THE MYTH OF HUNDRED - THE FIGURES

 

 

1. Common LATIN roots, beginning with the letter “H”.

       TOTAL              LOANWORDS            LATIN  ROOTS         ROOTS   SPELLED  EITHER

                                 FROM GREEK               WITH “H”             WITH or WITHOUT “H

          88                            36                                 42                                      10

 

 

LATIN H AND GERMANIC H

Of the LATIN roots beginning with “H”, some have a Germanic counterpart with the same “H”.

They are five or perhaps six in Dutch:

L A T I N D U T C H E N G L I S H cognates or meaning
      
haberehebbento have(cognate)
haemonheemhome(cognate)
halare(adem)halento breathe(meaning)
herusheer gentleman(meaning)
hinniohinnikento neigh(meaning)
to whinny(cognate)
hodiehedentoday(meaning)

 

 

LATIN H AND GERMANIC G

Some others have a Germanic counterpart that begins with “G”, practically the opposite

of the supposed “centum=hundred” rule. We compare again with Dutch :

 

haedusgeitgeit(cognate)
helvusgeelgeel(cognate)
heri , hesternogisterenyesterday(cognate)
hostisgastguest(cognate))

 

 

2. Common LATIN roots, beginning with the letter “C”

 

There may be some difference of opinion as to the exactness of the numbers, depending on precise definition of the word “root”. We consider as “one” in this respect all words on the same basis, such as cura, curans, curatio, curator, curatura, curitare, curare. We have left out the roots with CH and CY, all typically Greek of origin.

 

Beginning with     CA        CE       CI       CL       CO       CR      CU    TOTAL

Greek loans            21          8          5          3          10          5         7        59

Latin                      63        17        15         14         23         16       21      169 

 

 

Germanic sisters

with  H”                 5          4          -           -            4          -           1         14

 

 

T O T A L               84        25        20         17          33        21       28       228

 

 

The figures show that only a very small minority of Latin roots beginning with “C” respond to the so-called “centum-hundred”-rule. We are at 6% of the total, and of 8% of the pure Latin roots. This is not enough to claim a “rule”, nor can it be a basis for conclusions regarding the origin or spelling of other roots.

 

 

LATIN C AND GERMANIC H

           The 14 roots for which we  have found Germanic sisters beginning with “H” are :

 

 

L A T I N D U T C H E N G L I S H
word word word/meaning
      
caelum hemel heaven
canis hond hound
capio hebben to have, to take (no cognate)
caput hoofd head
casa huis house
celare helen helan (OE)
centum honderd hundred
cerebrum hersenen hern, brain
cervus hert hartdeer
collum hals heals, neck
cor , cordis hart heart
cornu hoorn horn
coxa Haechse * hip, lower leg ( no cognate )
culmus halm halm

* This word is German only

 

 


 

HEART  AND   WOMB : A SPECIFIC COMMENT

 

 

HEART . COR , the Latin word for “heart “, seen in the last of the above lists, has the genitive form “cordis “ . Indeed this makes the picture more clear .

 

In Similarities Hebrew 0510 (E 0434) and Hebrew 0509 (E 0151) we have made comparisons between the Hebrew word “ kares “ for “belly “ and several Indo-European words, such as Greek “κρεας” in Hebrew 0509 and English “ heart “ in Hebrew 0510 .  We mention κηρ “, but also  the interesting version “ κραδίη

 

It is essential that people have ascribed various characteristics regarding the human being , such as the seat of life , to different internal parts , such as heart, liver and  belly . The subject is also considered in Similarity Hebrew 0533 (E 0536) that has its sisters in the numbers Hebrew 0534 (E 0547) and Hebrew 0535 (E 0537).

 

WOMB .  The Sanskrit word “gárbham = heart “ having the Akkadian cognate “ qerbam = womb , is an eye-opener .  Without sufficient knowledge , we may dare presume that the roots are respectively “ g . r b” and   “q . r b” .

 

In Similarity Hebrew 0816 (E 1009) we have presented a comparison between Hebrew “reghem” and a number of Indo-European words. We suppose there a metathesis , a change of position leading to  the Hebrew root “ r . gh . m “ and the Dutch “ k r . m”. As usual Hebrew will use two vowels between three consonants ( reghem) , whereas Dutch uses only one vowel ( kraam ) .

 

 

 

 

 
Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: Thursday 10 January 2013 at 19.55.51