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l b n

32 lemmas · 10 languages
soundAll three consonants are regular📜 Gen.30.37
Themes:lebanese·7lebanon·5brick·5white· أَبْيَض · לָבָן·4styrax·4
POS shape:noun·17adj·5verb·5name·4adjective·1

This root is attested across 10 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

*l-b-nProto-Semitic
West Semitic
Central Semitic
Northwest Semitic
Ugaritic𐎍𐎁𐎐𐎍 𐎁 𐎐— white
Canaanite
Hebrewלָבָןל ב ן— white (color)
Phoenician𐤋𐤁𐤍𐤋 𐤁 𐤍— white
Punic𐤋𐤁𐤍𐤋 𐤁 𐤍— white
Aramaic
Imperial Aramaicלבנתאל ב נ— brick, adobe
Syriacܠܒܢܠ ܒ ܢ— Laban
Assyrian NAܠܒ݂ܸܢ݇ܬܵܐܠ ܒ ܢ— brick (hardened block used for building)
Arabic
Arabicلَبَنل ب ن— milk
South Semitic
Ethio-Semitic
Ge'ezልብንለ በ ነ— storax (Styrax officinalis, in particular the resin thereof)
Amharicልብንለ በ ነ— storax (Styrax officinalis), in particular the resin thereof)

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 · 3 lemmas
  • lbnadjinferredWiktionary ↗
    white
    From Proto-West Semitic *laban-.
  • lbnnnameinferredWiktionary ↗
    Lebanon (a country in West Asia in the Middle East)
  • lbntnouninferredWiktionary ↗
    brick
    Compare Hebrew לְבֵנָה (ləḇēnā), Arabic لَبِنَة (labina).

Phoenician

irregular reflexphn · 1 lemma

Punic

irregular reflexpun · 2 lemmas

Imperial Aramaic

arc · 1 lemma
  • lbenttānouninferred𐡀 tg. Onk. Gen 11:3Wiktionary ↗
    brick, adobe

Classical Syriac

syc · 1 lemma
  • lābānnameinferredWiktionary ↗
    Laban
    From Proto-West Semitic *laban- (“white”), compare Biblical Hebrew לָבָן

Assyrian Neo-Aramaic

aii · 6 lemmas
  • lḇittānounattestedWiktionary ↗
    brick (hardened block used for building)
    From Aramaic לְבֵנְתָא (ləḇennəṯā); compare Akkadian 𒋞 (libittu [SIG₄]), Arabic لَبِنَة (labina) and Hebrew לְבֵנָה (l'véna).
  • liḇnānnameinferredWiktionary ↗
    Lebanon (a country in Asia; official name: Lebanese Republic)
    Learned borrowing from Classical Syriac and ultimately from Proto-West Semitic *laban- (“white”). Compare Modern Hebrew לְבָנוֹן (l'vanón) and Arabic لُبْنَان (lubnān).
    ▸ 1 derivation
  • liḇnānāyāadjinferredWiktionary ↗
    Lebanese (of, from, or pertaining to Lebanon, the Lebanese culture or Lebanese people)
    From ܠܸܒ݂ܢܵܢ (liḇnān, “Lebanon”) + -ܝܐ (-āyā, the attributive adjective ending).
  • liḇnānāyānouninferredWiktionary ↗
    Lebanon (A person from Lebanon or of Lebanese descent)
    From ܠܸܒ݂ܢܵܢ (liḇnān, “Lebanon”) + -ܝܐ (-āyā, the attributive adjective ending).
  • libnānāytāadjinferredWiktionary ↗
    feminine of ܠܸܒܢܵܢܵܝܵܐ (libnānāyā, “Lebanese”)
  • libnānāytānouninferredWiktionary ↗
    feminine of ܠܸܒܢܵܢܵܝܵܐ (libnānāyā, “Lebanese”)

Hebrew

he · 8 lemmas
  • lavánadjattested📜 Gen.24.29Wiktionary ↗
    white (color)
    From Proto-West Semitic *laban-. Cognate with Arabic لَبَن (laban, “milk”), Ugaritic 𐎍𐎁𐎐 (lbn), and Phoenician 𐤋𐤁𐤍 (lbn).
    ▸ 8 derivations
  • lóvennounattested📜 Gen.24.29Wiktionary ↗
    defective spelling of לובן
    From Proto-West Semitic *laban-. Cognate with Arabic لَبَن (laban, “milk”), Ugaritic 𐎍𐎁𐎐 (lbn), and Phoenician 𐤋𐤁𐤍 (lbn).
  • libénverbattested📜 Gen.24.29Wiktionary ↗
    defective spelling of ליבן
    From Proto-West Semitic *laban-. Cognate with Arabic لَبَن (laban, “milk”), Ugaritic 𐎍𐎁𐎐 (lbn), and Phoenician 𐤋𐤁𐤍 (lbn).
  • lubánverbattested📜 Gen.24.29Wiktionary ↗
    defective spelling of לובן
    From Proto-West Semitic *laban-. Cognate with Arabic لَبَن (laban, “milk”), Ugaritic 𐎍𐎁𐎐 (lbn), and Phoenician 𐤋𐤁𐤍 (lbn).
  • lavánnameattested📜 Gen.24.29Wiktionary ↗
    Laban
    From Proto-West Semitic *laban-. Cognate with Arabic لَبَن (laban, “milk”), Ugaritic 𐎍𐎁𐎐 (lbn), and Phoenician 𐤋𐤁𐤍 (lbn).
  • l'venánounattested📜 Gen.30.37Wiktionary ↗
    brick
  • livnénounattested📜 Gen.30.37Wiktionary ↗
    styrax
  • lubánverbattested📜 Gen.24.29Wiktionary ↗
    to be bleached, to be whitened

Arabic

ar · 8 lemmas
  • labannounattested☪︎ Q.16:66Wiktionary ↗
    milk
    From Proto-West Semitic *laban-.
  • libnnounattested☪︎ Q.16:66Wiktionary ↗
    bricks, adobes
    As Hebrew לְבֵנָה (ləḇenā́, “brick”) borrowed from Aramaic לְבִינְּתָּא (ləḇinṯā, ləḇittā) (written in Classical Syriac ܠܒܬܐ (ləḇettā)), from Akkadian 𒋞 (SIG₄ /⁠libittu⁠/), whence also Ugaritic 𐎍𐎁𐎐𐎚 (lbnt), from the root in Akkadian corresponding to ل ب ن (l b n), apparently the singulative in Arabic came first.
  • lubānnounattested☪︎ Q.16:66Wiktionary ↗
    olibanum, frankincense
  • labnanounattested☪︎ Q.16:66Wiktionary ↗
    labneh, labna, libna
  • lubnānounattested☪︎ Q.16:66Wiktionary ↗
    Styrax officinalis
  • labaniyyadjattested☪︎ Q.16:66Wiktionary ↗
    milky, milk-related, dairy
    لَبَن (laban, “milk”) + ـِيّ (-iyy).
  • iltabanaverbattested☪︎ Q.16:66Wiktionary ↗
    to suckle, to suck milk
  • labbanaverbinferred☪︎ Q.16:66Wiktionary ↗
    to make brick
    Denominal verb of لَبِن (labin, “brick”).

Ge'ez

gez · 1 lemma
  • ləbnnouninferredWiktionary ↗
    storax (Styrax officinalis, in particular the resin thereof)
    As this is an otherwise absent root in Ethiopian Semitic, a borrowing in the course of incense trade from Arabic لُبْنَى (lubnā) or Sabaean 𐩡𐩨𐩬𐩺 (lbny) of same meaning.

Amharic

am · 1 lemma
  • ləbnnouninferredWiktionary ↗
    storax (Styrax officinalis), in particular the resin thereof)
    Borrowed from Ge'ez ልብን (ləbn).

Related rootsshare 2 of 3 consonants with l-b-n

Compare two languages side-by-side

ug ↔ phnug ↔ punug ↔ arcug ↔ sycug ↔ aii