E 0983          WATER,  WET

The words "wet" and "water" are of Germanic origin .

H 0079          א ו ד *

Concept of root: wet weather

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

א ו ד *

*awed, *od

vapor, mist before rain

Related English words

wet, water, hydra-

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

א ו ד *

*awed, *od

vapor, mist before rain

o d

Arabic

wad; wadi

wad;wadi

river; river (non perennial)

w d

Greek

ΰδωρ

hǜdor

water, rain

ü d r

Latin

udus

udus

wet, humid

u d

Old Indian

uda

uda

water

u d

Russian

вода

woda

water

w d

English

wet, water

wet, water

w t r

 

 

Proto-Semitic *OD, *WAD --- *UED, *WED Indo-European

 

 

This is a very important root. The words for humidity and water all have the classical "waw", that letter "W" that in the developing of words may move between a well-defined but vast series of sounds : basically from W via V to F or U and from W via U to O and Ǖ. And also from W to Y.

 

Secondly, a part of those words have a final "R", others do not. English has both versions in "wet" and "water". And geographically they are very much mixed. We look into some examples that are important here.

 

The above indicated "*Aleph Waw Daleth" is a supposed original root of the two consonant word "ed", seen in entry E 0009 (Hebrew 0008) . This is uncertain, but we have inserted Arabic " wadi " that has maintained the " Waw ", using it as a consonant. This word is certainly related to the Indo European words of this entry .

 

This entry is strictly related to number E 0009 ( Hebrew 0008) .

 

Note:
  • Arabic. Today we find the word "wadi" often explained as " riverbed", but originally it refers to a river that is not perennial, and which bed may be dry also for a long and unforeseeable period. The classic words "wad" and "wadi" can be recognized in the Latinized names of two big Spanish rivers. One is the river Guadiana, "Wadi Ana" , that in earlier times was the "Anas". Another is the "Guadalquivir", or "al Wad al Kabir", which means " The Big River".

 

Note:
  • Greek. The word "hüdor" is very well known through the numerous composed words beginning with "hydra-". Its original root has been defined as "Ғεδωρ (wedor)", directly related to English "water".

 

Note:
  • Without "R" we find a.o. Hebrew "*od", Latin "udus", Gotic "wado", Swedish "vatten" and Russian "voda". With "R" there are a.o. Umbrian "utur" ( cf. with Latin udus !), Hittite "wadar" and many Germanic words, as "water" and German "Wasser".

 

Note:
  • Other Nordic languages, like Old Norse (vatn), Swedish (vatten) and Icelandic (vatn), have an N after the dental.

 

Note:
  • Proto-Germanic. German has "Wasser", but that is a specific German development , via Old High German "wazzer", out of an earlier "TT". The usual idea is that Proto-Germanic already had two versions for the concept of water : "*WATAN" and "*WATAR". The word "*WATAR" was certainly present, if we take into account that the "R" was seen in Old Swedish "vätur" and Old English "wæter". One notes that the Swedish initial "V" was and is pronounced like the "W" in West Germanic. But then we have East Germanic, that is Gothic, with "wato" and so the consonant "N" remains just North Germanic and probably not Proto-Germanic: Thus the probable already two versions for "water" in Proto-Germanic were "*W A T-" and "*W A T R".

 

Note:
  • Nasalized, with "N" . We also find some words that have nasalized the basic root we already found in Hebrew "*od" and Latin "udus". This is seen in the infixes ( not suffixes ) in Latin "unda", Norwegian and Danish "vand" and also Lituanian "vanduô".

 

Note:
  • Russian, in one of its worldwide most well-known words has "little water" or водка, (vodka).

 

Note:
  • Indo-European and Proto-Semitic. On the basis of the knowledge of so many words, scholars have established an Indo-European root "* U E D-" or "* W E D- ", with a pronunciation somewhere between "U" and "W". In this there can never be full certainty, but it is very near Hebrew "*Aleph-Waw-Daleth" " א ו ד ", that we consider as a hypothetical Proto-Semitic root. But a second hypothesis is necessary: "*W A D". The terrain may be divided by these two that should have a common origin "*W D". This is pronounced with the " W " as consonant and the help of a vowel " A ", or with the " W " as a vowel, with the Aleph emphasizing this pronunciation.

     

    The Indo-European root would basically say "wet, to wet, to flow" . Well, in Hebrew we also have the little stream or small river that flows and that is called "'ed", that may have lost an initial "W" and is seen in entry E 0009 ( Hebrew 0008) . Anyhow it would be more exact to simply define the meaning of "*U E D-" or "*W E D-" as "water".

 

 

 

 
"...the town, to which was given the name Babel, because it was there that the Lord confused the language of all the world on the face of which He dispersed them. GENESIS 11,9"
 
Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 21/12/2012 at 16.20.12