صواب

Arabic

Etymology

From the root ص و ب (ṣ-w-b), see also صَوَّبَ (ṣawwaba).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sˤa.waːb/

Noun

صَوَاب • (ṣawāb) m

1. correctness, right

   Antonym: خَطَأ (ḵaṭaʔ)

2. accuracy, rightness, truth
   • 1946, Ahmed Shawqi, سلو قلبي [Ask my heart]:

     سَلُوا قَلْبِي غَدَاةَ سَلَا وَثَابَا
     لَعَلَّ عَلَى ٱلْجَمَالِ لَهُ عِتَابًا
     وَيُسْأَلُ فِي ٱلْحَوَادِثِ ذُو صَوَابٍ
     فَهَلْ تَرَكَ ٱلْجَمَالُ لَهُ صَوَابًا

     salū qalbī ḡadāta salā waṯābā
     laʕalla ʕalā l-jamāli lahu ʕitāban
     wayusʔalu fī l-ḥawādiṯi ḏū ṣawābin
     fahal taraka l-jamālu lahu ṣawāban

     Ask my heart the early morning it forgets and returns to its previous state
     Perhaps towards the beautiful one it has some reproach
     Only wise people are supposed to be asked
     Did the beauty leave any wisdom to it

3. reason, consciousness, sanity

Declension

Adjective

صَوَاب • (ṣawāb)

1. right, correct

   Antonym: خَطَأ (ḵaṭaʔ)

2. just

Declension

References

• Wehr, Hans (1979) “صواب”, in J. Milton Cowan, editor, A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, 4th edition, Ithaca, NY: Spoken Language Services, →ISBN
• Lane, Edward William (1863) “صواب”, in Arabic-English Lexicon‎, London: Williams & Norgate
• Arts, Tressy (2014) Oxford Arabic Dictionary‎, 2014 edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN
• Solotareff, Gregoire (2014) “صواب”, in Langenscheidt Universal-Wörterbuch Arabisch, 2014 edition, München: Langenscheidt, →ISBN

Ottoman Turkish

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic صَوَاب (ṣawāb, “correctness”).

Noun

صواب • (savab)

1. correctness, the right or correct thing to do

   Antonym: خطا (hata)

Descendants

• Turkish: savab

Further reading

• Çağbayır, Yaşar (2007) “savab”, in Ötüken Türkçe Sözlük (in Turkish), volume 1, Istanbul: Ötüken Neşriyat, page 4090
• Kélékian, Diran (1911) “صواب”, in Dictionnaire turc-français‎, Constantinople: Mihran, page 770
• Meninski, Franciszek à Mesgnien (1680) “صواب”, in Thesaurus linguarum orientalium, Turcicae, Arabicae, Persicae, praecipuas earum opes à Turcis peculiariter usurpatas continens, nimirum Lexicon Turkico-Arabico-Persicum‎, Vienna, column 2997
• Redhouse, James W. (1890) “صواب”, in A Turkish and English Lexicon‎, Constantinople: A. H. Boyajian, page 1189