# Levantine Arabic: شيت / تبع



## Malki92

Hello,

Some people say the word shet (شت?) in PA (and possibly other dialects). It seems to be used as taba3. What are the differences in usage, if any?


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## apricots

It's شيت and does mean the same thing is taba3-/taba3t- I believe it's a Jerusalem thing.


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## Malki92

Thank you for the correction on the spelling. And just to be 100% clear, they're synonymous?


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## elroy

shaliach said:


> And just to be 100% clear, they're synonymous?


 Yes, they are.


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## MrBobr

Hi

How common is شِيت (m. and f. šīt, pl. šyāt, "belonging to") in actual Syrian usage?
Is it associated with certain regions or groups of people?

I've found it mentioned in an old textbook and in a dictionary, described as a less common alternative to تبع.
Here are usage examples from the dictionary: هالقلم شيتي، هالدواية شيتي، هالكتب شيات أخي

Thanks!

PS:
I’ve found a thread about a similar Jerusalemite word, pronounced šēt according to the Olive Tree Dictionary, with the same meaning.
_(Moderator Note: Threads merged.)_


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## apricots

I don't know about Syrian but شيت is commonly used in Jerusalem.


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## analeeh

I've heard it I think once or twice from old people. I think it used to be common in Damascus but has become less so.


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## elroy

Does anyone know the etymology of شيت?  Is it Aramaic?


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## momai

elroy said:


> Does anyone know the etymology of شيت?  Is it Aramaic?


I doubt it. Aramaic uses the particle de whiche is of course a cognate of Arabic ذو. Actually very similar to the Moroccan dyal, if you think about it.


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## oopqoo

It's very close to של only that the T turned into L. I doubt that this has anything to do with its etymology though.
I did want to mention however that شيت is also used in Yaffa. As in the people I have encountered in Yaffa talking about this word also say that it's a كلمة يافاوية.


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## Queue-94

How is شيت conjugated and are there male/female forms?


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## elroy

My other theory was that it originated from شيء/إشي/شي تابع/تبع.  Thoughts?


oopqoo said:


> It's very close to של only that the T turned into L. I doubt that this has anything to do with its etymology though.


 I noticed that too!  But I agree with you that there's unlikely to be a connection, since the Hebrew של is from ש = الذي and ל = لـ, so literally it's الذي لـ.


oopqoo said:


> شيت is also used in Yaffa


 Interesting!  I've always thought of it as a Jerusalem thing.


Queue-94 said:


> How is شيت conjugated and are there male/female forms?


 There are no separate male/female forms, but there is a plural form, which is شِتون:

الكتاب شيتي (_li-ktāb šēti_)
الفرشة شيتي (_il-farše šēti_)
الكتب شِتوني (_il-kutob šitūni_)
الفرشات شِتوني (_il-faršāt šitūni_)

What I don't know is whether شيت can also be used with plural forms.  I only know this word passively.

I _do_ know that the other words that exist for this in Palestinian (تبع، بتاع، تاع) _do_ have to agree in gender and number (except that for feminine plural, you can use masculine plural) -- unlike in Syrian and Lebanese:

الكتاب تبعي/بتاعي/تاعي (_li-ktāb tabaʿi/btāʿi/tāʿi_)  
الفرشة تبعتي/بتاعتي/تاعتي (_il-farše tabʿati_*_/btāʿti/tāʿti_) 
الكتب تبعوني/بتاعوني/تاعوني (_il-kutob tabaʿūni/btaʿūni/taʿūni_) 
الفرشات تبعاتي/بتاعاتي/تاعاتي (_il-faršāt tabaʿāti/btaʿāti/taʿāti_)  [or الفرشات تبعوني/بتاعوني/تاعوني (_il-faršāt tabaʿūni/btāʿūni/tāʿūni_) ]

الفرشة/الكتب/الفرشات تبعي/بتاعي/تاعي (_il-farše/il-kutob/il-faršāt tabaʿi/btāʿi/tāʿi_) 

*or _tabʿiti _or _tabiʿti _


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## momai

elroy said:


> ... unlike in Syrian


 This is untrue in Syrian, at least not here in the north.


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## elroy

It’s definitely true for Damascene.  So in the north agreement is obligatory?  Is the pattern just as I’ve described for Palestinian?


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## momai

Yes, agreement is obligatory, but still we don't have a feminine plural form.
الكتاب تبعي 
الفرشة تبعيتي
الكتب/الفرشات تبعوتي


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## elroy

تبعوتي, not تبعوني?  Or was that a typo?

(You reminded me that تبعيتي exists in Palestinian as well.)


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## momai

No, تبعوتي is correct.


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## elroy

Interesting -- you've created a masculine-feminine hybrid suffix!


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## wriight

elroy said:


> My other theory was that it originated from شيء/إشي/شي تابع/تبع. Thoughts?


My first thought was also that it could be from شي, but rather than adding تبع, I wonder if the ت is just a linking consonant that arose by analogy with the feminine possessive _-(e)t_. The final unstressed _e_ there is easily deleted, like in _ba2iyyet ~ ba2iyyt_, so it could have originated as _(i)shi + -t-_ = _(i)shiyyet_ → _(i)shiyyt_ → _shīt_ (→ _shēt_), right?

By "linking consonant that arose by analogy", I mean that شي، إشي obviously isn't a feminine word... and it doesn't even have a ة-like sound at the end, so you can't draw an analogy here to كرسة، مرحبتين، بجامتي, etc. However, something liaison-like would be needed to break up the hiatus between شي، إشي and the following vowel (either of the next word or of a possessive suffix), so it may have seemed natural to use _-t._ You could perhaps compare the form فيتو for "he can", although there's no analogy to possession there.

This might even fall in line with the plural form mentioned by MrBobr earlier: _ashya + -t-_ = _ashyāt_ → _shyāt_.


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## DerHerzog

momai said:


> No, تبعوتي is correct.


Mostly north, to be precise, In Aleppo.


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## WannaBFluent

elroy said:


> Does anyone know the etymology of شيت?  Is it Aramaic?


I've read in a very old book that it comes from a constructed form of شي as if it has a تاء مربوطة at the end.
*I've read a different thing in another book, though.*

شيت could be just a alteration of گیت *geet *(and sometimes كيت* keet*) which is used in Syria. It even says that گیت is way more common than شيت in Aleppo, and that شيت is used more in Damascus, Homs and Hama.

The origin of گیت is that it's an alteration of گيّ *gayy *which is used in rural Syria of the North-Western area (East Hama, North Palmyra, and to the Iraqi border). گيّ comes from Syriac but the original word is dispusted:

- it could be from  ܕܝܼܠܝܼ and  ܕܝܼܠܵܝܵܐ .
- it could be from  ܠܓܸܬܵܐ which means 'plot of land' and by extension everything that is in your estate and leave to your kids when you die. (Had some trouble finding this second word grrrr  )


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## WannaBFluent

@elroy Do you know if *ضيل *(sometimes ديل) is still used in Palestine ?
I've read that it comes from Bedouin dialect.


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