ruħ
Maltese
Etymology
From Arabic رُوح (rūḥ). The expected plural is rwieħ with a post-consonantal variant irwieħ. The form erwieħ shows development of ir to er, as frequently in verbs, but otherwise not with epenthetic sounds. This unusual e- is therefore not felt as epenthetic anymore.
Pronunciation
Noun
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Pronoun
ruħ-
- -self, -selves; used with a pronominal suffix to form reflexive pronouns
- Żewġi ma jinteressax ruħu fil-politika.
- My husband isn’t interested in politics.
- (literally, “My husband doesn’t interest himself in politics.”)
Usage notes
- With plural suffixes, the stem may remain unchanged, but may also become rwieħ-. The form erwieħ is generally not used in reflexive pronouns.
- The reflexive pronoun is in limited use. Generally, the accusative particle lil followed by an emphatic pronoun (see nnifs-) takes its place in cases of incidental, non-idiomatic reflexivity: Għandek tħobb lilek innifsek. (“You should love yourself.”) Moreover, many verbs have a special mediopassive form with the prefixes n- (so-called VII. stem) or t- (V. and VI. stems).