Wehr Wednesdays #344

A new word or phrase from the Hans Wehr dictionary, every Wednesday.

هفت نفسه إلى (nafsuhū) he yearned for…;

Root: ه-ف-ف

Page: 1207*

Example: “هَفَّتْ نَفسُها إلى أَيّامِ الطُّفولةِ البَسيطةِ الحِلْوة”

Translation: “she yearned for those sweet, simple childhood days”

Notes:

This phrase is another example supporting the metaphorical link between the soul and the wind that we find in the Arabic language. (Explore the verb هفّ here.) See The Wind, and a Wandering Mind for more!
The form I verb هَفَّ / يَهِفُّ is derived from a geminate (a.k.a duplicated) root. It has a reduplicated form too: ه-ف-ه-ف—read more about this phenomenon in Arabic Observations: Duplicated Roots with Reduplicated Forms

Revise all of the vocab from the series on Quizlet: