E 0449          HILARITY, ALACRITY

The word "hilarity" comes via Latin and has Greek origin .

The word " alacrity " is of Latin origin .

H 0133/4/5           ז ל ע ,  ץ ל ע , ס ל ע

Concept of root: to be glad, cheerful

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ז ל ע , ץ ל ע , ס ל ע

‛alas ,‛ alats,‛alaz  

to rejoice, be glad

Related English words

hilarity, from Greek ;alacrity, from Latin  

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ץ ל ע , ס ל ע ; ז ל ע

‛׳alas, ‛alats , ‛alaz

to rejoice, enjoy, be cheerful

‛a l . ts

Greek

ίλαος;

ίλαρος ;

αλαλαι

hilaos; hilaros ;

hurray

 glad ; cheerful;

hurray

h . l a  ;

h . l a r ;

a l a l .

Latin

alacer ;

hilarus

alaker

cheerful

a l . c r;

h . l a r

English

hilarity ;

alacrity

hilarity ;

alacrity

h . l a r ;

a l . c r

Dutch

olijk

olik

cheerful

o l .

 

 

Proto-Semitic *‛ALATS --- *ALAC-(ER) Latin

 

 

In the third correlated root, with the S changed into a Z, joy becomes exultation : " ע ל ז , alaz ". In Modern Hebrew this has again become "to be cheerful", with the root "alas" dedicated to "to enjoy" or even more like French " jouir" that has an erotic tinge. "Alats" now combines enjoyment and exultation. Quite some shifting has gone on.

 

Note:
  • Hebrew and Dutch. In modern Hebrew a word " ע ל י ז , aliz " has the meaning of "merry, cheerful". This same word in the Bible also said " insolent, disturbing", like someone making fun of somebody else. This message is also found in Dutch "olijk". Of thislast word no convincing etymology has been established.

 

Note:
  • Hebrew. The alternating of the three consonants S, TS and Z at the end of these three obviously narrowly related roots is extremely interesting from the viewpoint of linguistic development.

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic. Of the three versions of Hebrew , that is the three different "third" consonants, only the "TS" is also found in Akkadian and OS Arabic. It is therefore possible that Proto-Semitic used this root " * ע ל צ Ayin L TS ".

 

Note:
  • Latin and Greek. Latin "alacer" shows a good similarity in sound and meaning with Hebrew. "Hilaros has been loaned from Greek. There would seem to be a possibility. The initial " H " in Greek may very well corresponds with an " Ayin " in Hebrew.

     

    But then Greek scholars give a root "=SLÈ-" and this would certainly be distant in sound. Presuming that this is right, the Greek words "ilaos, ilaros", though similar in message, remain too far off in root.

 

Note:
  • Indo European. As mentioned, Greek does not have a convincing similarity with Hebrew . In Dutch the word "olijk" has acquired its meaning rather recently. In Middle Dutch "olijc, odelijc, hodelijc" meant "little, unimportant, down and out" . Therefore the similarity can hardly be due to any common origin. Thus we are practically limited to Latin and a hypothesis for Indo-European is not justified outside Latin.

 

 

 

 
"...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: 01/10/2012 at 9.29.12