فتى

Where it comes from

From Proto-West Semitic *pataw- (“to seduce, to beguile”), the young not only so called because they are easily persuaded, as illustrated by Semitic-borrowed Old Armenian տղայ (tłay) and երախայ (eraxay), which refer to the child and the simpleton at the same time, but in particular referring to the sexual prurience of adult-state humans, as that verb primarily bore a literal as well as a saucy meaning “to penetrate, to jook”—hence Tigre ፈታ (fäta) and Ge'ez ፈተወ (fätäwä), Tigrinya ፈተወ (fätäwä) mean “to love”, as in being attracted by the sex.

For similar semantic direction and range, see also م ن ي (m n y) / م ن و (m n w) meaning in the base stem “to tempt; to afflict, to make suffer”, form II “to rouse desire or hope in”, form V “to desire”, well known, and finally specifically in Akkadian 𒈨𒉡𒌝 (menûm, “to love”), but also in Arabic مَنِيّ (maniyy, “what is discharged in ejaculation”). A parallel case for a particular age of man having been named in accordance with such reflections is غُلَام (ḡulām, “boy”) conversely engendering the verb غَلِمَ (ḡalima, “to be in rut”).