ه و ي

Arabic

Etymology

Cognate to the Aramaic root ה־ו־י / ܗ-ܘ-ܝ (h-w-y) meaning “to be”, “to happen”, “to come down”; Hebrew היה. Cognate with Akkadian 𒂊𒈬𒌑 (/⁠emû⁠/), Akkadian 𒋾 (/⁠ewû⁠/, “to turn, to become”), in Arabic developing as “to pitch downward”, “to turn towards a thing”, “to desire or to want to go to a thing” (Ugaritic 𐎅𐎆𐎊 (hwy, “to want”)); “to come down or to tumble towards”, “to extend towards”, hence هَوَاء (hawāʔ) air. Present with Proto-Semitic *ša- causative prefix in the root س و ي (s-w-y) “related to things becoming equal”, ש־ו־י / ܫ-ܘ-ܝ (š-w-y), Akkadian 𒍜𒉈𒅗 (/⁠šūmû⁠/), 𒋗𒉿𒄿 (/⁠šūwû⁠/, “to make turn”). Hence there has existed in Proto-Semitic a verb Proto-Semitic *haway- (“to be, to become”) and (later elided) Proto-Semitic *šahway- (“to cause to be, to make come, to level onto”). Sometimes proposed to be from a form such as Proto-Afroasiatic *hVy/*hVw-, in which case it would be related to Egyptian hꜣj (“to fall, to descend”) and Iraqw huu’ (“fall, drop”).

Root

ه و ي • (h-w-y)

1. related to air, passion and their manifestations

Derived terms

Verbs and verbal derivatives

• Form I: هَوِيَ (hawiya, “to be fond, to love or fall in love”), يَهْوَى (yahwā)
  • Verbal noun: هَوًى (hawan, “passion, whim, caprice”)
  • Active participle: هَاوٍ (hāwin, “fond of, loving”)
  • Passive participle: مَهْوِيٌّ (mahwiyyun)
• Form I: هَوَى (hawā, “to be wide, to die, to fall, to pounce over prey, to blow”), يَهْوِي (yahwī)
  • Verbal noun: هُوِيّ (huwiyy, “falling”)
  • Active participle: هَاوٍ (hāwin, “dropping, tumbling”)

• Form II: هَوَّى (hawwā, “to fan, to ventilate”)
  • Verbal noun: تَهْوِيَة (tahwiya, “a ventilated place, a place full of breeze”)
  • Active participle: مُهَوٍّ (muhawwin)
  • Passive participle: مُهَوًّى (muhawwan)
• Form III: هَاوَى (hāwā, “to walk briskly, to love properly, to caress, to compliment”)
  • Verbal noun: مُهَاوَاة (muhāwāh), هِوَاء (hiwāʔ)
  • Active participle: مُهَاوٍ (muhāwin)
  • Passive participle: مُهَاوًى (muhāwan)
• Form IV: أَهْوَى (ʔahwā, “to fall, tumble towards something, to extend towards (with لِ (li))”)
  • Verbal noun: إِهْوَاء (ʔihwāʔ)
  • Active participle: مُهْوٍ (muhwin, “that which becomes crystal or diaphanous”)
  • Passive participle: مُهْوًى (muhwan)
• Form V: تَهَوَّى (tahawwā, “to be ventilated”)
  • Verbal noun: تَهَوٍّ (tahawwin)
  • Active participle: مُتَهَوٍّ (mutahawwin)
• Form VI: تَهَاوَى (tahāwā, “to fall altogether, to fall one on top of the other”)
  • Verbal noun: تَهَاوٍ (tahāwin)
  • Active participle: مُتَهَاوٍ (mutahāwin)
• Form VII: اِنْهَوَى (inhawā, “to fall down, to collapse; to fall off, to fall headlong”)
  • Verbal noun: اِنْهِوَاء (inhiwāʔ)
  • Active participle: مُنْهَوٍ (munhawin)
• Form X: اِسْتَهْوَى (istahwā, “to fill with passion, to make desirous, to enamour”)
  • Verbal noun: اِسْتِهْوَاء (istihwāʔ, “passion, enthusiasm”)
  • Active participle: مُسْتَهْوٍ (mustahwin)
  • Passive participle: مُسْتَهْوًى (mustahwan)

Nouns and adjectives

• هَوَاء m sg (hawāʔ, “atmosphere, air, empty space”)
  • هَوَائِيّ m sg (hawāʔiyy, “atmospheric, pneumatic, aerial, fantastic”)
• هَوَّاء m sg (hawwāʔ, “lover”)
• هَوِيّ m sg (hawiyy, “ascension, tinnitus”)
• هَوِيَّة f sg (hawiyya, “deep terrain, bottomland; a desired thing”)
• هِوَايَة f sg (hiwāya, “hobby”)
• هَوَّايَة f sg (hawwāya, “an electric fan or éventail”)
• مِهْوَاة f sg (mihwāh, “an electric fan or éventail”)
• مَهْوَاة f sg (mahwāh, “profound sink, deep trench”)
• أُهْوِيَّة f sg (ʔuhwiyya, “a deep valley, a precipice”)
• مَهْوًى m sg (mahwan, “precipice; trench, pit; object of desire”)
• هَاوِيَة f sg (hāwiya, “abyss”)
• هُوَّة f sg (huwwa, “hole, depression, declivity, chasm, gulf, gap”)

References

• Bravmann, Mëir Max (1977) “The Root HWY “to be”, a Proto-Semitic Verb”, in Studies in Semitic Philology (Studies in Semitic Languages and Linguistics; 6), Leiden: E. J. Brill, →ISBN, pages 540–543
• Corriente, Federico (2005) “ه و ي”, in Diccionario avanzado árabe‎ (in Spanish), 2nd edition, Barcelona: Herder, page 1253
• Dozy, Reinhart Pieter Anne (1881) “ه و ي”, in Supplément aux dictionnaires arabes‎ (in French), volume 2, Leiden: E. J. Brill, pages 771–773
• Freytag, Georg (1837) “ه و ي”, in Lexicon arabico-latinum praesertim ex Djeuharii Firuzabadiique et aliorum Arabum operibus adhibitis Golii quoque et aliorum libris confectum‎ (in Latin), volume 4, Halle: C. A. Schwetschke, pages 420–421
• Kazimirski, Albin de Biberstein (1860) “ه و ي”, 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 (in French), volume 2, Paris: Maisonneuve et C^ie, pages 1461–1463
• Lane, Edward William (1863) “ه و ي”, in Arabic-English Lexicon‎, London: Williams & Norgate, page 3046
• Michael Jan de Goeje, editor (1879), Indices, glossarium et addenda et emendanda ad part. I–III (Bibliotheca Geographorum Arabicorum; 7)‎ (in Latin), Leiden: E. J. Brill, published 1879, pages 371–372
• Wahrmund, Adolf (1887) “ه و ي”, in Handwörterbuch der neu-arabischen und deutschen Sprache‎ (in German), volume 2, Gießen: J. Ricker’sche Buchhandlung, page 1138
• Wehr, Hans with Kropfitsch, Lorenz (1985) “ه و ي”, in Arabisches Wörterbuch für die Schriftsprache der Gegenwart‎ (in German), 5th edition, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, published 2011, →ISBN, pages 1364–1365