GD 1115          VAREN

H 0060           ע ר א

Concept of root : to happen

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ע ר א,

ע ר ע

er‛à ,

‛er‛à

to happen

Related English words

none

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ע ר א,

ע ר ע

er‛à ,

‛er‛à;

to happen

e r ‛a ,

‛e r ‛a

Middle-Dutch

wedervaren

*varen;

vaernis

wédervaren

varen

vārnis

to happen ;

-

happening

"va r"

 

 

Hebrew *AR‛Á --- *VAR- Dutch

 

 

We see one of those cases in which a Hebrew opening vowel "Aleph" corresponds with a consonant "W" or "V" in an Indo-European word. The Dutch word "wedervaren" is composed of the preposition "weder" and the verbal infinite-form "varen". So the similarity is found between this second part of the Dutch word and the Hebrew verb "er‛à".

 

 

Note:
  • Dutch has some confusion to cause. The "wedervaren" of this entry indicates things that happen, both of positive and of negative character. But there is also another "wedervaren" with the meaning "to oppose".

     

    This second word is based on the prefix-less verb "varen" that in Middle Dutch meant various ways of going, displacement or travel, both litteral or figurative. This "varen" is a sisterword of "voeren" = to transport, related with Hebrew "‛avar" and of course with English "to fare" and German " fahren". See entry number E 0939 (Hebrew 0107).

     

    "Varen" in modern Dutch has become more concentrated on the moving of ships. In German it is also still used for the moving of land-vehicles.

     

    There exists even a third word "varen" in Middle-Dutch, saying "to fear" and obviously related to that English word.

 

Note:
  • Hebrew. Hebrew gives us no etymology. Some believe that these two verbs have been derived from another word that says " to happen" , which is "qarà", spelled "Qoph, Resh, Aleph" or "Qoph, Resh,Hé". The Q would have changed into Ayin, which is quite improbable. In a second time both Aleph and Hé would have changed into Ayin as well, which would be quite feasible if an accentuation or intensification of meaning was required, which sometimes that does not appear though.

     

    It must be made clear that this second changing, that reinforces the pronunciation from " a " into " ‛ a" is seen in Hebrew. The other one though, from " qa " into " ‛ a " is rare, though between Semitic and Indo European we may see sometimes a comparison between the two sounds. We must also remark that in the many verbs that have two versions of a third consonant, Aleph and Hé, the first one usually is the original one.

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic. We find here one of those cases, in which we have to compare two isolated words from both Hebrew and Dutch . And we have no evidence that allows us to hypothesize a Proto-Semitic root.

 

 

 

 
Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 21/12/2012 at 14.13.16