E 0316          EZSCE

The Old Saxon word "ezsche" is of Germanic origin

H 0190        ב ש ע

Concept of root : well-kept grass

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ב ש ע

‛esev

grass

Related English words

none

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ב ש ע

‛esev

grass

‛e s v

Old Saxon

ezsce

common lawn or field

e z sc

Dutch

es

es

common lawn

 e s

 

 

Proto-Semitic *‛ESHEB --- *ESH Proto-Germanic

 

 

We have here a similarity at the basis of which a common origin perhaps may have existed. The third consonant " B " found in Semitic was not present in Proto-Germanic.

 

Note:
  • Hebrew uses for " lawn " the word " ד ש א , déshé". As a verb this root says " to spout, grow (green) ". Understandably in Akkadian " dish’u" we see the same root used to express the concept of " spring ", the season in which grass sprouts again from its roots .

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic. Proto-Semitic certainly used this root or a similar one. Hebrew, Aramaic "ע ש ב א, ‛isb'à" , Syriac "ע ס ב א, ‛esb'à" and also Ugaritic "‛eshbet" have " Ayin S B " , Akkadian "ishbabtu" and Arabic "‛ushb" use an "SH" instead of the "S". Proto-Semitic may have used either "S" or "SH": "*ע ש ב".

     

    The final consonant " B " certainly had not yet changed into " V ", as later seen in Hebrew.

     

    Vowels are hard to define. There has been in Hebrew a frequent development into " E " from other vowels, especially " A ". Then also here the " A " is maintained in the plural "‛assavim", be it in an accentless position. In the above comparison we have kept a double " E ", but there may as well have been " A - A ", " A - E " or " E - A ".

 

Note:
  • Dutch has an older version "esch", but such a word normally is not of different origin. There are different ways in which an original "S" is pronounced in the various languages that use it in derivations of one and the same root. We find English "SH" and German "SCH" with identical sound. Scandinavian "SK", Hebrew "S" and "SH" and Dutch "SCH" pronounced as "SGH" or "SK" (dialectal) or simply "S". And now in Old Saxon " ZSC " .

 

Note:
  • Proto-Germanic. In Germanic languages it is hard to find sister words of Dutch "es(ch)". But Old Saxon had "-ezsce ( ezzchon), Old High German "ezzisc and both words say (also) "sowing-field". This is probably related. Proto-Germanic may have used a form "*E SH" or "*E ZSH" .

 

 

 

 

 
Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 22/01/2013 at 17.37.31