*ḥyw: 'snake, serpent'

Root

FieldValue
Reconstruction*ḥyw
Meaning'snake, serpent'
Basisproject

Reflexes

LanguageFormSourcesNote
Arabicḥayyat 'a serpent', of the male and the female; ḥayyūt 'the male serpent' (Lane 681)Lane 681
Syrian Aramaicḥewyā, pl. ḥawwātā (Payne Smith 131; HALOT 296)Payne Smith 131; HALOT 296gloss withheld
Judaic Aramaicḥiwyā (HALOT 296)HALOT 296gloss withheld
Mandaic Aramaicḥewyā (HALOT 296)HALOT 296gloss withheld
AramaicOArm. ḥwh (DNWSI 353 apud Kogan 2015, ch. 6 §4 no. 6)DNWSI 353; Kogan 2015 ch. 6 §4 no. 6gloss withheld
Tigreḥewāy (Wb. 90b apud HALOT 296)Wb. 90b; HALOT 296gloss withheld

A form keeps its source's gloss only when the source is public domain or openly licensed.

Notes

Kogan 2015, ch. 6 §4 no. 6 joins Aramaic *ḥiwy- 'snake' to Arabic ḥayyat- and derives both from *ḥyw 'to live', with an original sense 'animal' (252 *ḥay(aw)- 'animal'; 2760 *ḥayy- 'to live'). Lane 679 and 681 report derivations from taḥawwā 'it coiled itself' and from ḥayāt 'life'. HALOT 296 lists the snake words, with the Sabaic personal name ḥwym, among the proposed etymologies of Hebrew ḥawwā 'Eve' (Gn 3:20), beside the Punic divine name ḥwt, 'Ḥawwot, goddess ruler of the dead' (Krahmalkov 180; KAI 89). Not 3623 *ḥwy 'tent village' or 1793 *hVwVy- 'kind of worm, snake'.

Updated 26 October 2026

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Linear A Lexicon