# \*ḥyw: 'snake, serpent' > Proto-Semitic *ḥyw, 'snake, serpent': reflexes in 6 language(s). A page of the Linear A Lexicon's research wiki, in [Wiki]() › [Kaphtor Semitic Roots]() › [ḥ](). Updated 2026-10-26. ## Root | Field | Value | |---|---| | Reconstruction | \*ḥyw | | Meaning | 'snake, serpent' | | Basis | project | ## Reflexes | Language | Form | Sources | Note | |---|---|---|---| | Arabic | ḥayyat 'a serpent', of the male and the female; ḥayyūt 'the male serpent' (Lane 681) | Lane 681 | | | Syrian Aramaic | ḥewyā, pl. ḥawwātā (Payne Smith 131; HALOT 296) | Payne Smith 131; HALOT 296 | gloss withheld | | Judaic Aramaic | ḥiwyā (HALOT 296) | HALOT 296 | gloss withheld | | Mandaic Aramaic | ḥewyā (HALOT 296) | HALOT 296 | gloss withheld | | Aramaic | OArm. ḥwh (DNWSI 353 apud Kogan 2015, ch. 6 §4 no. 6) | DNWSI 353; Kogan 2015 ch. 6 §4 no. 6 | gloss withheld | | Tigre | ḥewāy (Wb. 90b apud HALOT 296) | Wb. 90b; HALOT 296 | gloss 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'. ## Linked from - [ḥ]() --- Page: https://linear-a.ai/wiki/semitic-roots/het/3688_snake_serpent/ Licence: CC BY 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Cite as: di Mino, Tom. 2026. Linear A Lexicon. Plasma AI. https://linear-a.ai/. Data: kaphtor, commit add28e94.