tenef

Serbo-Croatian

Alternative forms

• tènep

Etymology

Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish تنف (tenef), vulgarized from طنب (tunb, tunüb), from Arabic طُنُب (ṭunub).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /těnef/

Noun

tènef m (Cyrillic spelling тѐнеф)

1. (obsolete, Serbia in some places) rope, line
   • a. 1846, “Serbian folk song Од Хорвата Мато”:

     Бијеле му савезаше руке,
     Од лаката тенеф до ноката

     They tied up his white hands,
     From the elbow to the nails a rope.

   • a. 1889, “Serbian folk song Халил тражи Мујова ђогата (Јабланица)”:

     За тенефе коње заведоше,
     И два топа довукли су туте,
     Тенеф паде коњи полетјеше,
     А два топа над њим’ упалише,
     Нек се чује Задру каменому,
     Да су њему коњи полетјели.

     They led the horses by ropes,
     And they brought two cannonballs down here,
     The rope fell, the horses flew off,
     And two cannonballs fell on him,
     Let Rocky Zadar hear
     That his horses flew.

Declension

Declension of tenef

	singular	plural
nominative	tenef	tenefi
genitive	tenefa	tenefa
dative	tenefu	tenefima
accusative	tenef	tenefe
vocative	tenefe	tenefi
locative	tenefu	tenefima
instrumental	tenefom	tenefima

References

• Škaljić, Abdulah (1966) Turcizmi u srpskohrvatskom jeziku, Sarajevo: Svjetlost, page 610