Bibliotheca Polyglotta

1 to imagine, fancy, think, believe, suppose (ʔanna that); 2 to consider, deem, think (s.o. to be ..., s.th. to be ...), regard (s.o. as, s.th. as) – WehrCowan1976.

conc

▪ Akin to ²ḫāl ʻmole, birthmark; patch, beauty spot’, sharing with it a basic idea of *ʻappearing, becoming visible’? If so, then ḫāla ʻto imagine, etc.’ is perh. also akin to ↗ʔaḫyal ʻgreen woodpecker’ (modern meaning) (< *ʻhaving spots on its wings’) – see DISC below.
▪ …

hist

▪ …

cogn

▪ DRS 10 (2012) #ḪYL-1 […]. -2 Ar ḫāla, ḫayyala ‘s’imaginer, se figurer’, ḫayāl ‘fantôme, ombre’, ḫāl ‘outrecuidance, arrogance, présomption’, YemAr ḫayāl ‘convoiter’. -3 […]. -4 Akk ḫālu ‘tache noire sur la peau’, Ar ḫāl ‘signe sur le visage, grain de beauté’, ʔaḫyalᵘ ‘qui a des grains de beauté (sur le visage)’, ḫīlān ‘signe, signe sur le corps ou le visage, grain de beauté’. -5-8 […].
▪ …
▪ …

disc

▪ Although the semantic field built around the idea of ʻfantasy, imagination’ in Ar is rather broad and diversified (cf. DERIV) and thus points to a long history and the genuineness of the root, the corresponding Ar items remain without obvious cognates in Sem. Things will look slightly different if we regard ʻfantasy, imagination’ (DRS #ḪYL-2) and ʻmole, birthmark; patch, beauty spot’ (DRS #ḪYL-4) as possibly belonging together, both sharing the basic idea of *ʻappearing, becoming visible’; moreover, in older times, birthmarks were often seen as omina, thus evoking a certain vision, esp. the imagination of an evil threatening the future; cf. also the fact that one explanation of the name ʔaḫyal given to a certain type of bird was its association with an evil omen.¹ Thus, ²ḫāl ʻmole, beauty spot’ could be tentatively interpreted as *ʻmark\sign appearing, becoming visible (on the face or skin of a newborn)’, or the complex of ʻfantasy, imagination’ could be regarded as derived from ²ḫāl, a fantasy or imagination appearing like a mole or a beauty spot on the face\skin of a newborn. But this is unsecured speculation that cannot build on harder evidence than the mere possibility of semantic dependence. A possible Akk cognate of Ar ²ḫāl, signifying ʻblack mole (on the face and body); black spot (a disease of barley)’, may just as well be unrelated: while von Soden (on whom the data given in DRS are built) gives it as Akk ḫālu, CAD quotes it as Akk ḫalû (from oBab on), in which case it would belong together with Ar ^†ḥalaʔ ʻpustules upon the lips (Hava1899) / boutons aux lèvres à la suite de la fièvre (BK1860)’ rather than with ²ḫāl.²
▪ Accord. to Lane ii (1865), the form V vb. ^†taḫawwala (from √ḪWL) is found as a variant of ʔaḫāla, vb. IV, in the ClassAr expr. ^†ʔaḫāla fīhi ḫāl^an min al-ḫayr ʻto bode well of s.th.’. It comes as no surprise, therefore, that ²ḫāl ʻmole, birthmark; patch, beauty spot’ is treated s.r. √ḪWL in some dictionaries, incl. WehrCowan, not sub √ḪYL.
▪ The modern use of ↗ʔaḫyal for ʻgreen woodpecker’ may be dependent on ²ḫāl in the sense of ʻpatch, beauty spot’, as the bird has white spots on some of its feathers (DRS #ḪYL-4). In older times, the word signified some (less specified) kind of bird that may have been called ʔaḫyal on account of its association with evil omen (ḫayāl). Others explain it as an epithet based on taḫayyul, thus meaning *ʻthe one who feels self-important, conceited, the arrogant one’ (cf. ḫuyalāʔᵘ, ḫaylūlaẗ, maḫīlaẗ ʻconceit, haughtiness, snobbery, arrogance, etc.’).
▪ …
▪ …

1. Cf., however, also the ClassAr expr. ^†ʔaḫāla fīhi ḫāl^an min al-ḫayr ʻto bode well of s.th.’, in which ²ḫāl is attested with the rather neutral sense of ʻsign, mark, indicator’ that can be additionally qualified as ʻgood’. 2. For the pair Akk ḫalû and Ar ḥalaʔ, Militarev&Kogan2000 (SED I #116) reconstruct protSem *ḥ/ḫalaʔ‑ ʻmole; pustule’, with the caveat of scarce attestation and unexplained relationship between ḫ and ḥ.

west

–

deriv

► ḫayyala, vb. II, to make (ʔilà s.o.) believe (ʔanna that), suggest (ʔilà to s.o., a s.th.), give s.o. (ʔilà) the impression that: D-stem, caus. | ḫuyyila ʔilayhi (lahū) ʔanna, expr., he imagined, fancied, thought that..., it seemed, it appeared to him that...; ʕalà mā ḫayyalat (al-nafs being understood), expr., as the heart dictates, i.e., as chance will have it, at random, unhesitatingly
► ʔaḫāla, vb. IV, to be dubious, doubtful, uncertain, intricate: *Š-stem, denom (from ḫayāl?)
► ^BP#4140taḫayyala, vb. V, 1 to imagine, fancy (s.th.); 2 to present itself, reveal itself (li‑ to s.o.’s mind), become the object of imagination, appear ( = II; li‑ to s.o.): Dt-stem, intr., self-ref./refl. | ~ fīhi ’l-ḫayr, vb., to suspect good qualities in s.o., have an inkling of s.o.’s good qualities, think, well of s.o., have a good opinion of s.o.
► taḫāyala, vb. VI, 1 to pretend (bi‑, li‑ to s.o. s.th., that ...), act (li‑ toward s.o., bi‑ as if); 2 to feel self-important, be conceited; 3 to behave in a pompous manner, swagger, strut about; 4 to conceive eccentric ideas, get all kinds of fantastic notions, have a bee in one’s bonnet; 5 to appear dimly, in shadowy outlines; 6 to appear, show (ʕalà on), hover (ʕalà about; e.g., a smile about s.o.’s lips), flit (ʕalà across, e.g., a shadow across s.o.’s face, etc.): Lt-stem, pretentious.
► ĭḫtāla, vb. VIII, 1 to feel self-important, be conceited; 2 to behave in a pompous manner, swagger, strut about: Gt-stem, self-ref.

► ²ḫāl, pl. ḫīlān, n., 1 (pl. ʔaḫwāl, huʔūl, ḫuʔūlaẗ) ↗¹ḫāl (√ḪWL); 2a mole, birthmark (on the face); b patch, beauty spot
► ^BP#1975ḫayāl, pl. ʔaḫyilaẗ, n., 1a disembodied spirit, ghost, specter; b phantom, apparition; c phantasm, fantasy, chimera, vision; 2a imagination; b shadow, trace, dim reflection | ~ šakk, n., slightest doubt; ~ al-ṣaḥrāʔ, n., scarecrow; ~ al-ẓill, n., shadow play
► ḫayālaẗ, pl. ‑āt, n.f., 1 ghost, spirit, specter; 2 phantom; 3 phantasm, fantasy, chimera
► ^BP#3946ḫayālī, adj., 1 imaginary, unreal; 2 ideal, ideational, conceptual; 3 utopian: nisba formation, from ḫayāl
► ʔaḫyalᵘ, adj., more conceited, haughtier, prouder: elative formation (from ḫayāl?)
► ʔaḫyal, pl. ḫīl, ʔaḫāyilᵘ, n., green woodpecker: lit., *ʻthe arrogant one’ or *ʻthe one with spots on its wings’?
► ḫuyalāʔᵘ, n.f., 1 conceit, conceitedness, haughtiness, pride; 2 al‑~, adv., haughtily, proudly
► ḫaylūlaẗ, n.f., conceit, conceitedness, snobbery, arrogance, haughtiness
► maḫīlaẗ, n.f., 1 conceit, conceitedness, snobbery, arrogance, haughtiness; 2 pl. maḫāyilᵘ, nonhum.pl., indication, sign, symptom, characteristic; 3 visions, mental images, imagery
► taḫyīl, n., play acting | fann al‑~, n., dramatic art
► taḫayyul, pl. ‑āt, n., imagination, phantasy; 2 delusion, hallucination, fancy, whim, fantastic notion
► taḫayyulī, adj., fantastic, fanciful, imaginary
► ĭḫtiyāl, n., 1 pride; 2 arrogance, haughtiness
► muḫayyilaẗ, n.f., imagination, phantasy
► muḫīl, adj., 1 dubious, doubtful, uncertain, intricate, tangled, confused; 2 confusing, bewildering
► muḫtāl, adj., conceited, haughty, arrogant

For other values of the root, cf. ↗ḫayl and ↗ʔaḫyal as well as, for the whole picture, root entries ↗√ḪYL and √ḪWL.

Permanent link

http://www2.hf.uio.no/common/apps/permlink/permlink.php?app=polyglotta&context=record&uid=d872d5cd-06ff-11ee-937a-005056a97067

Choose languages

Choose images, etc.

Choose languages

Choose display