ح ب ن

Arabic

Etymology

Superficially augmented from ح ب ب (ḥ-b-b) in its grain meanings, which has perhaps supported this root. Corriente only has حَبَن (ḥaban, “oleander”) and suggests its origin in Egyptian ḥbn (“to stab, to chef”) owing to other names of the plant referring to its deadliness: قَاتِل الْحَمِير (qātil al-ḥamīr), سَمّ الْحِمَار (samm al-ḥimār), سَمّ الْبَهَائِم (samm al-bahāʔim), جَوْزَهْرَج (jawzahraj). This seems even more verisimile if one wares how notorious Nerium oleander is for its repellent effect: The meanings of dropsy then derives from it, see the tree Zaqqum in Qurʾānic Hell, from the fruits of which the digestive tracts of its inhabitants boil and spit. زَقُّوم (zaqqūm) served as another name for “oleander”, at least it is its most common name in Turkish, zakkum, beside ağı ağacı (literally “poison tree”); zıkkım means “1. poison 2. harmful habit such as smoking 3. an annoyance, a vex”. In Greek mythology Daphne was a fatal nymph, from whose name the oleander’s other Arabic name دِفْلَى (diflā) derives. The chamaeleon has its name by its venomous colour, and the monkey from his protruding red rear end.

Root

ح ب ن • (ḥ-b-n)

1. related to distension

Derived terms

• Form I: حَبِنَ (ḥabina, “to be tumid”)
  • Verbal noun: حَبَن (ḥaban)
  • Active participle: حَابِن (ḥābin)
• Form I: حُبِنَ (ḥubina, “to suffer dropsy”)
  • Verbal noun: حَبَن (ḥaban)
  • Active participle: حَابِن (ḥābin)
  • Passive participle: مَحْبُون (maḥbūn)
• Form IV: أَحْبَنَ (ʔaḥbana, “to render tumid”)
  • Verbal noun: إِحْبَان (ʔiḥbān)
  • Active participle: مُحْبِن (muḥbin)
  • Passive participle: مُحْبَن (muḥban)
• Form VIII: اِحْتَبَنَ (iḥtabana, “to be tumid”)
  • Verbal noun: اِحْتِبَان (iḥtibān)
  • Active participle: مُحْتَبِن (muḥtabin)
  • Passive participle: مُحْتَبَن (muḥtaban)

• حَبَن (ḥaban, “dropsy; oleander”)
• حِبْن (ḥibn, “furuncle; monkey”)
• أَحْبَن (ʔaḥban, “tumid; suffering hydropsy”)
• حَبِين (ḥabīn, “suffering hydropsy”)
• أُمّ حُبَيْن (ʔumm ḥubayn, “chamaeleon”)

References

• Corriente, Federico (2008) “Additions and corrections to A Dictionary of Andalusi Arabic”, in Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes‎^[1], volume 98, page 45, Corriente, Federico, Pereira, Christophe, Vicente, Angeles, editors (2017), Dictionnaire du faisceau dialectal arabe andalou. Perspectives phraséologiques et étymologiques (in French), Berlin: De Gruyter, →ISBN, page 311
• Freytag, Georg (1830) “ح ب ن”, in Lexicon arabico-latinum praesertim ex Djeuharii Firuzabadiique et aliorum Arabum operibus adhibitis Golii quoque et aliorum libris confectum‎^[2] (in Latin), volume 1, Halle: C. A. Schwetschke, pages 338b–339a
• Kazimirski, Albin de Biberstein (1860) “ح ب ن”, 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^[3] (in French), volume 1, Paris: Maisonneuve et C^ie, pages 371b–372a
• Lane, Edward William (1863) “ح ب ن”, in Arabic-English Lexicon‎^[4], London: Williams & Norgate, pages 506c–507a
• Wahrmund, Adolf (1887) “ح ب ن”, in Handwörterbuch der neu-arabischen und deutschen Sprache‎^[5] (in German), volume 1, Gießen: J. Ricker’sche Buchhandlung, page 484a