ħajjar
Maltese
| Root |
|---|
| ħ-j-r |
| 3 terms |
Etymology
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.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈħaj.jar/
Verb
ħajjar (imperfect jħajjar, past participle mħajjar, verbal noun taħjir)
- to entice, to attract
- Kif nistgħu nħajru lil uliedna għall-qari?
- How can we entice our children to read?
- to tempt
- Synonym: ttenta
Conjugation
| Conjugation of ħajjar | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| singular | plural | |||||||
| 1st person | 2nd person | 3rd person | 1st person | 2nd person | 3rd person | |||
| perfect | m | ħajjart | ħajjart | ħajjar | ħajjarna | ħajjartu | ħajru | |
| f | ħajret | |||||||
| imperfect | m | nħajjar | tħajjar | jħajjar | nħajru | tħajru | jħajru | |
| f | tħajjar | |||||||
| imperative | ħajjar | ħajru | ||||||
See also
- ġarrab
- pprova