Root Exploration: ء-ب-د

دَهْر

root: د-ه-ر / noun / plural: دُهور / definition: long period of time, epoch

If you’ve been reading closely, you’ll have noticed that I’ve been talking about time a lot lately.

My term of studying here in Doha officially ends next week, and it’s as though I’m inside an hourglass trying to grapple with the passage of time, as it falls through the spaces between my fingers like grains of fine sand.

The here and now feels somehow distant while the end of the month laps at my feet.

So, it’s no shock that I was drawn to the hamzated root ء-ب-د in the dictionary. Let’s explore it:

ء-ب-د

Form I

الفعل / verb:

أَبَدَ / يَأْبِدُ = to last, persist

أَبَدَ / يَأْبِدُ بِـ = to abide in a place, to stay at

أَبَدَ / يَأْبُدُ، يَأْبِدُ = to be wild, untamed; to be shy, shy or run away

(note that for the final group of meanings of this form I verb, there are two vowelling possibilities for the present tense; for more about this, see Form I Verb Vowelling Patterns)

المصدر / verbal noun:

أُبود = abiding, persisting

noun:

أَبَد / آباد = eternity

collocations:

على/إلى الأبد and أبدَ الدَّهرِ = forever
أبدَ الأبد and أبدَ الآبِدين and أبدَ الأَبَدين and إلى أبدِ الأَبَدين and أبد الأبديّة = forever and ever

(for the difference between أبد and خلد and أزل and سرمد and so on… check out Arabic Words for “Eternity”)

abstract noun:

أَبَديّة = eternity

adjective:

أَبَدي = eternal, endless

adverb:

أَبَدًا = always, forever, ever, never, not at all

اسم الفاعل / active participles:

آبِد = resident, non-migratory (bird); wild, untamed

آبِدة / أَوابِد = unusual thing, prodigious event; resident bird; wild animal; monster

collocations:

أوابد الدنيا = the Wonders of the World

Form II

الفعل / verb:

أَبَّدَ / يُؤَبِّدُ = to make lasting or permanent, perpetuate, eternise something

اسم المفعول / passive participle:

مُؤَبَّد = eternal, endless; lifelong, lifetime (e.g. a sentence)

collocations:

سِجن مؤبد = life imprisonment

Form V

الفعل / verb:

تَأَبَّدَ / يَتَأَبَّدْ = to be perpetuated, become lasting or permanent, be eternised; to return to a state of wildness

Sometimes we just want to make a certain time in our lives last (نُؤبِّد). But to make for sweet memories, I guess those moments have to end at some point.

If you’re curious about other roots and the words they give rise to, check out the rest of the Root Exploration series, and I’ll see you on my next post!

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