ربيثاء

رُبَيْثَاء (noun)

Etymology: The verb رَبَثَ (rabaṯa, “to bar someone from doing something”), رَبِيثَة (rabīṯa), رِبِيثَى (ribīṯā, “obstacle, what lies in front of something and impedes him”) seems semantically hard to be the model and is rare anyway. Apparently from the exact Aramaic term which is attested Jewish Babylonian Aramaic ריביתא / Classical Syriac ܪܒܝܬܐ / Classical Mandaic ࡓࡁࡉࡕࡀ (rəḇīṯā, “sea, ocean”) and with further meaning in Classical Mandaic ࡓࡁࡉࡕࡀ (rəḇīṯā, “flood waters”), so – perhaps supported by a connection to ܐܪܒܝܬܐ (ʾarbīṯā, “shrimp, prawn”) – the dish-name originates from an understanding of fish exposed multiple times to solution; a form and meaning direction spawned in Classical Mandaic from the form which is attested as Classical Syriac ܪܒܝܥܬܐ (rəḇīʿtā, “mountain”), from the root ר־ב־ע / ܪ ܒ ܥ “to lie or crouch down” cognate to the Arabic root ر ب ض (r b ḍ). From this idea of “lying or crouching down” then the same word must have acquired meanings of “a thing sitting in front of something”, something anent of man just like a herd of camels blocking the path must have been derived, thence Arabic رَبِيثَة (rabīṯa), رِبِيثَى (ribīṯā, “obstacle”), the latter a form not native to Arabic, the verb رَبَثَ (rabaṯa, “to bar someone from doing something”) only denominally; note also تَرَبَّثَ (tarabbaṯa, “to lollygag, to rest long before gettings things done”), اِرْبَثَّ (irbaṯṯa) and اِرْبَاثَّ (irbāṯṯa, “to advance slowly”) more directly related to the “crouching” meanings and using form IX and form XI in an unseen fashion, apparently in imitation of an Aramaic verb pattern. Then we have the Aramaic variation between ḇ and w attested in رَوْث (rawṯ, “dung”) and derivatives belonging to it. In sum no root ر ب ث (r b ṯ) exists in Arabic.

Meaning: a side dish from small fish in herbs and vinegar

From Wiktionary: ربيثاء, by Wiktionary contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.