to emphasize the point that يستوطي حيط شي حدا means to do any kind of bad action to somebody ranging from mocking on them to mistreat or abuse them, because you think they're weak (can't defend themselves, or they're pushover) and/or they have nobody to defend them as well.


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## sham1986

أنا شايف انو الكلمة الأفضل للتعبير عن هالمصطلح فعلاً هو
Belittle


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## analeeh

Yeah I can't think of a nice English translation exactly beyond 'he'll think I'm a pushover', which I think is probably too weak in a sense, but I think I've understood the meaning - he'll realise I'm weak and my family won't stand by me so he can do whatever he wants to me, right?

Could we say perhaps as well:

كل ما يحاول يناقشني بالموضوع, بقلله خلاص مشان ما يستوطي حيطي

I really don't think 'belittle' on its own conveys the meaning - بيستوطي حيطي is not exactly synonymous with بيتمألس, right?

Can we perhaps say that the مجازي meaning is kind of that he'll see that her 'wall' (مثل خط أحمر أو قدرتها على الدفاع عن نفسها) is figuratively 'low' (يعني سهل المجاوزة, لا تستطيع أن تدافع عن نفسها) and so he'll do whatever he wants?


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## Banet Eagle

analeeh said:


> Yeah I can't think of a nice English translation exactly beyond 'he'll think I'm a pushover', which I think is probably too weak in a sense, but I think I've understood the meaning - he'll realise I'm weak and my family won't stand by me so he can do whatever he wants to me, right?






analeeh said:


> Could we say perhaps as well:
> 
> كل ما يحاول يناقشني بالموضوع, بقلله خلاص مشان ما يستوطي حيطي


 I think here she's submitting to him to avoid an argument which does not indicate a sign of strength!!


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## analeeh

Yeah actually خلاص does sound like giving in. What about:

بقلله ما بتناقش وبس مشان ما يستوطي حيطي

or

بقلله هي اخر كلام عندي مشان ما يستوطي حيطي

another translation might be 'take liberties', which means like 'act inappropriately/in a way not displaying the right respect because you know that the other person won't/can't respond'


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## Banet Eagle

Yeah I think "belittle" only covers the first part of the meaning "to do any kind of bad action to somebody ranging from mocking on them to mistreat or abuse them" but says nothing about the "because you think they're weak (can't defend themselves, or they're pushover) and/or they have nobody to defend them as well."



analeeh said:


> ....
> بقلله هي اخر كلام عندي مشان ما يستوطي حيطي
> .....


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## sham1986

فينا نقول انو يستوطي حيطي قريبة من عبارة "يعاملني متل رجل كرسي"

يعني كأني مالي موجودة


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## analeeh

اييييييوا

ترجمة منيحة معناتا take liberties


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## Banet Eagle

analeeh said:


> ....
> 
> Can we perhaps say that the مجازي meaning is kind of that he'll see that her 'wall' (مثل خط أحمر أو قدرتها على الدفاع عن نفسها) is figuratively 'low' (يعني سهل المجاوزة, لا تستطيع أن تدافع عن نفسها) and so he'll do whatever he wants?


In a word, yes.


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## elroy

بستوطي حيطي = He'll walk all over me, He'll treat me like a doormat


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## Timsta12

Hi, was wondering if anyone could help me pin down this expression exactly. I heard it from a Palestinian friend (maybe incorrectly but it was something like that). He explained to me that it meant something like “to ridicule someone else’s situation”.
Would be great if someone could clarify this for me and make any corrections if necessary. Also would be good to know how widely it’s used in بلاد الشام.
Thanks,
Tim


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## analeeh

Perhaps استوطى حيطك?


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## elroy

analeeh said:


> Perhaps استوطى حيطك?


That’s my guess too.  I’ve merged it with a previous thread on the expression.  If this is not the right expression, @Timsta12 can let us know.


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## Timsta12

No thank you @elroy. Think that sounds right.
يسعد قلبك


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## Schem

This seems similar to طوفة هبيطة (lit. low wall) which exists in Najdi and Gulf dialects and has the same meaning of referring to someone as a "doormat" or someone easily belittled.

It's a frozen expression though to my knowledge and isn't productive as in the Levantine examples given here.


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