Edward William Lane, An Arabic-English Lexicon, ت

---

تَابُوتٌ تابوت , originally تَوَبُوتٌ, the ت not being the characteristic of the fem. gender, (Z, MF, TA,) of the measure فَعَلُوتٌ, and meaning A chest, or box, from التَّوْبُ, because what is taken out from it continually returns to it: (AAF, IJ, Z, MF, TA:) or originally تَابُوَةٌ; (S, K; [in the CK تَأْبُوَةٌ;]) the و being made quiescent, and the ة changed into ت: (S, K:) [in Chald. ?: in Hebr. ?:] it signifies also the ribs, with what they contain, as the heart and the liver &c.; as being likened to a chest, or box; (IAth, TA in art. تبت;) the chest, breast, or bosom: (A in that art.:) or [primarily] the ribs, with what they contain, as the heart &c.: and [hence] applied to a chest, or box: (Towsheeh, MF, TA:) also written تَبُوتٌ. (K in art. تبت.) [It is generally applied in the present day to a bier: a coffin: and an oblong case that is placed over a grave: the pl. is تَوَابِيتُ.] El-Kásim Ibn-Maan says that it is the only word in the Kur-án in respect of which the dialects of Kureysh and the Ansár differ; the former pronouncing it تَابُوتٌ; (S;) and the latter, تَابُوهٌ. (S, K.) But IB denies that its last letter is originally ة, the fem. termination; asserting the final ت to be a radical letter, the measure of the word to be فَاعُولٌ, and its proper place in art. تبت: he says that the final ت is changed in a case of pause, but not generally, into ه, as is that of الفُرَات [the Euphrates], in which the ت is not the fem. termination. (L, TA.) You say, مَا أَوْدَعْتُ تَابُوتِى شَيْئًا فَقَدْتُهُ, meaning I have not deposited in my bosom anything of knowledge, or science, that I have lost. (A in art. تبت.)