Bibliotheca Polyglotta

kaḥal- u, a (kaḥl): to rub, paint or smear with kohl (the edges of the eyelids) – WehrCowan1979.; ^†to put out, blind (an eye with a heated nail etc.), blind “en faisant passer entre ses paupières, après l’avoir fait rougir au feu, le poinçon d’argent […] que l’on emploie ordinnairement pour appliquer sur les yeux la galène ou sulfure de plomb, kuḥl, destinée à leur donner plus d’éclat et de brillant”¹ – Dozy; ^†to be infertile (year); ^†to bring misery, harm the people (an infertile year) – Freytag.
^† kaḥil- a (kaḥal): to have (by nature) black eyelids (or eyes) (that do not need to be coloured with kohl) – Lane.
For other meanings ↗ʔakḥalᵘ .

conc

Usually held to be denominative from ↗kuḥl. But while kaḥal‑ indeed is most likely to be dependent on kuḥl, the intransitive vb. kaḥil‑ is perhaps better to be connected to ↗ʔakḥalᵘ than to ↗kuḥl, a distinction inspired by the separation of kuḥl and ʔakḥalᵘ in DRS.

hist

C6 ʕAntara b. Šaddād 78,2 lā kuḥilat ʔaǧfānu ʕaynī bi’l-karā (Polosin 413).

cogn

Cf. ↗kuḥl , ↗ʔakḥalᵘ .

disc

Most dictionaries and relevant studies regard the verb(s) kaḥ˅l‑ as denominatives from ↗kuḥl. It is true that the modern transitive kaḥal-‑ seems to be very close to an intransitive kaḥil‑, now obsolete. Yet, while the former quite probably is such a denominative, the latter, though showing a great deal of semantic overlapping, may ultimately go back to a different etymon, ↗ʔakḥalᵘ. (often not ‘black’, but ‘blue’ or ‘green’).
The semantic connection between the ‘blackness/darkness’ of kuḥl and the old values of kaḥal‑, noted by Dozy and Freytag, of ^†‘infertility’ and, hence, ‘misery, calamity’, is not explained in the dictionaries, but it seems unproblematic to assume figurative use of the language.

west

–

deriv

► kaḥḥala II, vb. to rub, paint or smear with kohl (the edges of the eyelids): ↗kuḥl. – ^†to prevent from seeing, blind s.o. : as a consequence of the application of kuḥl, or of the “poinçon d’argent” mentioned by Dozy (see above), or figurative use, i.e. *make (the world appear) black (for one’s eyes)?.
► takaḥḥala, vb. V, to color the edges of one’s eyelids with kohl, smear one’s eyelids with a salve of antimony, etc.; to have eyelids that are coloured with kohl : ↗kuḥl; to be refreshed, enlivened: ↗ʔakḥalᵘ; ^†to be covered with freshly blossoming plants: ↗ʔakḥalᵘ, ↗kaḥlāʔᵘ.
► iktaḥala, vb. VIII: = V.
► (unless itself the etymon) kuḥl , n. antimony; kohl : ↗s.v.
► kaḥal, n. black coloring (of the edges) of the eyelids : vn. of kaḥil‑.
► kaḥil, adj., pl. kaḥlā, kaḥāʔilᵘ darkened with kohl, dyed black (eyelids) : deverbative, or from ↗kuḥl‑ ?.
► kuḥl, n. antimony, kohl : probably the etymon of kaḥal‑, perhaps also of kaḥil‑.
► kuḥlī, adj. dark blue, navy blue: nsb-adj. from ↗kuḥl‑.
► ʔakḥalᵘ, adj., f. kaḥlāʔᵘ, pl. kuḥl, black (eye); al-ʔakḥal n. medial arm vein: ↗s.v..
► kaḥīl, adj., pl. kaḥāʔilᵘ, ^†kaḥlā, black, dyed black, darkened with kohl (eyelid): ints. adj.; n. horse of noblest breed: so called because of its blackness, or the blackness of its eyes?.
► kuḥūl, n. alcohol, spirit: ↗s.v..
► kuḥūlī, adj. alcoholic, spirituous: nsb-adj. from ↗kuḥūl.
► ^†kuḥayl, n. tar, pitch (Wahrmund: Erdpech) (in the dialect of Ḥiǧāz: lane): *the dark black thing (?).
► kuḥaylī and kuḥaylān, adj.,n., pl. kuḥāl, kaḥāʔilᵘ horse of noblest breed: nominalized nsb-adj. and ints. formation, from ↗^†kuḥayl, i.e., < *the tarry one, or *the horse with the dark black eyes (?).
► kiḥāl, n. antimony powder, eye powder:.
► kaḥḥāl, n. eye doctor, oculist (old designation): n.prof. from ↗kuḥl‑.
► mikḥal and mikḥāl n. kohl stick, pencil for darkening the eyelids: n.instr. from ↗kuḥl‑.
► mukḥulaẗ, n.f., pl. makāḥilᵘ kohl container, kohl jar: ↗kuḥl; solar quadrant: ↗s.v.; (syr.) rifle, gun: ↗s.v..
► takḥīl II, vn. treatment of the eyes with kohl: ↗kuḥl.

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