nisba

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Arabic نِسْبَة (nisba).

Noun

nisba (plural nisbas)

  1. An Arabic derivational adjective formed with the suffix ـِيّ m (-iyy) / ـِيَّة f (-iyya), or the equivalent construction in another Semitic language.
  2. The part of an Arabic name consisting in such an adjective.
    • 2013, Zouhair Ghazzal, The grammars of adjudication: The economics of judicial decision making in fin-de-siècle Ottoman Beirut and Damascus‎:
      Knowing the nisbas of the litigants and their representatives was the qāḍī's single most important preliminary task.

Translations

See also
  • -i (English suffix derived from Arabic ـِيّ (-iyy))

Anagrams

Italian

Etymology

Sometimes hypothesized to be from German nichts or nix da.[1]

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ˈni.zba/
  • Rhymes: -izba
  • Hyphenation: nì‧sba

Adverb

nisba

  1. (colloquial, regional) nix, none
    Synonyms: nulla, niente, (colloquial, jocular) nix
    • 1959, La cambiale:
      - Lei testimoni li ha?
      - Eh, l'avvocato! Testimoni - nisba!
      - E allora lo facciamo venire.
      - A chi?
      - A Nisba.
      - No, dicevo "nisba". Nessuno!
      - Do you have any witnesses?
      - Well, a lawyer! Witnesses, nix!
      - Then we'll have him come here.
      - Who?
      - Nix.
      - No, I meant "nix", no one!

References
  1. in Festschrift für Giovan Battista Pellegrini (1991, →ISBN, edited by Johannes Kramer), page 322: Als Beispiel eines Germanismus sei nisba "nichts" angeführt, das sich aus deutsch nix (da) ableitet und in Norditalien eine Entsprechung mit lomb. nies aufweist; ...

Further reading
  • nisba in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
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