K-B-D
Encyclopedia
K-B-D is a triliteral Semitic root with the common meaning of to "be heavy", or less literally, "be important".
The basic noun formed from the root means "liver
", "interior", "soul" in most Semitic languages.
The root is K-B-D for West Semitic languages
and K-B-T for East Semitic languages
with both meaning "be heavy" or "be important". It is found in Akkadian
as K-B-T and in Amharic
, Amorite
, Arabic
, Hebrew
, Phoenician/Punic
and Ugaritic
as K-B-D.
among the Semitic languages. It can be used literally to denote the organ of the "liver
", or more figuratively to refer to the "interior of the body", which in Semitic psychology
is seen as being "the seat of human will and emotion
s." Therefore, in Akkadian, an East Semitic language which uses the kbt root instead, kabattu is used to denote the realm of "violent emotions" and "blind passions".
According to Wolfgang Heimpel in Letters to the King of Mari, the Babylonian
root kbt was vocalized as kbd in Mari
, and an adjectival derivation of the root appears in Mari inscriptions that record royal correspondences. Heimpel translated its meaning as "heavy", as in the following exceprt: "The troops are well. The tablets are heavy for the messengers whom Ibal-Pi-El is sending, and so my mail to you is not regular."
The K-B-D root is a constituent of personal names in many Semitic languages and are found in inscriptions of the Amorite
s, Ugarit
s, and Punics
. Scholars like J.C. de Moor and F. de Meyer have also claimed that kbd is used as the root for the name of a deity
, Kabidu.
's 'liver' with victory." The Ugaritic verb kbd means "to honour", "be weighty/honoured", or figuratively, "to make heavy", and encapsulates only the positive meaning of the word. Kbd is also used as an adjective in Ugaritic, meaning "heavy" or "valuable", and was used in administrative texts to describe quantities, whereby kbd "designates a heavier weight in conrast to the normal lighter weight."
376 times. Twice, its meaning is literally "heavy", as in the first book of Samuel
4:18, where Eli is said to be "heavy", and in second book of Samuel 14:2 where Absalom
's hair is described as "heavy". However, the dominant usage of the root throughout most of the text is "heavy", with a meaning negative in connotation. In Hebrew, the word for both heavy and liver is kaved (Hebrew
: כָּבֵד), following from its Semitic roots.
This negative usage of heavy in the Hebrew Bible
has been divided into three sub-groups. The first of these deals with the "insensitivity or dullness of the human body," so that, for example, in the book of Exodus, kbd is used to describe "the hardening of the Pharaoh
's" heart. The second subgroup involves the use of kbd to refer to a concept related to "severity", in terms of "work, slavery
, warfare, plague, or famine
," and is perhaps best translated in these cases as a transitive verb
, such as "burden", "weigh down" or "impede".
The hand of the Lord
, for example, is described as "heavy", as in the first book of Samuel 5:6 or in the Psalms
32:4. The third subgroup is one in which kbd is used negatively to refer to magnitude in size or numbers, such as in discussing the greatness of a sin, or the size of an army. For example, the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah
is described as very heavy.
The use of kbd as positive in connotation does also appear in the Hebrew Bible. In Genesis 13:2, Abraham
is described as very "heavy" in the context of his material wealth and importance and other figures to whom positive adjectives such as "heroic" or "glorious" are attached, are also described as kbd ("heavy"). Kbd is also used to refer to the "heaviness" of God
, and in this case it is most commonly translated as referring to his "glory
". God
's glory (kabhodh: Septuagint dóxa) was visible fire It is occasionally used also of the soul or spirit in man
Instead of using K-B-D, Aramaic
usually uses יקר yaqar, meaning "be heavy," and "be precious," which may have subsequently entered Hebrew as an Aramaic loanword. In Hebrew, Y-Q-R is found in the adjective yaqar (Hebrew
: יָקָר) meaning both dear and expensive, the noun yqar (Hebrew
: יְקָר) meaning honor and respect
and another noun, yoqer (Hebrew
: יֹקֶר) meaning expensiveness, one verb yaqar (Hebrew
: יָקַר) meaning to be appreciated and another verb yiqer (Hebrew
: יִקֵּר) meaning to make expensive.
In the Dead Sea Scrolls
, the usage of the root closely follows the biblical usage. Of the 30 occurrences of the root, 13 are of the nif'al participle ("those who are honored"), 10 are of the word meaning honor, though in addition there is one instance of the postbiblical meaning "sweep up, clean." In terms of its positive connotations the root is also found in this word for honour "kavod" (כָּבוֹד) which is found in the Hebrew expression Kol HaKavod (Hebrew
: כֹּל הַכָּבוֹד) meaning "all of the honour" and used to congratulate someone for a job well done. B'khavod (Hebrew
: בכבוד, "with honour") is the most common valediction used in Hebrew.
poem from central Arabia
, it is written that "clean, sweet water filled my entrails (after revenge was taken)." or in Jewish Liturgy "God scrutinizes the Entrails and Hearts [of men]"
In Arabic, the verb kabada itself is limited to its negative meaning of "oppress" and "endure". However, K-B-D shows instances of semantic overlap with the root K-B-R. So that in Arabic, for example, the verb kabura means to "be/become large", echoing the semantic meaning of the K-B-D root as used in other Semitic languages.
The basic noun formed from the root means "liver
Liver
The liver is a vital organ present in vertebrates and some other animals. It has a wide range of functions, including detoxification, protein synthesis, and production of biochemicals necessary for digestion...
", "interior", "soul" in most Semitic languages.
The root is K-B-D for West Semitic languages
West Semitic languages
The West Semitic languages are a proposed major sub-grouping of Semitic languages. One widely accepted analysis, supported by semiticists like Robert Hetzron and John Huehnergard, divides the Semitic language family into two branches: Eastern and Western. The former consists of the extinct Eblaite...
and K-B-T for East Semitic languages
East Semitic languages
The East Semitic languages are one of five fairly uncontroversial divisions of the Semitic languages, the others being Northwest Semitic, Arabian, South Arabian, and Ethiopic. The East Semitic group is attested by two distinct languages, Akkadian and Eblaite, both of which have been long extinct...
with both meaning "be heavy" or "be important". It is found in Akkadian
Akkadian language
Akkadian is an extinct Semitic language that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia. The earliest attested Semitic language, it used the cuneiform writing system derived ultimately from ancient Sumerian, an unrelated language isolate...
as K-B-T and in Amharic
Amharic language
Amharic is a Semitic language spoken in Ethiopia. It is the second most-spoken Semitic language in the world, after Arabic, and the official working language of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. Thus, it has official status and is used nationwide. Amharic is also the official or working...
, Amorite
Amorite language
Amorite is an early Northwest Semitic language, spoken by the Amorite tribes prominent in early Near Eastern history. It is known exclusively from non-Akkadian proper names recorded by Akkadian scribes during periods of Amorite rule in Babylonia , notably from Mari, and to a lesser extent Alalakh,...
, Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
, Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
, Phoenician/Punic
Punic language
The Punic language or Carthagian language is an extinct Semitic language formerly spoken in the Mediterranean region of North Africa and several Mediterranean islands, by people of the Punic culture.- Description :...
and Ugaritic
Ugaritic language
The following table shows Proto-Semitic phonemes and their correspondences among Ugaritic, Arabic and Tiberian Hebrew:-Grammar:Ugaritic is an inflected language, and as a Semitic language its grammatical features are highly similar to those found in Classical Arabic and Akkadian...
as K-B-D.
Roots and derivations
| Root: K-B-D or K-B-T meaning "heavy", "honour", "liver", "interior", "soul" | |||||||
| English | Akkadian Akkadian language Akkadian is an extinct Semitic language that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia. The earliest attested Semitic language, it used the cuneiform writing system derived ultimately from ancient Sumerian, an unrelated language isolate... (East Semitic East Semitic languages The East Semitic languages are one of five fairly uncontroversial divisions of the Semitic languages, the others being Northwest Semitic, Arabian, South Arabian, and Ethiopic. The East Semitic group is attested by two distinct languages, Akkadian and Eblaite, both of which have been long extinct... ) |
Proto-West-Semitic | Phoenician | Aramaic Aramaic language Aramaic is a group of languages belonging to the Afroasiatic language phylum. The name of the language is based on the name of Aram, an ancient region in central Syria. Within this family, Aramaic belongs to the Semitic family, and more specifically, is a part of the Northwest Semitic subfamily,... |
Syriac Syriac language Syriac is a dialect of Middle Aramaic that was once spoken across much of the Fertile Crescent. Having first appeared as a script in the 1st century AD after being spoken as an unwritten language for five centuries, Classical Syriac became a major literary language throughout the Middle East from... |
Hebrew Hebrew language Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such... |
Arabic Arabic language Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book... |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Root | |||||||
| Script | |
|
 - - |
 - - |
|
|
|
Origins
There is a wide range of uses for kbd as a nounNoun
In linguistics, a noun is a member of a large, open lexical category whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition .Lexical categories are defined in terms of how their members combine with other kinds of...
among the Semitic languages. It can be used literally to denote the organ of the "liver
Liver
The liver is a vital organ present in vertebrates and some other animals. It has a wide range of functions, including detoxification, protein synthesis, and production of biochemicals necessary for digestion...
", or more figuratively to refer to the "interior of the body", which in Semitic psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
is seen as being "the seat of human will and emotion
Emotion
Emotion is a complex psychophysiological experience of an individual's state of mind as interacting with biochemical and environmental influences. In humans, emotion fundamentally involves "physiological arousal, expressive behaviors, and conscious experience." Emotion is associated with mood,...
s." Therefore, in Akkadian, an East Semitic language which uses the kbt root instead, kabattu is used to denote the realm of "violent emotions" and "blind passions".
According to Wolfgang Heimpel in Letters to the King of Mari, the Babylonian
Akkadian language
Akkadian is an extinct Semitic language that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia. The earliest attested Semitic language, it used the cuneiform writing system derived ultimately from ancient Sumerian, an unrelated language isolate...
root kbt was vocalized as kbd in Mari
Mari, Syria
Mari was an ancient Sumerian and Amorite city, located 11 kilometers north-west of the modern town of Abu Kamal on the western bank of Euphrates river, some 120 km southeast of Deir ez-Zor, Syria...
, and an adjectival derivation of the root appears in Mari inscriptions that record royal correspondences. Heimpel translated its meaning as "heavy", as in the following exceprt: "The troops are well. The tablets are heavy for the messengers whom Ibal-Pi-El is sending, and so my mail to you is not regular."
The K-B-D root is a constituent of personal names in many Semitic languages and are found in inscriptions of the Amorite
Amorite
Amorite refers to an ancient Semitic people who occupied large parts of Mesopotamia from the 21st Century BC...
s, Ugarit
Ugarit
Ugarit was an ancient port city in the eastern Mediterranean at the Ras Shamra headland near Latakia, Syria. It is located near Minet el-Beida in northern Syria. It is some seven miles north of Laodicea ad Mare and approximately fifty miles east of Cyprus...
s, and Punics
Punics
The Punics were a group of western Semitic-speaking peoples from Carthage in North Africa who traced their origins to a group of Phoenician and Cypriot settlers, but also to North African Berbers . Punics were probably a mix of Berbers and Phoenicians in terms of culture and ancestry...
. Scholars like J.C. de Moor and F. de Meyer have also claimed that kbd is used as the root for the name of a deity
Deity
A deity is a recognized preternatural or supernatural immortal being, who may be thought of as holy, divine, or sacred, held in high regard, and respected by believers....
, Kabidu.
Use in Ugaritic
In Ugaritic kbd is often paired with lb to denote "the seat of feelings and emotions." As in a text which reads: "'Her liver' swells with laughter, her heart is filled with joy, AnatAnat
Anat, also ‘Anat is a major northwest Semitic goddess.-‘Anat in Ugarit:In the Ugaritic Ba‘al/Hadad cycle ‘Anat is a violent war-goddess, a virgin in Ugarit though the sister and lover of the great Ba‘al known as Hadad elsewhere. Ba‘al is usually called the son of Dagon and sometimes the son of El....
's 'liver' with victory." The Ugaritic verb kbd means "to honour", "be weighty/honoured", or figuratively, "to make heavy", and encapsulates only the positive meaning of the word. Kbd is also used as an adjective in Ugaritic, meaning "heavy" or "valuable", and was used in administrative texts to describe quantities, whereby kbd "designates a heavier weight in conrast to the normal lighter weight."
Use in Hebrew
Kbd appears in the Hebrew BibleHebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...
376 times. Twice, its meaning is literally "heavy", as in the first book of Samuel
Books of Samuel
The Books of Samuel in the Jewish bible are part of the Former Prophets, , a theological history of the Israelites affirming and explaining the Torah under the guidance of the prophets.Samuel begins by telling how the prophet Samuel is chosen by...
4:18, where Eli is said to be "heavy", and in second book of Samuel 14:2 where Absalom
Absalom
According to the Bible, Absalom or Avshalom was the third son of David, King of Israel with Maachah, daughter of Talmai, King of Geshur. describes him as the most handsome man in the kingdom...
's hair is described as "heavy". However, the dominant usage of the root throughout most of the text is "heavy", with a meaning negative in connotation. In Hebrew, the word for both heavy and liver is kaved (Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
: כָּבֵד), following from its Semitic roots.
This negative usage of heavy in the Hebrew Bible
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...
has been divided into three sub-groups. The first of these deals with the "insensitivity or dullness of the human body," so that, for example, in the book of Exodus, kbd is used to describe "the hardening of the Pharaoh
Pharaoh
Pharaoh is a title used in many modern discussions of the ancient Egyptian rulers of all periods. The title originates in the term "pr-aa" which means "great house" and describes the royal palace...
's" heart. The second subgroup involves the use of kbd to refer to a concept related to "severity", in terms of "work, slavery
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
, warfare, plague, or famine
Famine
A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including crop failure, overpopulation, or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompanied or followed by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increased mortality. Every continent in the world has...
," and is perhaps best translated in these cases as a transitive verb
Transitive verb
In syntax, a transitive verb is a verb that requires both a direct subject and one or more objects. The term is used to contrast intransitive verbs, which do not have objects.-Examples:Some examples of sentences with transitive verbs:...
, such as "burden", "weigh down" or "impede".
The hand of the Lord
Names of God
Names of God, or Holy Names, describe a form of addressing God present in liturgy or prayer of various world religions. Prayer involving the Holy Name or the Name of God has become established as common spiritual practice in both Western and Eastern spiritual practices...
, for example, is described as "heavy", as in the first book of Samuel 5:6 or in the Psalms
Psalms
The Book of Psalms , commonly referred to simply as Psalms, is a book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible...
32:4. The third subgroup is one in which kbd is used negatively to refer to magnitude in size or numbers, such as in discussing the greatness of a sin, or the size of an army. For example, the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah
Sodom and Gomorrah
Sodom and Gomorrah were cities mentioned in the Book of Genesis and later expounded upon throughout the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament and Deuterocanonical sources....
is described as very heavy.
The use of kbd as positive in connotation does also appear in the Hebrew Bible. In Genesis 13:2, Abraham
Abraham
Abraham , whose birth name was Abram, is the eponym of the Abrahamic religions, among which are Judaism, Christianity and Islam...
is described as very "heavy" in the context of his material wealth and importance and other figures to whom positive adjectives such as "heroic" or "glorious" are attached, are also described as kbd ("heavy"). Kbd is also used to refer to the "heaviness" of God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
, and in this case it is most commonly translated as referring to his "glory
Glory (religion)
Glory is used to denote the manifestation of God's presence in the Judeo-Christian religious tradition. God's glory is often associated with visible displays of light, e.g. thunderbolts, fire, brightness....
". God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
's glory (kabhodh: Septuagint dóxa) was visible fire It is occasionally used also of the soul or spirit in man
Instead of using K-B-D, Aramaic
Aramaic language
Aramaic is a group of languages belonging to the Afroasiatic language phylum. The name of the language is based on the name of Aram, an ancient region in central Syria. Within this family, Aramaic belongs to the Semitic family, and more specifically, is a part of the Northwest Semitic subfamily,...
usually uses יקר yaqar, meaning "be heavy," and "be precious," which may have subsequently entered Hebrew as an Aramaic loanword. In Hebrew, Y-Q-R is found in the adjective yaqar (Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
: יָקָר) meaning both dear and expensive, the noun yqar (Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
: יְקָר) meaning honor and respect
and another noun, yoqer (Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
: יֹקֶר) meaning expensiveness, one verb yaqar (Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
: יָקַר) meaning to be appreciated and another verb yiqer (Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
: יִקֵּר) meaning to make expensive.
In the Dead Sea Scrolls
Dead Sea scrolls
The Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of 972 texts from the Hebrew Bible and extra-biblical documents found between 1947 and 1956 on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea, from which they derive their name...
, the usage of the root closely follows the biblical usage. Of the 30 occurrences of the root, 13 are of the nif'al participle ("those who are honored"), 10 are of the word meaning honor, though in addition there is one instance of the postbiblical meaning "sweep up, clean." In terms of its positive connotations the root is also found in this word for honour "kavod" (כָּבוֹד) which is found in the Hebrew expression Kol HaKavod (Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
: כֹּל הַכָּבוֹד) meaning "all of the honour" and used to congratulate someone for a job well done. B'khavod (Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
: בכבוד, "with honour") is the most common valediction used in Hebrew.
| Root: K-B-D : meaning "heavy", "honour", or "liver" | ||
| Hebrew | Transliteration | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| כָּבֵד | kaved (adj.) | heavy |
| הִכְבִּיד | hikhbid (v.r.) | to be heavy |
| כָּבֵד | kaved (n. m.) | liver |
| כָּבוֹד | kavod (n. m.) | honor, glory Glory (religion) Glory is used to denote the manifestation of God's presence in the Judeo-Christian religious tradition. God's glory is often associated with visible displays of light, e.g. thunderbolts, fire, brightness.... |
| כִּבֵּד | kibed (v.) | to give honour to |
| בכבוד | bkavod (n. m.) | (valediction Valediction A valediction , or complimentary close in American English, is an expression used to say farewell, especially a word or phrase used to end a letter or message, or the act of saying parting words- whether brief, or extensive.For the greetings counterpart to valediction, see salutation.Alternatively,... ) with honour/respectfully |
| כבודו | kvodo (n. m.) | your honour |
| כִּבּוּד | kibud (n. m.) | honouring |
| כִּבּוּדִים | kibudim (n. m. pl.) | acknowledgements |
| כָּבוּד | kavud (adj.) | honorable, distinguished |
| כִּבּוּד | kibud (n. m.) | (literary) cleaning, sweeping |
| כִּבֵּד | kibed (v.) | (literary) to clean a room, to sweep |
| כָּבַד | kavad (v.) | (biblical) to weigh heavily upon |
| כֹּבֶד | koved (n. m.) | (physics) mass, weight |
Use in Arabic
The root kbd is used as in the other Semitic languages to refer to the "interior" or "middle" of something, and this is its most common use in Arabic. In both Hebrew and Arabic, as a noun, it means "liver," and the liver in Arabic and Hebrew, as with the other Semitic languages described above, is "an organ thought to be the seat of passion, especially of burning feelings like hate, spite, malice, etc." It can also be used to refer to the entire stomach and entrails. For example, in a BedouinBedouin
The Bedouin are a part of a predominantly desert-dwelling Arab ethnic group traditionally divided into tribes or clans, known in Arabic as ..-Etymology:...
poem from central Arabia
Arabian Peninsula
The Arabian Peninsula is a land mass situated north-east of Africa. Also known as Arabia or the Arabian subcontinent, it is the world's largest peninsula and covers 3,237,500 km2...
, it is written that "clean, sweet water filled my entrails (after revenge was taken)." or in Jewish Liturgy "God scrutinizes the Entrails and Hearts [of men]"
In Arabic, the verb kabada itself is limited to its negative meaning of "oppress" and "endure". However, K-B-D shows instances of semantic overlap with the root K-B-R. So that in Arabic, for example, the verb kabura means to "be/become large", echoing the semantic meaning of the K-B-D root as used in other Semitic languages.