ħajjar

Describing conservative accents of the early 19th century, Vassalli distinguished between two verbs, one with /ħ/ meaning “to allure” and one with /χ/ meaning “to let someone choose”. The contemporary ħajjar thus continues Arabic حَيَّرَ (ḥayyara, “to confuse, abash”). The semantic connection may be the Arabic use for “to make someone lose their head”, e.g. romantically, which developed into the notion of “alluring, tempting” in Maltese. The second verb, from Arabic خَيَّرَ (ḵayyara), has been lost.

• IPA^(key): /ˈħaj.jar/

ħajjar (imperfect jħajjar, past participle mħajjar, verbal noun taħjir)

1. to entice, to attract

   Kif nistgħu nħajru lil uliedna għall-qari?

   How can we entice our children to read?

2. to tempt

   Synonym: ttanta (ttenta)