ܦܪܣܛܘܝܬܐ prsṭwytʾ maidservant
Allotrope: ܦܪܲܣܛܵܝܘܼܬܵܐ prsṭywtʾ prasṭāyūṯā. Reborrowing: ܦܪܲܣܬܵܢܬܵܐ prstntʾ prastāntā
OP *paristāva- guest-keeper, fellow-traveller, lit. "who attends on a guest or a traveller" (Hinz 1975, 180; Id. 1973, 94 f.); MP paristār [prstʾl] maidservant (CPD 65); NP parastār servant, slave (Steingass 242); cf. MP paristag [plstk'] servant, MP paristīdan, parist- [plst-ytn'], ManMP pryst- to serve, worship (CPD 65); NP pirista handmaid, parastīdan, parist- to serve, worship (Steingass 242). PS and LS give the form prsṭywtʾ as the 'correct' one; however, as Maggi suggests (personal communication), the form that more nearly reflects OP *paristāva- is in fact prsṭwytʾ, namely prsṭw- plus the Syr. feminine suffix -īṯā (see § 11.6). The allotrope prsṭywtʾ is probably due to a metathesis aiming to provide this old Iranian loanword with the more common and productive Syr. suffix forming feminine abstract nouns -ūṯā (see § 11.6). The change may also have been favoured by the allotrope -ywtʾ of the abstract suffix, which properly appears in deverbal nouns from third y roots (or those conceived as such), e.g. gzywtʾ gazzayūṯā magnificence (Nöldeke 1898 § 138); the allotrope -ywtʾ, however, seems to have been productive: see, for instance, wrdnywtʾ (s.v. wrdʾ) ● prsṭwytʾ M; prsṭywtʾ Judith 8, 10 (ἅβρα); prstntʾ BB 1630, 7 ◆ LS 601b; 603a; PS 3281; Lagarde GA 79, 197