Root Exploration: ع-ذ-ب

سِلْسِلة

root: س-ل-س-ل / noun / plural: سَلاسِل / definition: series, chain

Due to an unexpected series of events, I found myself this weekend somewhere I never thought I’d go: mini golf. As it turns out, I’m quite the pro (for a beginner, anyway).

But I bring myself back to more familiar territory now, as we prepare for another dive into the Hans Wehr dictionary.

This time, we’re exploring the root ع-ذ-ب, which encompasses two antonymic domains of meaning. Let’s take a look:

ع-ذ-ب

Form I

الفعل / verb:

عَذُبَ / يَعذُبُ = to be sweet, pleasant, agreeable

عَذَبَ / يَعذِبُ = to hinder, impede, obstruct

(note that the two form I verbs from this root carry different vowels—the former exhibits the vowelling pattern which indicates a permanent state whilst the vowelling pattern of the latter denotes an act; see Form I Verb Vowelling Patterns)

المصدر / verbal noun:

عُذوبة = sweetness

nouns:

عَذاب / ـات أو أَعْذِبة = pain, torment, suffering, punishment

adjective:

عَذْب / عِذاب = sweet, pleasant, agreeable

collocations:

مِياه عَذبة = fresh water
عَذب الحَديث = entertaining, amusing, personable (this is an example of the false/adjective إضافة)

superlative:

أَعذَب = sweeter, more pleasant

Form II

الفعل / verb:

عَذَّبَ / يُعَذِّبُ = to torment, torture, punish, afflict

اسم المفعول / passive participle:

مُعَذَّب = harassed, tormented*, miserable

(*apparently, this particularly applies in the sense of being tormented “by a cruel existence”)

Form V

الفعل / verb:

تَعَذَّبَ / يَتَعَذَّبُ = to be punished, tortured, harassed; to feel pain, suffer; to torment oneself

Form X

الفعل / verb:

اِستَعذَبَ / يَستَعذِبُ = to find something sweet or pleasant; to think something is beautiful or nice

Hmm. So why do you think sweetness and suffering are linked under this one root? Is it a case of connection or coincidence? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

If you’re keen to explore more, have a read of Arabic Observations: Words with Antonymic Meanings, where we explore words with seemingly-opposing meanings like we encountered under this root.

Or, thumb through the other posts in the Root Exploration series.

!مع السلامة