K-B-D

K-B-D (or K-B-T) is a triliteral root found in all Semitic languages with the common meaning of to "be heavy", or less literally, "be important". The noun, believed to be derived from the root, or vice versa, 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.

Roots and derivations

Root: K-B-D or K-B-T meaning "heavy", "honour", "liver", "interior", "soul"
Englisch	Akkadian (East Semitic)	Proto-West-Semitic	Phoenician	Aramaic	Syriac	Hebrew	Arabic
Root	K-B-T	K-B-D	K-B-D	K-B-D	K-B-D	K-B-D	K-B-D
Script			--	--	ܟܟ -ܒ- ܕ	כ-ב-ד	ك ب د

Origins

There is a wide range of uses for kbd as a noun 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 emotions." 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 Amorites, Ugarits, 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.

Use in Ugaritic

In Ugaritic kdb 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, Anat'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 Bible 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 thoughout most of the text is "heavy", with a meaning negative in connotation. In Hebrew, the word for both heavy and liver is (Hebrew: כָּבֵד), following from its Semitic roots.

This negative usage of heavy in the 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 Pharoah'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". This usage, found in the bibical Hebrew word kavad (Hebrew: כָּבַד) is not used in Modern Hebrew.

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".. Yahweh's glory (kabhodh: Septuagint dóxa) was visible fire. It is occasionally used also of the soul or spirit in man In terms of its postive connotations the root is also found in the 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: כבודו, "with honour") is the most common valediction used in Hebrew.

Root: K-B-D Template:Hebrew: meaning "heavy", "honour", or "liver"
Hebrew	Transliteration	Definition
כָּבֵד	kaved (adj.)	heavy
הִכְבִּיד	hikhbid (v.)	to be heavy
כָּבֵד	kaved (n. m.)	liver
כָּבוֹד	kavod (n. m.)	honor
כִּבֵּד	kibed (v.)	to give honour to
בכבוד	bkavod (n. m.)	(valediction) with honour/respectfully
כבודו	kvodu (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. As a noun, it means "liver," and the liver in Arabic, as with the other Semitic languages described above, is "an organ thought to be the seat of passion, especially of burning feelings lke hate, spite, malice, etc." It can also be used to refer to the entire stomach entire and entrails. For example, in a Bedouin poem from central Arabia, it is written that "clean, sweet water filled my entrails (after revenge was taken)."

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.

Bibliography

• Botterweck, G. Johannes; Ringgren, Helmer; Fabry, Heinz-Josef (1974), Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, ISBN 0802823319, 9780802823311 {{citation}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
• Heimpel, Wolfgang (2003), Letters to the King of Mari: A New Translation, with Historical Introduction, Notes, and Commentary, Eisenbrauns, ISBN 1575060809, 9781575060804 {{citation}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
• Kloos, Carola (1986), Yhwh's Combat with the Sea: A Canaanite Tradition in the Religion of Ancient Israel, Brill Archive, ISBN 9004080961, 9789004080966 {{citation}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
• Ryken, Leland; Wilhoit, Jim; Wilhoit, James C.; Longman, Tremper; Duriez, Colin; Penney, Douglas; Reid, Daniel G. (1998), Dictionary of Biblical Imagery: An Encyclopedia Exploration of the Images, Symbols, Motifs, Metaphors, Figures of Speech, Literary Patterns and Universal Master Images of the Bible, InterVarsity Press, ISBN 0830814515, 9780830814510 {{citation}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
• Onians, Richard (1988), The Origins of European Thought, Cambridge University Press