E 0954          URINE

the word " urine " comes, via Old French, from Latin .

H 0186            ף ר ע

Concept of root : drip and pour down

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ף ר ע

ף ר ע ו

ה ר י ו

‛araph;

‛oreph;

yoré

to drip, pour down;

dripping, pouring down;

first rain

Related English words

urine

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ף ר ע

-

ף ר ע ו

-

-

ה ר י ו <

ה ר ו*

‛araph

-

‛oreph

-

-

yoré < *woré

to drip, pour down;

pouring down, dripping;

first rain

‛a r ph

-

‛o r ph

-

-

yor- < *wo r-

Greek

ουρον

uron

urine

 ou r

Latin

urina

urina

urine

u r . n

English

urine

urine

u r . n

German

Harn

harn

urine

h . r n

Old Nordic

ur

ur

fine rain

u r

 

 

Proto-Semitic *‛ARAP- --- *WOR- Indo-European

 

 

The facts, expressed by the first two of these Hebrew words , are exactly like that of the action of urinating. This may well indicate some common background. There are several words in other languages that confirm how a message of wetting, raining or making drops can be expressed by the combination of a strengthened vowel plus an R. By a strengthened vowel we mean a vowel with an extra expressive factor, like an H in front of it ( German "Harn" ), a strong stop in front ( Hebrew Ayin in this entry ) or a W, that can have developed into an U. These last forms we see in Old Indian "var" for "water", Avesti "var" for "rain", Old Nordic "ur" for " fine rain" as well as "ver" and "vor" for "sea".

 

Note:
  • Greek. The word "ouron" also means "seminal liquid" and seems to be independent from "ouranos" which is "heaven" and also of "oura" which means "tail" even though this last word is also used for "penis". That is a use that many languages have in common, and it is nothing but a "euphemistic" indication of the male member.

 

Note:
  • Latin. The same root of "urina = water, urine" also has given the words "urinor; urinator = to immerge into water; diver". This confirms that the origin of Neo-Latin "urinare" is indeed "to make water". We have no evidence of the same original meaning in Greek.

 

Note:
  • Hebrew uses a quite different word for "urine" : "sheten". Funny that this so much sounds like English "shit".

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic. As it is found in Hebrew, the first root of this entry is also present in Aramaic and Syriac מ ע ר ף, me‛eraph = dripping", but also in Akkadian "erpu = clouds" and Arabic ‛arif = first rain", with what look like related meanings . See also entry GR 1223 (H 0187 ). The Greek words of that entry are anyhow related to Akkadian . Proto-Semitic in all probability already used this same root "*ע ר ף".

     

    It is uncertain if the change from " P " into " PH ", as seen in Hebrew and Arabic, may have begun in Proto-Semitic, but the original " P " was certainly still in use.

     

    For the second root, with the word , "yoré = early rain", we agree to the proposed connection to the not unsimilar verb י ר ה, yarà = to wet". There are two identical verbs, with the meaning of respectively "to throw, launch" and "to teach", that both are unrelated. The shown letter " י , Yod" has probably developed out of an earlier "ו , Waw", with an original "*ו ר ה, waré, woré = to wet".

 

Note:
  • German. "Harn" for "urine" is thus related to the Latin word "urina" and obviously has nothing to do with Latin "excernere" and "excrementum".

 

Note:
  • Proto-Germanic . The German word "Harn" for "urine" goes back to Old High German "haran". It has been tried to link this to Old English "scearn = dung", but that remains an improbable cognate. Middle Dutch has "harn" as well as "haren" , basically in the eastern part of the territory, near Germany. Oddly, we see in Old English a word "hærn" that means ""wave, tide". This all gives a basis for a hypothesis for Proto-Germanic "*H Ă RN-", in which as more often an initial " H " corresponds with the Semitic guttural "Ayin".

 

Note:
  • Germanic and Hebrew. As seen ion the previous note, Hebrew and Germanic once more show how the initial H in Germanic corresponds often with an initial Ayin in Hebrew . One may recall that an H is a guttural aspiration and the Ayin an accentuated guttural stop .

 

Note:
  • Indo-European. An existing hypothesis for "to drip, urinate" is "*wour-, worw-". We propose the simpler "*W O R-" or " *W U R-". For the basic concept of water there is:

     

    Old Indian "vâr = water".

     

    Sanskrit "vâri = water"; "varshá = rain".

     

    Avestan "vār = rain" and "vairi = lake".

     

    Tocharian "war = water".

     

    Illyrian "*ūr = water, sea".

     

    Baltic offers Lithuanian "júres = sea". As to dripping or similar events, there are :

     

    Old Norse "úr; yra = fine rain; raining fine".

     

    Lithuanian "v&érdu = to sprinkle".

     

    Middle Irish "feraim = pour".

     

    Old Church Slavonic "vŭrĕti = to sprinkle".

     

    It is possible that a form "*V A R-" existed early, as used in Eastern Indo-European languages for " water" and related meanings.

 

 

 

 
"...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: 22/01/2013 at 16.40.12