Bibliotheca Polyglotta

▪ √LḤN seems to be an exclusively Ar root, not attested elsewhere in Sem nor outside of it.
▪ The basic meaning of Ar √LḤN is probably *‘to deviate (from the normal), modulate, modify’ (for Fück1950 this is secondary from a primary value ‘to incline, lean towards’). From ‘deviation’, Fück derives the adj. laḥin in the sense of *‘flexible, mobile, agile’, hence ‘clever, intelligent, perspicacious’ and the n. ^†laḥan ‘cleverness, comprehension, perspicacity’.
▪ Is Fück right? In my [SG] view, the semantic shift he assumes—from ‘deviation’ to *‘flexibility, mobility’—is not very convincing. But unless we assign the current value to another, homonymous root there are by now no better suggestions.

hist

▪ WKAS has laḥina a (laḥan) ‘to be clever, intelligent, perspicacious; †to learn, grasp, understand (s.th., ʕan from s.o.); lāḥana, vb. III, ‘to outdo, excel in cleverness, astuteness’; †laḥan, n., ‘cleverness, comprehension, perspicacity’, laḥin and lāḥin, adj., ‘clever, intelligent, perspicacious’

cogn

▪ Probably without cognates. According to Tropper2008, the meaning of Ug lḥn is uncertain (either ‘to be understanding, intelligent’ or ‘to be closely related to s.o.’, cf. Ar laḥḥ ‘close relationship’).

disc

▪ See above, section CONC.

west

–

deriv

► laḥina, a (laḥan), to be intelligent: denom.?

For other values attached to the same root, cf. ↗laḥana, ↗laḥn, and, for the whole picture, ↗LḤN.

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