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E 0605 MUND
The word "mund" is Old English and of Germanic origin
H 0037 א
מ ן
Concept of root: tutor
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Hebrew word
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pronunciation
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English meanings
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א מ ן
א מ ן
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omen;
aman
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tutor, educator;
to foster, bring up
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Related English words
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Old English : mund
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Comparison between European words and
Hebrew
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Languages
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Words
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Pronunciation
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English meanings
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Similarity in roots
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Hebrew
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א מ ן
-
א מ ן
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omen
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aman
-
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tutor, educator;
to foster, bring up
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. (o/a) m n
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Old English
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mund
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protection,
tutorship
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m (u)
n
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Middle Dutch
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mond
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mond
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tutor
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m (o)
n
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German
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Vormund
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vormund
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tutor
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m (u) n
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Old High German
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munt
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munt
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protection
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m (u)
n
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Proto-Semitic *AMAN, OMEN --- *MOND- Proto-Germanic
Old English is the language that more clearly shows the bridge between the two basic concepts within that of tutorship. One is that of protection, the other that of education.
In Hebrew the opening Aleph is athroistic, which means that it is of the confirming kind that does not change the basic meaning of the root in front of which it has been placed.
Note
- Proto-Semitic
This root is possibly related to that in entry E 0574 (Hebrew 0035) that deals principally with the concept of "belief". In that case the Proto-Semitic root "*Aleph.M.N" is valid for this entry as well : "א
מ
ן" .
Note:
- Hebrew obviously has put a strong accent on the educational side. In Jewish culture reading, studying and teaching play a very fundamental role. There has never been analphabetism among the Jews. Perhaps one of the reason why the Jews are called "The People of the Book". This not refers simply to the Bible.
As to the qualities a tutor needs, it may be remembered that a root (or roots) "Aleph M N" covers or at least deals with the concepts of "firmness, faithfulness and trustworthyness". Specifically in Hebrew we see :
א
מ
ן , aman = he fostered, brought up;
א
מ
ן , immèn= he educated, trained;
ה
א
מ
י
ן , hé'émin= he believed, trusted;
נ
א
מ
ן , né'éman= he was found firm, trustworthy.
Anyhow, in Biblical Hebrew we see with the same root "A M N", with other vowels, also a word for "education" :
א מ נ ה (amena) . But to be true, this same word also means "cure", in the sense of "to look after". This has remained in Modern Hebrew.
Note:
- Proto-Germanic. Germanic languages have just as in entry E 0574 (Hebrew 0035), that deals with the concept of "to believe", done without that initial confirming vowel which is so frequent in Hebrew. They have a stronger accent on the protective aspect of tutorship. So much so, that in modern German "Vormund" a praefix "vor" was placed in front of "mund" to express the tutorship as such.
Old English "mund" besides the two meanings of "protection" and "tutoring", also is seen as earlier having had the meaning of "hand". And the same is the case with Old Norse, "mund", that stood for "protection", "hand" and also " time". But it must be remarked that the word "mund" for "hand" is feminine and the words "mund" for "protection" and for "time" are neuter.
The supposition that the feminine words, also found in Old Saxon and Old High German (as "munt") may be based on an old root related to the feminine Latin word "manus = hand", is possible. And it means that also in that case a final "D" was added to a root "M (vowel) N". But this does not mean that feminine "mund" and neuter "mund" with their so different meanings are the same word or even have the same origin.
The great similarity between the words in various Germanic languages makes it probably that Proto-Germanic had either "*M U ND-" or "*M O ND-" for the concept of "tutoring".
Note
- Indo-European
Without information from other language groups the only hypothesis remains the one for Proto-Germanic.
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| Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: Thursday 10 January 2013 at 18.56.37 |
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