Beit Chabab (

Syriac Syriac may refer to: *Syriac language, an ancient dialect of Middle Aramaic *Sureth, one of the modern dialects of Syriac spoken in the Nineveh Plains region * Syriac alphabet ** Syriac (Unicode block) ** Syriac Supplement * Neo-Aramaic languages a ...

: Bet Shebāba, ar, بيت شباب) is a mountain village 24 km north of

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

. Beit Chabeb is the site of Lebanon's one and only bell foundry. The bells of Beit Chabab are sold to Christian communities in Lebanon and abroad to many foreign countries. The village was completely embosomed in mulberry gardens at the turn of the century. The Hôpital Beit Chabab - Collège du Liban pour les handicapés is located in the village

History

Ottoman tax records indicate Beit Chabab had a population of 27 Muslim households (unspecified whether Sunni, Shia or Druze) in 1523, 32 Christian households in 1530, and 28 Christian households and two bachelors in 1543. The oldest church in Beit Chabab is Our Lady of the Forest, which was built in 1761.

Etymology

The name "Beit Chabab" is widely believed to originate from the

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

''Bayt shabāb'' (meaning:"house of the young men"), but in reality it might have roots in

Anis Freiha Anis Freiha was a Lebanese author who has written extensively about Lebanese traditional village life. Life He was born in the town of Ras el Matn, Mount Lebanon, and studied at the American University of Beirut AUB, and at the University of Ch ...

argues in his ''Dictionary of the Names of Town and Villages in Lebanon'' that it comes from the Syriac ''Bet Shebāba'' meaning "house of the neighbor".

References

Bibliography

External links

Beit Chabab - Chaouiyeh El Qnaytra
Localiban Populated places in the Matn District Maronite Christian communities in Lebanon {{Lebanon-geo-stub ar:بيت شباب