ħaf

Maltese

Etymology

Perhaps from a metathesis of Arabic حَفِيَ‎ (ḥafiya, “to walk barefoot; to abrade one’s feet by lengthy walking”). Joseph Aquilina mentions that ħafi (“barefoot”) was also used in the sense of “roamer”, thus preserving here the original participle form. There may have been a merger with حافَ‎ (ḥāfa), يَحُوفُ‎ (yaḥūfu, “to visit”, among other senses), or هافَ‎ (hāfa), يَهِيفُ‎ (yahīfu, “to run away”, of a slave), or some other phonetically related root.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ħaːf/

Verb

ħaf (imperfect jħuf)

to roam; to wander; to shuffle along

Conjugation

The perfect tense is highly archaic and not part of contemporary standard Maltese. It is replaced with kien + imperfect.

Conjugation of ħaf
		singular			plural
		1^st person	2^nd person	3^rd person	1^st person	2^nd person	3^rd person
perfect	m	ħoft	ħoft	ħaf	ħofna	ħoftu	ħafu
perfect	f	ħoft	ħoft	ħafet	ħofna	ħoftu	ħafu
imperfect	m	nħuf	tħuf	jħuf	nħufu	tħufu	jħufu
imperfect	f	nħuf	tħuf	tħuf	nħufu	tħufu	jħufu
imperative			ħuf			ħufu

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