Bibliotheca Polyglotta

Etymological Dictionary of Arabic

EtymArab

ḫayr خَيْر , pl. ḫiyār , ʔaḫyār

NB: For the notion of ‘goodness; select, pick (the good)’, the n. ḫayr has been chosen here as the main entry. But the vb. I, ḫāra , could have served the same purpose. It is impossible to decide whether ḫāra is denominative or ḫayr deverbative. Dolgopolski2012#1934 distinguishes WSem *ḫayar‑ ‘goodness’ (> Ar ḫayr , n.) from Sem *ḪYR (*‑ḫīr‑) ‘to prefer, choose; to be(come) good’ (> Ar ḫāra , vb. I).

meta

√ḪYR

gram

n./adj.

engl

good; excellent, outstanding, superior, admirable; better; best; – (pl. ḫuyūr) good thing, blessing; wealth, property; – good, benefit, interest, advantage; welfare; charity – WehrCowan1979.

conc

▪ (According to Dolgopolsky2012#1934:) From WSem *ḫayar‑ ‘goodness’, Sem *ḪYR (*‑ḫīr‑) ‘to prefer, choose; to be(come) good’ (from Nostr *q̣uy˅r˅‑ ‘to love, covet’ > ‘to prefer’).

hist

▪ eC7 I (n.) 1 (goodness, all that is good) Q 3:26 bi-yadi-ka ’l-ḫayru ‘in Your hand is the good’; 2 (much wealth, great property) 2:180 kutiba ʕalay-kum ʔiḏā ḥaḍara ʔaḥada-kum-u ’l-mawtu ʔin taraka ḫayran-i ’l-waṣiyyatu lil-wālidayni wa’l-ʔaqrabīna ‘it is prescribed for you, when death comes to one of you if he is leaving behind great property, that he should make bequests to parents and close relatives’. II (elat.) 1 (usually with prep. min) 2:263 qawlun maʕrūfun wa-maʕrifatun ḫayrun min ṣadaqaẗin yatbaʕu-hā ʔaḏàn ‘a kind word [from a would-be giver] and forgiveness [from the would-be receiver of charity] is better than almsgiving after which follows hurt’, 2 (in ʔiḍāfaẗ) 3:110 kuntum ḫayra ʔummatin ʔuḫriǧat lil-nāsi ‘you are the best nation that has been brought forth for humankind’ – BAH2008.

cogn

▪ DRS 10 (2012)#ḪYR-1: Akk ḫiāru, ḫāru ‘choisir, élire’, ḫāʔir‑, ḫāwir‑, ḫāmir‑, ḫāyyir‑, ḫābir‑ ‘mari’, ḫāʔirut ‘état conjugal’, Nab ḥyr (adv.) ‘bien’, ḥyry(hm) ‘(leurs) notables’, Ar ḫāra ‘etre favorable à qn, préférer, choisir’, ḫayr ‘bon, meilleur; bien, avoir, bonheur’, ḫīr ‘noblesse, générosité’, MġrAr ḫayr ‘biens, richesse’, ḫīr ‘mieux, meilleur que’, Sab ḫyr ‘noble’, Mhr ḫayr ‘bien, santé, bien-être’, Soq ḥayr ‘meilleur, mieux’, Jib ḫar ‘bien-être, bien’, aḫyer ‘donner un choix’, Gz ḫayara ‘être bien, bon’, Tña ḫeray ‘bon, compatissant’.
▪ See also the cognates given by Dolgopolsky (cf. DISC, below).

disc

▪ Dolgopolsky2012#1934 reconstructs a Sem vb. and a WSem n. – According to the author, 1 Sem *ḪYR (*‑ḫīr‑) ‘to prefer, choose; to be(come) good’ gave Akk ḫiāru ~ ḫāru ‘to choose, select; to pick and take as mate’, Ar ḫāra ī ‘to be propicious to; to prefer, select’, Gz ḫayara ~ ḫēra, Min ḫyr ‘to choose, authorize’; 2 WSem *ḫayar‑ ‘goodness’ gave Ar ḫayr ‘id.; good (n.); good, better, the best’ (> Soq ḥayr ‘better [adj., adv.]’, Mhr Ḥrs ḫayr ‘good, health’, Jib ḫer ‘best interest’), Mhr ḫār ‘better’, Mhr ḫɜyor, Ḥrs ḫɜyōr ‘best’, Jib ḫar ‘well-being, good’, Sab ḫyr ‘nobleman, noble’ (pl. ʔḫyr), Qat ʔḫyr (pl.) ‘élite, noblemen’, Gz ḫēr ‘good, excellent, good thing’.
▪ According to Dolgopolsky2012#1934, both Sem items (and a number of others from non-AfrAs families) are from Nostr *q̣uy˅r˅‑ ‘to love, covet’ (> ‘to prefer’).

west

▪ Huehnergard2011, EtymOnline: Engl mohair (1610 s), earlier mocayre (1560 s) ‘fine hair of the Angora goat; a fabric made from this’, from mFr mocayart (C16), Ital mocaiarro, both from Ar muḫayyar ‘cloth of goat hair (lit., selected, choice)’, from ḫayyara, vb. II, ‘to (make) choose’. Spelling influenced in Engl by association with hair. – Engl moire ‘watered silk’ (1650 s), from Fr moire (C17), probably Engl mohair; thus, the item seems to have been first borrowed from Fr, then loaned back into this languange, and ultimately loaned back from there. – The adj. Engl moiré ‘having the appearance of watered silk’ is attested from 1823.

deriv

► ḫayr al-nās, the best of all people; ḫiyār al-nās, ʔaḫyār al-nās, the best people, the pick of the human race.
► huwa ḫayr min-ka, he is better than you.
► huwa ḫayr la-ka, it is better for you.
► al-ḫayr kull al-ḫayr, the very best.
► al-ḫayr al-ʕāmm, the commonweal, general welfare; dawlaẗ al-ḫayr al-ʕāmm, welfare state.
► li-ḫayri, prep., for the benefit of; ~ ʔanfusi-him, for their own good.
► ʔaʕmāl al-ḫayr, charitable deeds.
► ṣabāḥ al-ḫayr and ṣabāḥ-ak bi’l-ḫayr, good morning!
► ḏakara-hū bi’l-ḫayr, to retain a good impression of s.o.; to speak well of s.o.
► bi-ḫayr, fine, in good health (as an answer to inquiries about one’s health and in wishes).
► ʔaḫū ’l-ḫayr, a good, benevolent person.
► ʔahl al-ḫayr, charitable people.

► ḫāra i to choose, make one’s choice; to prefer (ʕalà to): denominative from ḫayr, or is ḫayr from ḫāra?
► ḫayyara, vb. II, to make or let choose (bayna between, fī from), give (s.o.) the alternative, option or choice (bayna between, fī in); to prefer (s.th. ʕalà to): D-stem, denom./caus.
► ḫāyara, vb. Ill, to vie, compete (DO with s.o.); to make or let (s.o.) choose, give (s.o.) the choice, option or alternative: L-stem, associative.
► taḫayyara, vb. V, to choose, select, pick (DO s.o., s.th.): tD-stem, autoben.
► ^BP#1205ĭḫtāra, vb. VIII, to choose, make one’s choice; to choose, select, elect, pick (s.o., s.th.), fix upon s.o. or s.th. (DO); to prefer (ʕalà to): T-stem, autoben./refl. | ~ ’llāhu ʔilà ǧiwārihī, (approx.:) the Lord has taken… unto Himself.
► ĭstaḫāra, vb. X, to seek or request what is good or best for o.s. (2x DO); to consult an oracle, cast lots: Št-stem, request. | ~ ’llāha fī, to ask God for proper guidance in.

► ^BP#1256ḫayrī, adj., charitable, beneficent, benevolent, philanthropic: nsb-adj. | ǧamʕiyyaẗ ~aẗ, n., charitable organization.
► ḫayriyyaẗ, n.f., charity, charitableness, benevolence, beneficence: abstr. formation in ‑iyyaẗ.
► ḫayyir, adj., generous, liberal, openhanded, munificent; charitable, beneficent, benevolent; benign, gracious, kind: ints. adj.
► ^BP#3882ḫayraẗ, pl. ‑āt, n., good deed, good; pl. resources, treasures (e.g., of the earth, of a country), boons, blessings: n.un.
► ^BP#4964ḫīraẗ and ḫiyaraẗ, n.f., the best, choice, prime, flower, pick, elite:…
► ʔaḫyarᵘ, f. ḫīrà, ḫūrà, pl. ʔaḫāyirᵘ, adj., better, superior: elat.
► ^BP#1321ḫiyār, n., 1 choice; option, exercise of the power of choice (Isl. Law); refusal, right of withdrawal (Isl. Law); the best, choice, prime, flower, pick, elite; 2 ↗s.v..
► ḫiyārī, adj., optional, facultative; voluntary: nsb-adj. of ḫiyār.
► ĭḫtiyār, n., ^BP#9591 choice; election (also pol.; pl. ‑āt); selection; preference (ʕalà to); option; free will (philos.); ~an, of one’s own accord, spontaneously, voluntarily: vn. VIII. – 2 pl. ‑iyyaẗ, (Ir., Lev.), also ḫityār, pl. -iyyaẗ, adj., old; n., old man; elder, senior person in a community: (loaned into Tu, then back into Ar with the special meaning the word had acquired in Tu, lit., *‘wise person who knows how to make the right choices, experienced’).
► ĭḫtiyārī, adj., voluntary, facultative, elective (studies): nsb-adj., from ĭḫtiyār.
► muḫayyar, adj., having the choice or option: PP II.
► ^BP#4507muḫtār, 1 adj., free to choose, having the choice or option (fī in), volunteering; ~an, adv., voluntarily, spontaneously, of one’s own accord: PA VIII; choice, select, exquisite; chosen, preferred, favorite; a favorite; ‑āt, pl., selection, selected writings, anthology: PP VIII; 2 pl. maḫātīrᵘ, n., village chief, mayor of a village; mayor of a city district (Syr., Leb., lr.): nominalized PP VIII.

For other items of √ḪYR, cf. ↗ḫiyār and ↗ḫīriyy.

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