آضَ
root: ء-ي-ض / form I, past tense verb / definition: to return
Did you know that the Arabic adverbs أَيْضًا (“also, too”) and عادةً (“usually”) are derived from roots with the same core meaning?
What is the core meaning linking them? And why?
Let’s take a look.
أَيْضًا
أيضًا comes from a hamzated and hollow root, ء-ي-ض.
The adverb أيضًا is derived from the verbal noun (أَيْض) of the form I verb آضَ / يَئيضُ which means “to return (to something)” or “to become”.
(We looked at this verb recently, in Wehr Wednesdays #359!)
So أيضًا signifies coming back to the same idea—hence its definitions of “too”, “also”, “moreover”, and so on.
عادةً
As for عادةً, it’s derived from what is probably a more familiar hollow root: ع-و-د.
And again, this root is all about the idea of returning. The form I عادَ / يَعودُ means “to return (to something)”, just like آضَ / يَئيضُ.
Under this root in the dictionary is where we find the noun عادة, meaning “habit” or “custom”, i.e. something you return to time after time.
عادةً is the adverbial form of the noun عادة. Thus we get the meaning of عادةً: it carries the meaning of “usually” because it signifies coming back to the same action or state.
So there we are—two very familiar adverbs whose origins we’ve probably never dwelled on (especially أيضًا!).
Can you think of any more interesting examples?
!إلى اللقاء
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