għakkes

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Maltese

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Root
għ-k-s
4 terms

Etymology

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The basic sense of the Maltese root is “being weak, feeble, deprived”, which is most readily derived from Arabic عَجْز (ʕajz) and its root; compare għaks (oppression, destitution, famine). Phonetically this is plausible since Arabic ج (j) becomes Maltese g in several words, especially in the vicinity of sibilants (compare gżira). Word-finally the sequence [ɡz] is devoiced to [ks] and this devoicing may have been generalised (equally a common phenomenon). On the other hand, the phonetically even closer Arabic عَكَسَ (ʕakasa) also shows meanings that are connectable with the Maltese form, namely “to tie a camel's neck to its forelegs”, “to let it starve in this position”, “to press to the ground”, “to prevent, restrain”. Presumably, both roots influenced each other.

Pronunciation

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Verb

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għakkes (imperfect jgħakkes)

  1. to oppress; to subdue
  2. to restrain; to deprive

Conjugation

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    Conjugation of għakkes
singular plural
1st person 2nd person 3rd person 1st person 2nd person 3rd person
perfect m għakkist għakkist għakkes għakkisna għakkistu għakksu
f għakkset
imperfect m ngħakkes tgħakkes jgħakkes ngħakksu tgħakksu jgħakksu
f tgħakkes
imperative għakkes għakksu