← All root families

ʾ r w

14 lemmas · 7 languages
hamzatedContains ʾ (glottal stop) in position 1 or 3. Glottal stops assimilate or elide in many inflections, producing irregular surface forms.
Themes:calf·2
POS shape:noun·10name·2adj·1verb·1

This root is attested across 7 Semitic languages in our index. Each section below shows representative lemmas; attested means a Wiktionary editor explicitly tagged the root, inferredmeans we derived it mechanically from the word's consonantal skeleton.

Etymology treehow this root diverged from Proto-Semitic through the family

*ʾ-r-wProto-Semitic
West Semitic
Central Semitic
Northwest Semitic
Ugaritic𐎀𐎗𐎆𐎀 𐎗 𐎆lion
Canaanite
Hebrewאֶרוֹסא ר וEros (the god of love and sexual desire; son of either Erebus and Nyx or Aphrodite and Ares)
Phoenician𐤀𐤓𐤅𐤀 𐤓 𐤅
Aramaic
Syriacܐܪܘܢܐܐ ܪ ܘcalf, young bull
Assyrian NAܐܵܪܘܿܢܵܐܐ ܪ ܘwardrobe, closet (piece of furniture for storing clothes)
Arabic
Arabicأَرَوْاء ر و
South Semitic
Ethio-Semitic
Ge'ezአርዌአ ረ ወwild animal, beast

Branch structure: Huehnergard (2005), Rubin (2010). The reconstructed Proto-Semitic form is computed on the fly from the cognate set's majority reflex pattern.

Ugaritic

irregular reflexug · 1 lemma
  • ảrwnouninferredWiktionary ↗
    lion
    Compare Hebrew אַרְיֵה (ʾaryē), אֲרִי (ʾărī).

Phoenician

irregular reflexphn · 1 lemma

Classical Syriac

syc · 3 lemmas
  • nouninferredWiktionary ↗
    calf, young bull
    Unknown.
  • nameinferredWiktionary ↗
    Ark of the Covenant
    From Hebrew אָרוֹן (ʾārôn).
  • nouninferredWiktionary ↗
    calf, heifer
    Unknown.

Assyrian Neo-Aramaic

aii · 1 lemma
  • ārōnānouninferredWiktionary ↗
    wardrobe, closet (piece of furniture for storing clothes)
    Learned borrowing from Classical Syriac ܐܪܘܢܐ with the meanings changed, from Biblical Hebrew אָרוֹן (ʾārôn, “coffin, ark”)

Hebrew

he · 6 lemmas
  • erosnameinferredWiktionary ↗
    Eros (the god of love and sexual desire; son of either Erebus and Nyx or Aphrodite and Ares)
    From Ancient Greek Ἔρως (Érōs).
  • erúanouninferredWiktionary ↗
    defective spelling of אירוע.
  • erotíadjinferredWiktionary ↗
    erotic
  • arómanouninferredWiktionary ↗
    aroma (a pleasant or fragrant smell)
    Borrowed from Ancient Greek ἄρωμα (árōma).
  • aruchotnouninferredWiktionary ↗
    plural indefinite form of אֲרוּחָה f (arukhá): meals
  • aronótnouninferredWiktionary ↗
    plural indefinite form of אָרוֹן (arón): closets, cabinets

Arabic

ar · 1 lemma

Ge'ez

gez · 1 lemma
  • ʾärwenouninferredWiktionary ↗
    wild animal, beast
    Inherited from Proto-Semitic *ʔarway-. Cognate with Hebrew אריה (“lion”), Amharic አውሬ (ʾäwre, “wild beast”), Ugaritic 𐎀𐎗𐎆 (ảrw, “lion”).

Related rootsshare 2 of 3 consonants with ʾ-r-w

Compare two languages side-by-side