z y t
17 lemmas · 9 languages
hollow (II-weak)Middle consonant is w or y. The vowel contracts in the perfect (q-w-l → qāla 'said'), producing a 'hollow' surface. Known as mediae infirmae.📜 Job.15.33
Themes:oil· زَيْت · שֶׁמֶן·11olive· زَيْتُون · זַיִת·4tree· شَجَرَة · עֵץ·3fruit· فَاكِهَة · פְּרִי·2letter· رِسَالَة · מִכְתָּב·2
POS shape:noun·9verb·6adv·1adj·1
This root is attested across 9 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
*z-w-tProto-Semitic
West Semitic
Central Semitic
Northwest Semitic
Canaanite
Hebrewזֵיתָאז י ת— zeta (the sixth letter of the modern Greek alphabet (Ζ, ζ) preceded by epsilon (Ε, ε) and followed by eta, (Η, η); or the seventh letter in the ancient Greek alphabet, in which it is preceded by digamma (Ϝ, ϝ))
Phoenician𐤆𐤉𐤕𐤆 𐤉 𐤕— either olives or their oil
Aramaic
Imperial Aramaicזיתאז י ת— olive
Syriacܙܝܬܐܙ ܝ ܬ— olive (tree and fruit)
Assyrian NAܙܲܝܬܵܐܙ ܝ ܬ— olive (tree and fruit)
Arabic
Arabicزَيْتز ي ت— oil (all types of oil, edible, fuel, motor oil, etc.)
South Semitic
Ethio-Semitic
Ge'ezዘይትዘ የ ተ— olive tree
Amharicዘይትዘ የ ተ— oil
Tigrinyaዘይቲዘ የ ተ— oil
Branch structure: Huehnergard (2005), Rubin (2010). The reconstructed Proto-Semitic form is computed on the fly from the cognate set's majority reflex pattern.
Phoenician
irregular reflexphn · 1 lemma- either olives or their oil
Imperial Aramaic
arc · 1 lemma- olive
Classical Syriac
syc · 1 lemma- olive (tree and fruit)Compare Arabic زَيْت (zayt) and Hebrew זַיִת (záyiṯ).
▸ 5 derivations
- derivedܒܝܬ ܙܝܬܐ
- derivedܙܝܬܐ ܕܒܪܐ
- derivedܙܝܬܐ ܛܒܐ
- derivedܙܝܬܐ ܕܫܝܢܐ
- derivedܡܝ ܙܝܬܐ
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic
aii · 1 lemma- olive (tree and fruit)Inherited from Aramaic זַיְתָא (zaytā); compare Arabic زَيْت (zayt, “oil”), Hebrew זַיִת (záyit, “olive”) and Ugaritic 𐎇𐎚𐎎 (ztm).
▸ 3 derivations
- derivedܙܲܝܬܘܿܢܵܐzaytōnā
- derivedܛܘܼܪܵܐ ܕܙܲܝ̈ܬܹܐṭūrā d-zaytē
- derivedܡܫܸܚ ܙܲܝ̈ܬܹܐmšiḥ zaytē
Hebrew
he · 2 lemmas- zeta (the sixth letter of the modern Greek alphabet (Ζ, ζ) preceded by epsilon (Ε, ε) and followed by eta, (Η, η); or the seventh letter in the ancient Greek alphabet, in which it is preceded by digamma (Ϝ, ϝ))
- little, small amount, small portionכְּ־ (k'-, “like”) + זַּיִת (záyit, “an olive”)
Arabic
ar · 8 lemmas- oil (all types of oil, edible, fuel, motor oil, etc.)A culture word borrowed from Aramaic זיתא / ܙܝܬܐ (zaytā).
- to oil, to lubricate, to greaseDenominal verb derived from زَيْت (zayt, “oil”).
- oily, oil, oil-bearing (pertains to all types of oil, edible, fuel, motor oil, etc.)From زَيْت (zayt, “oil”).
Ge'ez
gez · 1 lemma- olive treeA culture word borrowed from Aramaic זיתא / ܙܝܬܐ (zaytā). According to Leslau it reached Geʿez through Arabic زَيْت (zayt).
Amharic
am · 1 lemma- oilA culture word borrowed from Aramaic זיתא / ܙܝܬܐ (zaytā).
Tigrinya
ti · 1 lemma- oil