The combination of ˀ and h as root consonants, nearly impossible in Semitic verbal roots (Greenberg 1950:168), makes one think of a secondary origin for one of the gutturals. An extension of the biconsonantal element
*ˀb ‘to wish, to desire’ is thus possible (with DRS 10). Cf., alternatively, Arb.
hbb ‘to groan before copulation (a buck),’ tentatively compared to Hbr. ˀhb in Zaborski 1971:65. The root does not seem to be attested in Aramaic