The Urdu word amanat is inherited from Islamic-era Parsi, which is inherited from Arabic.
The word amanat is common to Arabic, Aramaic and Hebrew. It is also found in Indonesian/Malay which inherited it from Persian traders. The difference between the three languages in this group of words are the vowelization. Modern/Quranic Arabic is derived from Aramaic, not paleo-Arabic. The word Allah is derived from Aramaic.
The root word is AMN (amen, amin) = we agree/concur.
So, the girls' name Aminah is from this word.
Amunah/Emunah = confidence/trustworthiness, which English Bibles translates into the ambiguous and often meaninglessly aliased word faith.
Amanah = participle/gerund of placing trust/confidence and hence privacy.
Amanat = a verbal noun of an entity you can place your trust/confidence and hence privacy.
The cognate of AMN is AMT (amat/emet) = truth.
Therefore in Arabic, an amanat could mean either
- a democratically elected government agency.
- a trusted agency appointed by a government or by a cooperative.
- an entity set up to manage inheritance for children.
- an entity set up to jointly manage/preserve assets you are unable or not allowed to manage by yourself.
Therefore, the equivalent English word that you could apply to amanat is
Trust
- A legal relationship in which one party holds a title to property while another party has the entitlement to the beneficial use of that property.
- The confidence reposed in a trustee when giving the trustee legal title to property to administer for another, together with the trustee's obligation regarding that property and the beneficiary.
- The property so held.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
e.g., A trust set up by dead parents to preserve the value of their assets for their children. A trust set up by a girl's rich parents that can only be used for the girl's benefit, when she is married away to another family.
See also trust fund: A financial trust.
See also Custodian (kʌsˈtəʊdɪən)
n
- (Law) a person who has custody, as of a prisoner, ward, etc
- (Art Terms) a guardian or keeper, as of an art collection, etc
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003
Best Answer
I think the first thing to say is that an answer to this question will be influenced by geographical location.
US and UK English culture for example are often different with regard to this type of nomenclature as are different areas and subcultures within those countries.
I made a google search for polite words for vagina and found this British discussion that may be of interest. Clearly no-one has yet come up with a definitive answer.
'noonie' is one that I have heard.