حي العالم

Arabic

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حي العالمSempervivum tectorum

Etymology

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Calque of Aramaic חַיָּיא לְעָלְמָא (ḥayyā lə-ʿāləmā, literally living thing of eternity, something living for the world), itself together with Hebrew חַי הָעוֹלָם (ḥay hā-ʿōlā́m), חַי לְעוֹלָם (ḥay lə-ʿōlā́m) a calque of Ancient Greek ἀείζωον (aeízōon, houseleek, literally always-living). Thus the meaning of perenniality got lost from Greek through Aramaic to Arabic since in Aramaic עָלְמָא (ʿāləmā) means “eternity” and “world”, chosen to render Greek ἀεί (aeí, ever), but the Arabic عَالَم (ʕālam) merely “world”.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ħajj al.ʕaː.lam/

Noun

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حَيّ الْعَالَم (ḥayy al-ʕālamm

  1. houseleek (Sempervivum), stonecrop (Sedum spp., Hylotelephium spp.), perennial flowering succulents of the Sedoideae subfamily about the taxonomy of which there is no consensus yet

Declension

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