Learn Arabic › B1 › مَأْتَى
مَأْتَى
way of approach; source /maʔˈtaː/
nounB1#2763 most common
Also: source, origin of something, act of coming, arrival
Example sentences
ما مأتى هذا الخبر؟
What is the source of this news?
لا نعرف مأتى هذا الصوت.
We don't know the source of this sound.
سأل المعلم عن مأتى هذه الفكرة.
The teacher asked about the origin of this idea.
ليس لهذا الأمر مأتى واضح.
This matter has no clear way of approach.
تساءل الكاتب من أي مأتى جاءته هذه الرؤية الغريبة.
The writer wondered from what source this strange vision had come to him.
تعددت مآتي الأخبار حتى غدا من الصعب تمييز الصادق من الزائف.
The sources of the news multiplied, until it became hard to tell the true from the false.
Declension
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | مَأْتًى | مَآتٍ |
| Genitive | مَأْتًى | مَآتٍ |
| Accusative | مَأْتًى | مَآتِيَ |
| Vocative | مَأْتَى | مَآتِيَ |
Word family
أتىto come, to arrive
إتيانcoming, arrival (verbal noun)
آتٍcoming, forthcoming, the one who comes
مَأْتِيّthat which is come to, approached
تأتّىto become feasible, to be within reach
Etymology
مَأْتَى comes from the triliteral Semitic root ʔ-t-y (أ ت ي), meaning to come or arrive. This root is old and widespread in Semitic languages: Aramaic and Syriac use a cognate verb for to come, and Biblical Hebrew has a rarer poetic verb with the same sense. Arabic builds مَأْتَى on the maf'al pattern, which usually marks a noun of place or time, but here it works more abstractly, naming the manner or source of an arrival rather than a physical spot.
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