A new word or phrase from the Hans Wehr dictionary, every Wednesday.
ذهبوا أيدي (أيادي) سبا ḏ. aidiya (ayādiya) sabā they were scattered to the four winds
Root: س-ب-ء
Page: 456*
Example: “نَصَحَتْ لَهُم بِأَنْ يَبقَوا مَعًا كَيْ لا يَذهَبوا أَيدِيَ سَبا”
Translation: “she advised them to stick together lest they are scattered to the four winds”
Notes:
- The noun سَبا or سَبَأ refers to Sheba, and أَيدٍ/أَيدي and أَيادٍ/أَيادي are both plural forms of the noun يَد (“hand”)
- I’ve mostly seen this phrase used with the latter spelling of the noun (سبأ rather than سبا) and the form V verb تَفَرَّقَ / يَتَفَرَّقُ (“to be scattered”) instead of the form I ذَهَبَ / يَذهَبُ (“to go”)—i.e.: تَفَرَّقوا أيدي سبأ
Revise all of the vocab from the series on Quizlet:
* The Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, 4th Edition
The Arabic Pages 