حناء

Arabic

Etymology 1

Unknown chain of etymology, but based on the era of Aramaic equivalents which are taken to be Arabisms and its absence from earlier Semitic languages, the dating seems to suggest the Abbasid Era, a period with great Iranian court influence. Ultimately being derived from Middle Persian hndwtn' (/⁠handūdan⁠/), its stem hndʾd (/⁠*handāy-, *hannāy-⁠/, “to smear, to plaster, to anoint”); a semantic cognate or calque translation with its Semitic equivalent the Qur'anic Arabic كَافُور (kāfūr, “Lawsonia inermis; alternatively identified as camphor”), from Arabic كَفَرَ (kafara, “to cover over”), a root connection found all across Semitic languages.

Compare Akkadian 𒇒𒌓𒀀 (kupru, “bitumen, pitch”), from Akkadian 𒅗𒉺𒊒 (kapāru, “to smear, to daub on”), Hebrew כֹּפֶר / כּוֺפֶר (kōp̱er, “pitch, tar; henna”), Aramaic כּוּפְרָא, Classical Syriac ܭܽܘܦܪܳܐ (kūp̄rā, “pitch, tar; henna”), Ugaritic 𐎋𐎔𐎗 (kpr, “henna”). For the Iranian compare Manichaean Middle Persian ʾnwdg (annōdag, “the anointed one, Messiah”), and Persian اندودن (andudan, “to besmear, to coat”).

Noun

حِنَّاء • (ḥinnāʔ) m (plural حُنْآن (ḥunʔān))

1. henna; the plant (Lawsonia inermis)
2. henna; dye prepared from (Lawsonia inermis)

Declension

Declension of noun حِنَّاء (ḥinnāʔ)

Singular	basic singular triptote
	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	حِنَّاء ḥinnāʔ	الْحِنَّاء al-ḥinnāʔ	حِنَّاء ḥinnāʔ
Nominative	حِنَّاءٌ ḥinnāʔun	الْحِنَّاءُ al-ḥinnāʔu	حِنَّاءُ ḥinnāʔu
Accusative	حِنَّاءً ḥinnāʔan	الْحِنَّاءَ al-ḥinnāʔa	حِنَّاءَ ḥinnāʔa
Genitive	حِنَّاءٍ ḥinnāʔin	الْحِنَّاءِ al-ḥinnāʔi	حِنَّاءِ ḥinnāʔi

Descendants

• → Amharic: ሂና (hina)
• ⇒ Old Armenian: դհունաղհունար (dhunałhunar), հունաղհունար (hunałhunar)
• → Catalan: alquena, henna
• → English: henna
  • → Greek: χένα (chéna)
• → German: Henna
  • → Polish: henna ?
• → French: henné
  • → Italian: henné
• → Hebrew: חִינָה‎ (ḥī́nā)
• → Hindustani:

  → Hindi: हिना (hinā)

  → Urdu: حنا (ḥinnā)

• → Kazakh: қына (qyna)
• → Medieval Latin: alcanna, alcenna, alhenna
  • → English: alcanna
  • → French: alcana
  • → Italian: alcanna
  • → Spanish: alcana
• → Malay: inai
• → Persian: حنا (hanâ)
• → Portuguese: hena
• → Russian: хна (xna)
• → Old Spanish: alhenna
  • Spanish: alheña
• → Ottoman Turkish: قنا (kına)
  • Turkish: kına
  • → French: kenna
  • → Greek: κίνα (kína)
  • → Bulgarian: къна̀ (kǎnà)
  • → Macedonian: кана (kana)
  • → Serbo-Croatian:

    Cyrillic script: ка̀на

    Latin script: kàna

References

• Lane, Edward William (1863) “حناء”, in Arabic-English Lexicon‎^[1], London: Williams & Norgate
• Löw, Immanuel (1922) “Semitische Färberpflanzen”, in Zeitschrift für Semitistik und verwandte Gebiete‎^[2] (in German), volume 1, pages 136–144
• Löw, Immanuel (1924) Die Flora der Juden‎^[3] (in German), volume 2, Wien und Leipzig: R. Löwit, pages 218-225
• MacKenzie, D. N. (1971) A concise Pahlavi dictionary, London, New York, Toronto: Oxford University Press
• “ḥnˀ”, in The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon Project, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, 1986–
• "A Concise Pārsīg Dictionary: English - Persic; A" by The Society of Friends of the Pārsīg language, parsig.org, founded in 2010.
• Schönig, Hanne (2002) Schminken, Düfte und Räucherwerk der Jemenitinnen: Lexikon der Substanzen, Utensilien und Techniken (Beiruter Texte und Studien; 91)‎^[4], Würzburg: Ergon-Verlag, →ISBN, pages 112–126

Etymology 2

Noun

حَنَاء • (ḥanāʔ) m

1. verbal noun of حَنَا (ḥanā) (form I)

Declension

Declension of noun حَنَاء (ḥanāʔ)

Singular	basic singular triptote
	Indefinite	Definite	Construct
Informal	حَنَاء ḥanāʔ	الْحَنَاء al-ḥanāʔ	حَنَاء ḥanāʔ
Nominative	حَنَاءٌ ḥanāʔun	الْحَنَاءُ al-ḥanāʔu	حَنَاءُ ḥanāʔu
Accusative	حَنَاءً ḥanāʔan	الْحَنَاءَ al-ḥanāʔa	حَنَاءَ ḥanāʔa
Genitive	حَنَاءٍ ḥanāʔin	الْحَنَاءِ al-ḥanāʔi	حَنَاءِ ḥanāʔi