ح ب ب

See also: حبب, جثث, حبت, and جبت

Arabic

Etymology

In the senses relating to "love", cognate with Hebrew חָבַב (ḥāḇaḇ), Aramaic חַבֵּב (ḥabbēḇ), & Punic 𐤇𐤁 (ḥb) "to love". See also Ancient Greek ἀγαπάω (agapáō) and Hebrew אָהַב (ʾaháḇ) and Ugaritic 𐎀𐎅𐎁 (ảhb, “to love”) which maybe have developed from a different root variant, maybe there connected to the cognate of Arabic ه ب ب (h-b-b).

The "bulging" senses are likely related to "love" sense via the notion of "bosom", attested in some Semitic cognates such as Hebrew חֹב (ḥōḇ) and Aramaic חוּבָּא (ḥubbā) "bosom", and likely within Arabic itself as حَوْبَاء (ḥawbāʔ) "bosom", as well as figuratively حَوْبَاء (ḥawbāʔ) "soul; living person" and حَوْبَة (ḥawba) "maternal affection". Also related to Tigre ሐበ (ḥäbbä) "to wind oneself; to curve" via the notion of "curvature". See also potentially related roots ع ب ب (ʕ-b-b) and غ ب ب (ḡ-b-b), as well as rare ء ب ب (ʔ-b-b) as in أُبَاب (ʔubāb).

Root

ح ب ب • (ḥ-b-b)

1. forms words relating to love, affection, focus, attention, captivation and personal preferences
2. forms words relating to bulges, hunches, evanescent outgrowths of nature

Derived terms

Verbs

• Form I: حَبَّ (ḥabba, “to love, to like”)
  • Verbal noun: حُبّ (ḥubb), مَحَبَّة (maḥabba)
  • Active participle: حَابّ (ḥābb)
  • Passive participle: مَحْبُوب (maḥbūb)
• Form II: حَبَّبَ (ḥabbaba, “to evoke love for; to produce seed”)
  • Verbal noun: تَحْبِيب (taḥbīb)
  • Active participle: مُحَبِّب (muḥabbib)
  • Passive participle: مُحَبَّب (muḥabbab)
• Form III: حَابَّ (ḥābba)
  • Verbal noun: مُحَابَّة (muḥābba)
  • Active participle: مُحَابّ (muḥābb)
  • Passive participle: مُحَابّ (muḥābb)
• Form IV: أَحَبَّ (ʔaḥabba, “to love”)
  • Verbal noun: حُبّ (ḥubb), مَحَبَّة (maḥabba), إِحْبَاب (ʔiḥbāb)
  • Active participle: مُحِبّ (muḥibb)
  • Passive participle: مَحْبُوب (maḥbūb), مُحَبّ (muḥabb)
• Form V: تَحَبَّبَ (taḥabbaba, “to show love, to endear oneself to someone”)
  • Verbal noun: تَحَبُّب (taḥabbub)
  • Active participle: مُتَحَبِّب (mutaḥabbib)
  • Passive participle: مُتَحَبَّب (mutaḥabbab)
• Form VI: تَحَابَّ (taḥābba, “to love one another”)
  • Verbal noun: تَحَابّ (taḥābb)
  • Active participle: مُتَحَابّ (mutaḥābb)
  • Passive participle: مُتَحَابّ (mutaḥābb)
• Form X: اِسْتَحَبَّ (istaḥabba, “to deem something recommendable”)
  • Verbal noun: اِسْتِحْبَاب (istiḥbāb)
  • Active participle: مُسْتَحِبّ (mustaḥibb)
  • Passive participle: مُسْتَحَبّ (mustaḥabb)

Nouns and adjectives

• حُبّ (ḥubb, “love”)
• حُبِّيّ (ḥubbiyy, “related to love”)
• حِبّ (ḥibb, “beloved”)
• حَبَاب (ḥabāb), حُبَاب (ḥubāb) and حِبَاب (ḥibāb) of meanings dubiously distributed over the vocalizations
• حَبِيب (ḥabīb, “beloved”)
• أَحَبّ (ʔaḥabb, “elative of حَبِيب”)
• مَحَبَّة (maḥabba, “love”)
• حَبّ (ḥabb, “grains; fruits”)
• حَبَّة (ḥabba, “grain; fruit”)
• حَبَّذَا (ḥabbaḏā, “how lovely”)
  • حَبَّذَ (ḥabbaḏa, “to find lovely”)
• حُبَاحِب (ḥubāḥib, “spark; glowworm; bladder-campion”)

References

• Corriente, Federico, Pereira, Christophe, Vicente, Angeles, editors (2017), Dictionnaire du faisceau dialectal arabe andalou. Perspectives phraséologiques et étymologiques (in French), Berlin: De Gruyter, →ISBN, pages 305–307, buggy explanation with Jewish Palestinian Aramaic and Jewish Literary Aramaic חוּבָּא (ḥubbā, “bosom”), thinking “breast” can give the meanings of “fruit”, and that the verbs are denominal to “breast”. However that word is by attestation just a late variant of the Aramaic etymon of عُبّ (ʕubb, “breast-pocket”) and ideas of breast more likely did not exist for the present Arabic root.
• Freytag, Georg (1830) “ح ب ب”, in Lexicon arabico-latinum praesertim ex Djeuharii Firuzabadiique et aliorum Arabum operibus adhibitis Golii quoque et aliorum libris confectum‎^[1] (in Latin), volume 1, Halle: C. A. Schwetschke, pages 330–331
• Kazimirski, Albin de Biberstein (1860) “ح ب ب”, in Dictionnaire arabe-français contenant toutes les racines de la langue arabe, leurs dérivés, tant dans l’idiome vulgaire que dans l’idiome littéral, ainsi que les dialectes d’Alger et de Maroc‎^[2] (in French), volume 1, Paris: Maisonneuve et C^ie, pages 363–365
• Lane, Edward William (1863) “ح ب ب”, in Arabic-English Lexicon‎^[3], London: Williams & Norgate, pages 495–498
• Nöldeke, Theodor (1910) Neue Beiträge zur semitischen Sprachwissenschaft‎^[4] (in German), Straßburg: Karl J. Trübner, page 89