E 0419          HANKER

The word "hanker" is, possibly via Dutch, of Germanic origin .

H 0154            ג נ ע

Concept of root : pleasure-seeking

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ג נ ע

‛anog;

‛oneg;

‛inneg

-

pleasant;

pleasure;

to make pleasant

-

Related English words

hanker

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ג נ ע

‛anog; ‛oneg;

‛inneg

-

pleasant; pleasure;

to make pleasant

‛o n g

English

hanker

hanker

ha n k

Dutch

hang;

hangen;

-

hunkeren

-

hăng ;

hăngen ;

-

hәnkeren

-

desire;

to desire intensily;

to crave for, to hanker

hu n k

 

 

Proto-Semitic *‛ANAG --- *HANG Proto-Germanic

 

 

Pleasure is the idea behind these words, but the basic form "*‛anag" is out of use and was so already in Biblical times. The words we see here are composite or derived words. They lead to the conclusion that the basic concept, in "* ע נ ג , ‛ was like "to hanker". Thus not "having great pleasure", as this was expressed by "* ה ת ע נ ג , hit‛annèg, the medio-passive form. Instead, "craving for great pleasure", like hankering. The verb "'innèg", an intensive form of "*anag" is found in Post Biblical Hebrew. The root of this entry may be the same that is seen in number GR 1159 (Hebrew 0155).

 

Note:
  • English to hanker is sometimes supposed to have been loaned from Middle Dutch "hankeren". This is not certain but possible.

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic. The same root is found in Aramaic "ע נ ג, annèg = to take delight", a meaning that can be seen as related to "to long after". Then there is Arabic word " "‛anija = to be amorous", that may come into the same category . One may suppose that the root "*ע נ ג, Ayin N G" may well have been present as such in Proto-Semitic. And this specifically with a meaning of "desire" that is nearer to Germanic than is found in Hebrew.

 

Note:
  • Germanic and Hebrew. This is one of those not uncommon cases where the Germanic "H" before an initial vowel corresponds with that other more closed guttural sound or near-sound that is the Hebrew Ayin.

 

Note:
  • Dutch. The Dutch words "hang, "hunkeren" and "hankeren", together with English "to hanker", seem to have no cognates in other Germanic languages. Some scholars see these words as iterative forms of the verb "hangen"= "to hang". The mentioned related noun "hang" stands for "desire, propensity". The modern verb "hangen" stands for "to hang", but in Middle Dutch there was also an identical verb "hangen = to desire intensely". These words with meanings so different from "hanging", have sister words in North Germanic, Old English and German. The meaning of "tendency, desire" is usually considered a figurative one of "to hang". But on account of the lack of a semantic link one may not exclude the realistic possibility of a verb independent from "hangen = to hang".

&n

 

Note:
  • Proto-Germanic. Scholars do not distinguish between two verbs but deal only with "to hang" and its sisters. The basic part "hang" is present in most Germanic languages, but an older form "Hāhan" was there in Gothic, Old Saxon and Old High German. Shorter forms accompanied the forms like "hangen" in Old English "hōn", Middle Low German ""hā" and Middle Dutch "haen". A bit out of line is Old Frisian"huā".

     

    There is some lack of transparency on account of the mixing of transitive and intransitive forms, strong and weak conjugations, standard and causative forms, nasalized and non-nasalized versions. The basic form may have been as some consider, "* hanhan ", but more probably "*hangan", as the use of "H" instead of "G" was just a tendency in Old High German and some other old languages: "*H Ă NG-".

 

Note:
  • Indo-European. Outside Germanic we find a Hittite "gank- = to hang". Latin "pendeo, pependi, pensum, pendēre" = "to hang" shows no similarity in root. Therefore a hypothesis different from Proto-Germanic is hardly justified.

 

 

 

 

 
Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 22/12/2012 at 15.26.04