ב־ע־לب ع ل

b-ʿ-l “owner, lord, husband”

Proto-Semitic *baʿl- 'owner, master, husband' was the title of the Canaanite storm god, Baal, and of the Philistine Baʿal Zəḇûḇ, Beelzebub. Ordinary Hebrew kept the plain sense: baʿal ha-bayit, 'master of the house', which Yiddish squeezed into balebos and baleboste.

Family membershipCertain

Today3 of 3 words have reached English

34 hops. The slider moves through them evenly, so busy centuries get room.

Words from this root 3

BaalProto-Semitic → Biblical Hebrew → Koine Greek → Late Latin → Middle English → English
BeelzebubProto-Semitic → Biblical Hebrew → Koine Greek → Late Latin → Old English → English
balabustaBiblical Hebrew → Mishnaic Hebrew → Yiddish → American English

Relatives outside the atlas

Biblical Hebrew	בַּעַל	baʿal	“owner, husband; Baal”
Modern Hebrew	בַּעַל תְּשׁוּבָה	baʿal teshuva	“a returnee to observance, 'master of return'”
Arabic	بَعْل	baʿl	“husband; rain-fed land”
Phoenician	𐤇𐤍𐤁𐤏𐤋	Ḥnbʿl	“Hannibal, 'grace of Baal'”
Ugaritic	𐎁𐎓𐎍	bʿl	“Baal, lord”
Akkadian	bēlu	bēlu	“lord”