A bayt (, , ) is a metrical unit of

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

, Azerbaijani, Ottoman,

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

Punjabi Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to: * Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan * Punjabi language * Punjabis, Punjabi people * Punjabi dialects and languages Punjabi may also refer to: * Punjabi (horse), a ...

, Sindhi and

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

poetry. In Arabic poetry, a bayt corresponds to a single line divided into two

hemistich A hemistich (; via Latin from Greek , from "half" and "verse") is a half-line of verse, followed and preceded by a caesura, that makes up a single overall prosodic or verse unit. In Latin and Greek poetry, the hemistich is generally confined ...

s of equal length, each containing two, three or four feet, or from 16 to 32 syllables."Arabian Poetry for English Readers," by William Alexander Clouston (1881)
p. 379
in

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In Persian, Turkic and Urdu poetry, the word bayt has come to refer to two lines (like a

couplet In poetry, a couplet ( ) or distich ( ) is a pair of successive lines that rhyme and have the same metre. A couplet may be formal (closed) or run-on (open). In a formal (closed) couplet, each of the two lines is end-stopped, implying that there ...

, although the two lines of a Persian, Turkic or Urdu bayt do not have to rhyme).

William Alexander Clouston William Alexander Clouston (1843 – 23 October 1896) was a Scottish 19th century folklorist from Orkney.

concluded that this fundamental part of Arabic prosody originated with the

Bedouins The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu ( ; , singular ) are pastorally nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia (Iraq). The Bedouin originated in the Sy ...

or Arabs of the

desert A desert is a landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions create unique biomes and ecosystems. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About one-third of the la ...

, as, in the nomenclature of the different parts of the line, one foot is called "a tent-pole", another "tent-peg" and the two

s of the verse are called after the folds or leaves of the double-door of the tent or "house". Through

Ottoman Turkish Ottoman Turkish (, ; ) was the standardized register of the Turkish language in the Ottoman Empire (14th to 20th centuries CE). It borrowed extensively, in all aspects, from Arabic and Persian. It was written in the Ottoman Turkish alphabet. ...

, it got into

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

as and the

bard In Celtic cultures, a bard is an oral repository and professional story teller, verse-maker, music composer, oral historian and genealogist, employed by a patron (such as a monarch or chieftain) to commemorate one or more of the patron's a ...

s of Muslim tradition in the

Albanian literature Albanian literature stretches back to the Middle Ages and comprises those literary texts and works written in Albanian language, Albanian. It may also refer to literature written by Albanians in Albania, Kosovo and the Albanian diaspora particul ...

took their name after this metrical unit, the poets known as

bejtexhi A bejtexhi (, , a compound of Arabic ] and rom Turkish , occupational suffix plural: bejtexhinj ) was a popular bard of the Muslim tradition in Ottoman Albania. The genre of literature created by bejtexhinj in the 18th century prevailed in d ...

nj, literally meaning "couplet makers".

Notes

References

{{reflist, colwidth=30em Poetic rhythm Arabic and Central Asian poetics Azerbaijani poetry Persian poetry Indian poetics Sindhi folklore Urdu-language poetry Islamic poetry Albanian poetry