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Root ס־ב־ר: reasoning

Roots Atlas 128 · שֹׁרֶשׁ ס ב ר · the reasoning root
ס ב ר
s · b · r
everything to do with thinking, opinion and explaining
9 words · 1 root · 2 verb-voices

Three consonants carry one idea: holding something in the mind as plausible. From it grow the verb to opine, the causative to explain (make another mind hold it too), the adjective reasonable, the noun for a conjecture, and the abstract for probability. The same root even surfaces in sever panim, a welcoming countenance, the face that makes you feel understood. Pour the letters into different moulds and the whole landscape of thinking, judging and clarifying opens. Every word here is verified against pealim, niqqud included.

The verb across the binyanim (voices)

The same root runs through the verb system. Each binyan is a voice: it bends the one idea into active, passive, causative or reciprocal. Tap to hear.

Pa'al
לִסְבֹּרlisbor
simple active, the plain action
to opine, to be of the opinion, to assume
Hif'il
לְהַסְבִּירlehasbir
causative, make someone do it
to explain, to clarify (cause to understand)

The plain pa'al "to opine" is literary today; the everyday verb is the causative hif'il "to explain", which is exactly "to cause another mind to hold the thought". The hitpa'el surfaces only in the noun הִסְתַּבְּרוּת (probability) below, where the ת of the hitpa'el slides next to the ס. Pu'al and huf'al are not lexicalized for this root.

Words born from the root

Same root letters, different noun moulds (mishkalim). The mould tells you the function: who does it, the act of doing it, or the thing produced.

① The mind judging: reasonable, of the opinion

סָבִיר
savir
reasonable, logical, plausible
קָטִיל
סָבוּר
savur
of the opinion that, holding that (ש־)
קָטוּל

② The thought formed: conjecture and explanation

סְבָרָה
svara
conjecture, hypothesis; reasoned opinion
קְטָלָה
הֶסְבֵּר
hesber
explanation, clarification
הֶקְטֵל

③ The act made abstract: explaining and probability

הַסְבָּרָה
hasbara
public explanation, advocacy, propaganda
הַקְטָלָה
סְבִירוּת
svirut
likelihood, reasonableness, probability
קְטִילוּת
הִסְתַּבְּרוּת
histabrut
probability (mathematical)
הִתְקַטְּלוּת

Decode it yourself

Strip the prefixes, suffixes and vowels. Three consonants remain, and the meaning lives there.