araba

Meaning

1. car
2. cart
3. carriage

Hyphenated as

a‧ra‧ba

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ɑ.ɾɑ.ˈbɑ/

Etymology

Inherited from Ottoman Turkish عربه (araba). Ultimate origin uncertain. Originally intended to mean "a two-wheeled cart" now being used generically for all kinds of vehicles and bicycles (Schwarz 1992: 393). According to Ramstedt (1905: 23), the Turkic form was borrowed into Iranian (Afgh. arabá, Shg. arōbā), Arabic عَرَبَة (ʕaraba), Uralic, European and Caucasian languages. A Turkic loan relation with Burushaski arabá is also discussed by Rybatzki. Considering Doerfer (1963/1965/1967/1975), the etymology of the word seems unclear, being either of Turkic or Arabic origin. Uzbek arava was loaned into Tajik ароба (aroba) 'cart, carriage' (Doerfer 1967: 12) and Ormuri arâba 'wheel' (M29: 387). Other Turkic cognates include Uyghur ھارۋا (harwa), Kazakh арба (arba), Kyrgyz арба (arba), Taranchi hariba, as well as Chuvash урапа (urap̬a), Bashkir арба (arba) and Tatar арба (arba, “covered wagon”). Rybatzki notes that all Turkic forms are too similar with Burushaski, concluding the exact donor language can not be determined.