Hebrew language for readers of english

[[pg-iv]] ERNEST KLEIN
A COMPREHENSIVE

ETYMOLOGICAL DICTIONARY

OF THE

HEBREW LANGUAGE

FOR READERS OF ENGLISH

foreword by

haim rabin

the hebrew university of jerusalem

carta jerusalem

the university of haifa

[[pg-v]]Copyright © 1987 by The Beatrice & Arthur Minden Foundation & The University of Haifa

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Publisher.

CARTA, Jerusalem

E-mail: [e-mail]

Website: www.holyland-jerusalem.com

Editor: Baruch Sarel

Produced by Carta, Jerusalem

Printed in Israel

ISBN 965-220-093-X

[[pg-vi]] To the Beloved Memory

of Arthur Minden

By his wife Beatrice

[[pg-vii]] preface

I first met Rabbi Dr. Klein in 1974 through Beatrice Minden, wife of the late Arthur Minden. Mrs. Minden, wishing to continue her husband’s legacy, decided to sponsor the publication of Dr. Klein’s manuscript of the Hebrew Etymological Dictionary. She arranged for acquisition of the manuscript and its transfer to the University of Haifa for editing and finally publication.

It was thanks to the warm and generous support and sponsorship of Arthur Minden that Dr. Klein was able to devote the last ten years of his life to this monumental work. Arthur Minden also ensured the publication of Dr. Klein’s earlier book, entitled A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language.

We are grateful to Beatrice Minden for her perseverance and support of the publication of this work.

Morris A. Gross, Q.C., Donald Carr, Q.C., and Harvey A. Shapiro have all generously given their time and skills in solving the complicated legal aspects of the project.

Most generous and gracious assistance was given by Reverend James A. Lord of Hamilton, Ontario, a dear friend to Dr. Klein.

Professor Aharon Dolgopolsky of the University of Haifa, and then Mr. Dov Benhorin, each undertook the difficult task of editing Dr. Klein’s manuscript.

Eventually it was Mr. Baruch Sarel, prominent editor and translator who most ably adapted the handwritten manuscript, edited it and prepared it for press. Mr. Sarel also added over 2500 entries, mainly newly coined words and some older words which had not appeared in the original manuscript.

Mr. Ariel Vardi, one of Israel’s foremost typographers, designed the book and aided us in solving the many computer related problems inherent in any work combining different languages, particularly in this case where English and Hebrew read in opposite directions.

We are especially grateful to Professor Haim Rabin of the Hebrew University and the Hebrew Language Academy. This eminent philologist gave unstintingly of his time and knowledge and provided the foreword for the book as well.

There are others not mentioned by name to whom we are indebted for their valuable help in all phases of the production of this important reference work.

To all, we express our deep appreciation.

Moshe Konés

Jerusalem, January 1987

[[pg-ix]] Even before a word is on my tongue, Lo, O Lord thou knowest it altogether

psalms 139:4

introduction

Ernest David Klein (1899–1983) the son of a rabbi, was born at Szatmar (Satu Mare) in Transylvania, which is now in a corner of Romania between Hungary and the Soviet Ukraine. The town changed hands several times during Klein’s lifetime: from his birth until he was nineteen it was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, where many languages were spoken, often several in one locality. Living in such a multilingual atmosphere may well have stirred his interest in languages and in their interrelationships. His formal education increased his knowledge of languages: for his Jewish education he needed to read Hebrew and Aramaic, and in school, apart from German, he studied Latin and Greek — both indispensable to an etymologist, and which he put to good use when later, in Toronto, he composed his etymological dictionary of medical terms (unpublished).

In 1920, Klein passed the examination required for becoming a rabbi, and five years later obtained his doctorate in Semitic and Romance languages at the University of Vienna. With the languages he picked up in his later migrations, he is said to have had a working knowledge of forty languages altogether.

From 1931 to 44 he was rabbi at Nove Zamky, then a Hungarian-speaking town in the Slovak eastern part of what is now Czechoslovakia. He survived the death camps of Auschwitz and Dachau, and, after the war, officiated briefly as rabbi in his home town in Romania, and in Paris. From 1951 he lived in Toronto, where he was the spiritual head of a community of Hungarian-speaking immigrants, and lived in the same building as his synagogue. In the large single-roomed attic he kept his books and compiled his three etymological dictionaries.

Since early times, humanity has tried to find out why things are called by the words that denote them; the Hebrew Bible offers quite a few instances, e.g. Genesis 2:23. The Greeks called this: finding the true meaning of the word, “true” being etymos, literally “that which is”, and “etymology” meant originally “using words in their true sense”. This “truth” was found by deriving existing words from other words, in the same or in another language. The first known systematic attempt to use such connections not for speculation as to the true nature of things, but in order to discover the meanings of words, was made by Jewish scholars in North Africa, Spain, and later in Southern France, between 900 and 1350 C.E. They deduced the meanings of difficult Biblical words from corresponding words in Arabic and Aramaic, applying rules for which consonants in one language corresponded to a given consonant in another. In the 18th century the same methods were employed by Dutch and German Christian scholars in Biblical research. The first full dictionary to the Bible on etymological principles was [[pg-x]] that of Wilhelm Gesenius in 1810–12. By then an important process in linguistic science had begun: the discovery of exact “laws” which connected sounds in languages belonging to the same “family”, thus providing a safe scientific basis for etymological dictionaries (as opposed to bilingual dictionaries occasionally employing etymology). Etymological dictionaries were published for many of the languages of Europe, which resulted in increasing attention being paid not only to the sound-laws, but also to the establishment of rules as to which differences in meaning were admissible in comparing words. By the end of the 19th century a discipline of historical semantics had been established, which classified known changes of meaning. A great deal of research had also been done in that period on the processes of borrowing words and imitating the meaning or formation of words from other languages. Etymological dictionaries mostly list both “cognate” words of common origin and borrowed words.

The listing of etymologies and their use for establishing meanings was taken over by the first major dictionary of Hebrew throughout all periods, Thesaurus Totius Hebraitatis (Millon ha-lashon ha-ivrit) by Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, which began to appear in 1908, as well as by the later major dictionaries, particularly that by Even-Shoshan. Klein’s is the first etymological dictionary in the proper sense of Hebrew as a totality, comprising both the vocabulary current in present-day Hebrew — which includes a large percentage of Biblical, Mishnaic and Rabbinic, as well as medieval words used in earlier periods but not current in today’s usage. It applies the sound-laws with greater strictness and discusses cases where there are doubts or where more than one etymology has been suggested.

Before embarking upon the present Hebrew dictionary, Rabbi Klein completed and published in 1966 his Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language (Elsevier Publishing Co., Amsterdam, London, New York). His main innovation, in comparison with other English etymological dictionaries, was that with regard to borrowed words, he not only indicated from which words in which language they were borrowed, but also provided, as far as possible, the etymology of that word within its own background. For this reason the Comprehensive Dictionary includes a fair number of etymologies of Hebrew words. The same principle is followed in his Hebrew etymology dictionary, where the “native” etymologies of English and other words borrowed by Hebrew are given.

The English Etymological Dictionary was well received by the public, and there followed at least one further printing. In Canada Klein was rewarded for his success with the prestigious “Order of Canada” and two honorary doctorates from Canadian universities.

H. Rabin

[[pg-xi]] NOTES ON USAGE

Basic form

Each entry is presented in its basic form:

noun — given in singular form (plural forms are added only when they are irregular); adjective — given in masculine singular (except in cases where a different form is used for feminine, plural or feminine plural;

particles — given without affixes;

verb — the root is given first, followed by all existing variations (each conjugation is represented in the third person singular, past tense).

Spelling

Entries appear in traditional, accepted spelling. In some cases the author has given a reasoned opinion which contradicts the accepted form. In words accented on the penultimate syllable, the stress mark is given below the accented letter. Homonyms are given as separate entries, distinguished by consecutive Roman numerals.

Structure

Each entry begins with the Hebrew word under discussion. It is followed by the part-of-speech or the linguistic stratum from which it stems. (See below.) The various meanings of the word are numbered consecutively. The etymological information is given in square brackets, followed by the derivatives, the majority of which appear as separate entries in the dictionary.

Linguistic strata are indicated as follows:

Biblical — no indication;

Post Biblical Hebrew — PBH;

Medieval Hebrew — MH;

New Hebrew — NH;

Foreign Word — FW.

Regular brackets have three uses, apparent from their context: explanation, field, discipline or status, and translation (always with an equal sign =).

The author has made great efforts to present each term with a concise clear and specific translation. In transposing from language to language, particularly from Hebrew to English which are so different from one another, it is not always possible to find a suitable parallel. Where the author insisted on a more exact meaning, he translated literally even if the resulting form is unfamiliar in that particular context. Such words, however, are easily understood.

[[pg-xii]]TRANSLITERATION RULES

transliteration of semitic words

The transliteration rules of Semitic words in this dictionary follow that of Hebrew and Arabic given below. The accent in Semitic words (with the exception of the languages, for which the laws of accentuation are not known), is indicated by the usual accent mark placed over the vowel of the accented syllable.

transliteration of hebrew

Form of the Letter	Its Name	Its Transliteration	Its Sounds
א	ā́leph	Not rendered at the beginning or the end of a word; otherwise marked by ’.	Orig. the glottal stop. Now silent in the middle of words if it has no vowel; otherwise it is pronounced according to the accompanying vowel sign.
בּ	bēth	b	b
ב	bhēth	bh	bh, v
גּ	gimél	g	Pronounced like g in get.
ג	ghimél	gh	Orig. pronounced—with a slight aspiration of the sound—like gh; now pronounced like g in get.
דּ	dā́leth	d	d
ד	dhā́leth	dh	Orig. pronounced like th in this; now pronounced d
ה	hē	h	h
ו	wāw	w	w
ז	zā́yin	z	z
ח	chēth	ḥ	Pronounced like ch in Scot. loch
ט	ṭēth	ṭ	An emphatic t
י	yōdh	y	y
כּ; ךּ at the end of a word	kaph	k	k
כ; ך at the end of a word	khaph	kh	kh
ל	lā́madh	l	l
מ; ם at the end of a word	mēm	m	m
נ; ן at the end of a word	nūn	n	n
ס	sā́mekh	s	s
ע	‘āyin	‘	A strong guttural sound; now usually treated in the pronunciation like an aleph
[[pg-xiii]] פּ	pē	p	p
פ; ף at the end of a word	phē	ph	f
צ; ץ at the end of a word	tzādhḗ or ṣādhḗ	tz	tz; occasionally pronounced like an emphatic s (- ṣ)
ק	kōph	q	an emphatic k
ר	rēsh	r	r
שׁ	shin	sh, s̆	sh
שׂ	śīn	ś	s
תּ	tāw or tāv	t	t
ת	thāw or thāv	th	Orig. pronounced like th in thing; now pronounced like t.

vowel signs used with hebrew characters

Vowel Form

Sign Name

Transliteration

Sound

A) Long Vowels

ָ

qāmā́tz gādhṓl

ā

like a in far

ֵ

tzēré

ē

like ai in rain

י.

ḥirī́q gādhṓl

ī

like i in machine

וֹ

ḥōlā́m

ō

like o in fork

וּ

shūrū́q

ū

like u in true

B) Short Vowels

ַ

pattā́ḥ

a

like a in far

ֶ

seghōl

e

like e in them

ִ

ḥirī́q qāṭā́n

i

like i in pin

ׇ

qāmā́tz qāṭā́n

o

like o in gone

ֻ

qubbū́tz

u

like u in put

C) Half Vowels

ְ

schwā́ (nā‘)

ē

like e in agent

ֲ

hạtā́ph pattā́ḥ

a

like a very short pattāḥ

ֱ

ḥātā́ph seghōl

e

like a very short seghōl

ֳ

ḥātā́ph qāmā́tz

o

like a very short qāmātz qātān

A point in the middle of a consonant, called dāghḗsh ḥāzā́q (daghesh forte, ‘strong daghesh’), strengthens (i.e. doubles) the consonant. It is marked by the doubling of the respective consonant.

The sign dāghḗsh qal (daghesh lene = ‘light daghesh’), which is formally identical with the sign of the dāghḗsh hāzā́q, is used with the letters ת, פ, כ, ד, ג, ב, to indicate their original hard pronunciation. In this Dictionary תּ, פּ, כּ, דּ, גּ, בּ, are transliterated b, g, d, k, p, t, whereas ת, פ, כ, ד, ג, ב, are rendered by bh, gh, dh, kh, ph, th.

[[pg-xiv]]TRANSLITERATION OF ARABIC

Form of the Letter
Its Name
Its Transliteration
Its Sound
ا
álif
Marked by ’ at the beginning of a word or when it is provided with hamza; otherwise rendered by a macron.
The glottal stop
ب
bā’
b
b
ت
tā’
t
t
ث
thā’
th
(like th in English thing)
ج
jim
j
j
ح
ḥā’
ḥ
(a sharp guttural aspirate; pronounced like a strong h with friction sound)
خ
khā’
ḫ, kh
(like ch in Scot. loch)
د
dāl
d
d
ذ
dhāl
dh
(like th in English this)
ر
rā’
r
r
ز
zāy
z
z
س
sin
s
s
ش
shīn
sh
sh
ص
ṣād
ṣ
an emphatic s; pronounced like ss in English hiss
ض
ḍād

palatal d

ط
ṭā’
ṭ
an emphatic t
ظ
ẓā’
ẓ
an emphatic z
ع
‘ayn
‘
a strong guttural sound; cp. Heb. ע
غ
ghayn
gh
a guttural, gargling sound
ف
fā’
f
f
ق
qāf
q
an emphatic k
ك
kāf
k
k
ل
lām
l
l
م
mīm
m
m
ن
nūn
n
n
ه
hā’
h
h
و
wāw
w
w
ى
yā’
y
y
[[pg-xv]]vowel signs used with arabic characters

Vowel Sign	Its Name	Its Transliteration	Its Sound
A) Short Vowels
َ	fátḥa^h	a	Pronounced like a in wan.
ِ	kásra^h	i	Pronounced like i in pin.
ُ	ḍámma^h	u	Pronounced like u in put.
B) Long Vowels
ا		ā	Pronounced like a in father.
ى		ī	Pronounced like i in machine.
ر		ū	Pronounced like u in rule.

orthographic signs

ς hámza^h. (sign of the glottal stop)

ω tashdī́d. It marks the doubling of a consonant. It is disregarded in the case of a ى after an i. The assimilation of the ل (in the def. art. ال) to the so-called solar letters is not taken into consideration (as e.g. in aldea, Aldebaran, Altair), unless this assimilation appears also in the European (in most cases Spanish or Portuguese) loan word itself (as in arrope, atalaya).

TRANSLITERATION OF GREEK

Form of the Letter	Its Name	Its Transliteration
Α α	Alpha	A
Β β	Beta	B
Γ γ	Gamma	G
Δ δ	Delta	D
Ε ε	Epsilon	short E
Ϝ	Digamma	(lost)
Ζ ζ	Zēta	Z
Η η	Ēta	long E
Θ θ	Thēta	TH
Ι ι	Iōta	I
Κ κ	Kappa	C or K
Λ λ	Lambda	L
Μ μ	Mu	M
Ν ν	Nu	N
Ξ ξ	Xi	X
Ο ο	Omīcron	short O
Π π	Pi	P
Ρ ρ	Rho	R (Rh initially)
Σ (Ϲ) σ or s	Sigma	S
Τ τ	Tau	T
Υ υ	Upsilon	Y or U
Φ φ	Phi	PH
Χ χ	Chi	CH
Ψ ψ	Psi	PS
Ω ω	Omĕga	long O

[[pg-xvi]]SYMBOLS USED IN THIS DICTIONARY

The mark called macron ( ̄) is placed over a vowel to show that it is long.

The mark called breve ( ̆) is placed over a vowel to show that it is short.

The mark ’ after a consonant in the Slavonic languages indicates palatalization.

The mark - after a syllable or a group of syllables (as in anti-) indicates that this syllable or group of syllables is a prefix.

The mark - before a syllable or a group of syllables (as in -ation) indicates that this syllable or group of syllables is a suffix.

The mark □ after a syllable or a group of syllables in Hebrew (as in מִ □) indicates that this syllable or group of syllables is a prefix.

The mark □ before a syllable or a group of syllables in Hebrew (as in □יוּת) indicates that this syllable or group of syllables is a suffix.

The mark called ‘metheg’ in Hebrew (□ֽ) is placed under the letter stressed in penultimate accented syllables.

Square brackets | | denote the etymological part of the entry.

All other marks are used here in the accepted sense or are self-explanatory.

NAMES OF AUTHORS, BOOKS AND JOURNALS FREQUENTLY REFERRED TO IN THIS DICTIONARY

Aharoni: Osiris

Barth, Jakob: Etymologische Studien zum Semitischen, insbesondere zum hebräischen Lexicon, Berlin, 1893.

(—): Die Nominalbildung in den semitischen Sprachen, Leipzig, 1889–91.

(—): Wurzeluntersuchungen zum hebräischen und aramäischen Lexicon, Berlin, 1901.

(—): ZA

Baudissin: (in ZDMG)

Ben Yehudah, Eliezer: Dictionary and Thesaurus of the Hebrew Language.

Brockelmann, Karl: Grundriss der vergleichenden Grammatik der semitischen Sprachen, Berlin, 1907–13.

Brown, Driver & Briggs: (in HEL)

CEDEL: A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, by Dr. E. Klein.

Dalman: Grammatik des jüdisch-palaestinischen Aramäisch, 1894.

Delitzsch: The Hebrew Language.

(—): Beiträge zur Assyrologie und semitischen Sprachwissenschaft.

(—): Prolegomena eines neuen hebräisch-aramäischen Wörterbuchs zum Alten Testament, Leipzig, 1886.

Dillmann, August: Lexicon Linguae Aethiopicaecum indice latino.

Even-Shoshan, A.: המלון החדשׁ.

Ewald, Heinrich: (LHS) Ausführliches Lehrbuch der hebräischen Sprache des Alten Bundes, Leipzig, 1855.

Fleischer, Heinrich Leberecht: (in his additions to Levy’s WBTM)

Frankel, Siegmund: Die aramäischen Fremdwörter im Arabischen, Leiden, 1886.

Freytag: Lexicon Arab-Latinum.

Frisk, Hjalmar: Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, BD I–III 1960.

Geiger, Abraham: Urschrift und Übersetzungen der Bibel, Breslau, 1857.

Gerber, W.J.: Die hebräischen Verba denominativa, inbesondere im theologischen Sprachgebrauch des Alten Testamentes, Leipzig, 1896.

Gesenius-Buhl: Hebräisches und Aramäisches Wörterbuch über das Alte Testament, bearbeitet von Dr. Franz Buhl.

Haupt, Paul: (in ZDMG)

HEL: The Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, based on the Lexicon of W. Gesenius, By F. Brown, S.R. Driver and C.A. Briggs.

[[pg-xvii]]Hoffmann, David: Über einige phönizische Inschristen.

Jastrow: A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli etc., 1905.

Kautzsch: Grammatik des Biblisch-Aramäischen, Leipzig, 1884.

(—): Die Aramismen im Alten Testament, Halle, 1902.

Koehler-Baumgartner: Lexicon in veteris Testamenti Libros, 1958.

König, Eduard: Historisch-kritisches Lehrgebäude der hebräischen Sprache, BD. I-3, Leipzig, 1881–1897.

Kraus, Samuel: Griechische und lateinische Lehnwörter in Talmud, Midrasch und Targum, Berlin, 1898–1899.

Lagarde, Paul Anton de: (GA) Gesammelte Abhandlungen, 1866.

(—): in Orientalia, Heft 2: Semitica, Göttingen, 1879.

(—): Übersicht über die im Aramäischen, Arabischen und Hebräischen übliche Bildung der Nomina, Göttingen, 1889.

Levy, Jacob: Wörterbuch über die Talmudim und Midrashim, Leipzig, 1881.

Lewy, Heinrich: Die semitischen Fremdwörter im Griechischen, Berlin, 1895.

Löw, Immanuel: Die Flora der Juden, 1924.

Mayrhofer: Etymological Sanskrit Dictionary.

Meyer, Eduard: Die Israeliten und ihre Nachbarstämme, Halle, 1906.

Nöldeke: Neue Beiträge, zur semitischen Sprachwissenschaft, Straßburg, 1910.

(—): (in ZDMG)

Olshausen: Lehrbuch der hebräischen Sprache, Braunschweig, 1861.

Perles, Joseph: Etymologische Studien, zur Kunde der rabbinischen Sprache und Altertümer, Breslau, 1871.

Rožička, Rudolf: Konsonantische Dissimilation in den semitischen Sprachen, Leipzig, 1909.

Schwally: (in ZDMG)

(—): Idioticon des christlichpalästinischen Aramäisch, 1893.

Segal M.H.: (MH) A Grammar of Mishnaic Hebrew, Oxford, 1927.

Socin, Albert: Arabische Grammatik, 1904.

Vollers: (in ZA)

Wagner, Jakob H.: Aramismen.

ZA: Zeitschtrift für Assyrologie und verwandte Gebiete.

ZDMG: Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenländischen Gesellschaft.

[[pg-xviii]]abbreviations

abbr. abbreviation, abbreviated

abs. absolute (grammar)

act. active

adj. adjective

adv. adverb

Akka. Akkadian

Am. Amos (book of the Bible)

Arab. Arabic

Aram. Aramaic

art. article (grammar)

attrib. attributive (grammar)

auxil. auxiliary (grammar)

BAram. Biblical Aramaic

BH Biblical Hebrew

Cant. Canticles (book of the Bible)

CEDEL Klein’s Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language

Chron. Chronicles (book of the Bible)

Chr.-Pal. Christian Palestinian Aramaic

cogn. cognate (linguistically)

coll. collective, collectively

colloq. colloquial

comp. comparative (grammar)

conj. conjunction

copul. copulative (grammar)

corrupt. corruption (linguistically)

cp. compare

c. st. construct state (grammar)

Dan. Daniel (book of the Bible)

def. definite (grammar)

Deut. Deuteronomy (book of the Bible)

dial. dialect, dialectical

dimin. diminutive

Eccles. Ecclesiastes (book of the Bible)

e.g. exempligratia (= for example)

Egypt. Egyptian

Eng. English

esp. especially

Est. Esther (book of the Bible)

etc. etcetera (= and the others)

Ethiop. Ethiopian

euphem. euphemistically

Ex. Exodus (book of the Bible)

Ez. Ezra (book of the Bible)

Ezek. Ezekiel (book of the Bible)

f. feminine (grammar)

fig. figurative

Fren. French

fut. future

FW foreign word, foreign element

Gen. Genesis (book of the Bible)

gen. genitive

Ger. German

Gk. Greek

Hab. Habakkuk (book of the Bible)

Hag. Haggai (book of the Bible)

Heb. Hebrew

Hiph. Hiph‘īl (Hebrew grammar)

Hish. Hishstaph‘ēl (Hebrew grammar)

Hith. Hithpa‘ēl (Hebrew grammar)

Hithpalp. Hithpalpel (Hebrew grammar)

Hithpol. Hithpol‘ēl (Hebrew grammar)

Hitt. Hittite

Hoph. Hoph‘āl (Hebrew grammar)

Hos. Hosea (book of the Bible)

Hoth. Hothpu‘āl (Hebrew grammar)

I. Indian

IE Indo-European

i.e. id est (= which is to say)

imit. imitative (linguistically)

imper. imperative (grammar)

imperf. imperfect (grammar)

indef. art. indefinite article (grammar)

inf. infinitive (grammar)

instr. instrumental

interj. interjection (grammar)

interr. interrogative (grammar)

intr. intransitive (grammar)

Is. Isaiah (book of the Bible)

It. Italian

JAram. Jewish Palestinian Aramaic

Jer. Jeremiah (book of the Bible)

Job (book of the Bible)

Joel (book of the Bible)

Jon. Jonah (book of the Bible)

Josh. Joshua (book of the Bible)

Jud. Judges (book of the Bible)

Kin. Kings (book of the Bible)

L. Latin

Lam. Lamentations (book of the Bible)

Lev. Leviticus (book of the Bible)

lit. literal, literally

m. masculine (grammar)

Mal. Malachi (book of the Bible)

Mand. Mandaen, Mandaic

Med. Medieval

metath. metathesis (linguistics)

MH Medieval Hebrew

Micah (book of the Bible)

Moab. Moabite

[[pg-xix]]n. noun

Nab. Nabatean

Nah. Nahum (book of the Bible)

NArab. North Arabic

Neh. Nehemiah (book of the Bible)

neut. neuter (grammar)

NH New Hebrew

Niph. Niph‘āl (Hebrew grammar)

Nith. Nithpa‘ēl (Hebrew grammar)

NT New Testament

Num. Numbers (book of the Bible)

OAram. Old Aramaic

Oba. Obadiah (book of the Bible)

obs. obsolete (linguistically)

orig. original, originally

OSArab. Old South Arabic

p. past

Pa. Pa‘el (Hebrew grammar)

Palm. Palmyra, Palmyrene