# Persian: سربست



## Muttaki

Hello guys,

Google Translate couldn't translate this word into English. But I was supposing it exists in Persian. In colloquial Turkish language it exists and means "free". So, is it used Persian in this sense as well? If not (which would really surprise me), what do you understand from it?

Thanks!


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## colognial

Hi, Muttaki. Do you mean 'free' as in 'liberated'? In any case, I don't think we have the word in Persian. There's 'sarbaste', which, used of a letter, implies the letter is sealed.


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## Muttaki

Yeah, I mean free as in you can do what you want. I am really surprised to learn that it doesn't exist in Persian. Because both سر and بست are Persian words. It is explained in Turkish dictionaries as to mean "the one whose head is bound" literally speaking. So, letter's being sealed must be coming from بست meaning bound, right?

سربست comes to mean free in Turkish because those who are bound to the sharia or Islam are considered free to do what he or she wants. Does it make any sense to you?


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## Jamal31

That does sound right, but I've never heard it used like that in Persian.


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## gm motors

Sulaiman Haim's dictionary states that sarbast means "free". It also gives another meaning: "difficult, obscure".


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## colognial

Well, I have since gone and consulted the Dehkhodaa Dictionary, and found that the word does exist in Persian. It has the same meaning as سربسته, 'sealed off', 'closed', 'concealed'. I can also confirm that both سر and بست are found in the Persian language, and I feel the word سربست may denote a sort of headband or a turban.

Still, I can't figure out how it has come to mean 'free' through religious associations. And how a devotee is allowed to do as he or she wishes is also a question to ponder.

So, I'm afraid the existence of the word is news to me as an Iranian Persian speaker. Still, isn't it marvelous how words live their own lives and have a personal history as well as layers of meaning!


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## PersoLatin

I just checked on google translate (Turkish to English) for سربست with this spelling: *sarbast*  and found nothing then I searched for '*serbest*'  and found over 30 meanings, all relating to being free, seemingly, from any restrain/constraint/rules/bounds....(as Muttaki said), which makes me wonder if the word came from Persian at all, although as has been discussed, *sarbast* is very Persian. Interestingly google translate (Turkish to Persian) returns رایگان for 'serbest'.


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## Muttaki

This is from an English-Turkish dictionary:
http://www.ingilizceosmanlica.com/rsm/red/100/1049-26.png

I don't know why it says "quasi"-Persian.


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## molana

colognial said:


> Still, I can't figure out how it has come to mean 'free' through religious associations. And how a devotee is allowed to do as he or she wishes is also a question to ponder.


Leafing through *لیلی و مجنون* by *نظامیِ گنجوی,* I encountered *سرپیچ *which means _turban:
ماننده ٔ مار پیچ برپیچ _
_پیچیده سر از کلاه و __سرپیچ_ 
_http://www.vajehyab.com/dehkhoda/%D8%B3%D8%B1%D9%BE%DB%8C%DA%86_
But it also means _rebellion_. Can you see any similarity between *سرپیچ *in Persian, and *سربست *in the Turkish sense?


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## Muttaki

colognial said:


> Still, I can't figure out how it has come to mean 'free' through religious associations. And how a devotee is allowed to do as he or she wishes is also a question to ponder.


سربست comes to mean "free" because someone whose head / سر is bound / بست to the sharia has been free on Turkish lands throughout history. Non-Muslims lived as inferiors, thus as non-free.


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## PersoLatin

Muttaki said:


> someone whose head / سر is bound / بست to the sharia


So سربست doesn't necessarily mean wearing of a physical turban/head-band?
It's interesting that in Persia/Iran itself, that concept (association with the sharia) didn't define liberty in the early days, before Islam became the official religion.


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## Muttaki

PersoLatin said:


> So سربست doesn't necessarily mean wearing of a physical turban/head-band?


No, not at all.


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## fdb

I think sar-bast originated as the opposite of pāy-bast.

pāy-bast means “bound with regard to his feet”, that is: a slave.

sar-bast means “bound with regards (only) to his head”, that is: wearing a turban, and thus free.


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## molana

fdb said:


> I think sar-bast originated as the opposite of pāy-bast.
> 
> pāy-bast means “bound with regard to his feet”, that is: a slave.
> 
> sar-bast means “bound with regards (only) to his head”, that is: wearing a turban, and thus free


Hi fdb,
A sensible guess.
معنی پای بست | لغت‌نامه دهخدا exists in Persian. Does it also exist in Turkish?


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## Muttaki

molana said:


> Does it also exist in Turkish?


We have it only in some dictionaries as پابستە or پابست, but still very very rare. But I realize that it means in Turkish one whose feet are tied and is used in the sense of being immobile rather than a slave. However in daily language we never use it. I personally have never heard of the word before and I think it would be rare even if someone having heard of it exists. Whereas سربست is one of the most common words in colloquial usage.





fdb said:


> I think sar-bast originated as the opposite of pāy-bast.


I don't think so because پاوست or پابستە as defined in a few Turkish dictionaries refers to being immobile or motionless rather than to a slave as the opposite of free. And also say 200 years ago for instance it was not just non-Muslim slaves who were socially inferior to Turks but also non-slave non-Muslims.


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