GR 1170          EREBOS

H 0175            ב ר ע

Concept : evening, sunset, dusk

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ב ר ע

‛erev

evening, sunset, dusk

Related English words

none

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ע ר ב

‛erev

evening, sunset, dusk

‛e r . b

Greek

ερεβος

erebos

twilight , darkness

 e r . b

Old English

earp, eorp

dark, dusky

 (e) r . p

 

 

Proto-Semitic *‛EREB --- *EREB Indo-European

 

 

A simple straighforward similarity advocates the assumption that a common origin is there. The meaning of the root is "evening, dusk" and if used as a verb "getting evening", which implies the setting of the sun.

 

Often as the original meaning of this root is seen the concept of " to set, to enter ", with the sun "setting", "entering" into the sea or earth. This is based on Akkadian " erēbu " that is used in fact for "to enter, go in" besides " to go down, set ".

 

If indeed " to enter" would seem the basic meaning, it would be present also in other languages, like Arabic and Aramaic, besides Hebrew, but it is not . So this idea remains improbable. And one notes that anyhow Akkadian "erē shamshi" means "sunset". Then Old English gives us a hand with a rather clear cognate of Hebrew.

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic. We find here the same root that thus continued into Hebrew. It is seen in Aramaic "ע ר ב Ayin R B ,arav, erev" . There are the abovementioned cognates in Akkadian "erev" and "erebu". Then Arabic shows "gharb = place of sunset, West", to which one must remark that Arabic "GH" often corresponds with a Hebrew Ayin. Proto-Semitic probably indicated evening and sunset with the root " *ע ר ב Ayin R B" .

 

Note:
  • Proto-Germanic. The information we have is relatively limited, but important enough. Besides Old English we have Old High German "erpf" = dark and Old Norse "jarp-r = dark brown". There may well have been a Proto-Germanic "*E R P-" with a message of "dusk, dark".

 

Note:
  • Indo-European. On the basis of Greek plus Proto-Germanic one may hypothesize for Indo-European a form "*E R E B" with a message of "dusk, dark". This implies that Germanic sharpened the " B " into an explosive " P " and that Indo-European used two vowels within the root.

     

    Interesting is that Sanscrit has a word "aruni" that says "dawn" instead of "dusk". This word is perhaps related to Hebrew "or = light".

     

     

 

 
"...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: 03/10/2012 at 15.24.12