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E 0994 WETHER
The animal name "wether" is of Germanic origin
H 0202 ד ו ת ע
Concept of root : ram
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Hebrew word
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pronunciation
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English meanings
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ד ו ת ע
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‛attud
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ram
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Related English words
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wether
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Comparison between European words and
Hebrew
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Languages
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Words
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Pronunciation
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English meanings
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Similarity in roots
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Hebrew
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ד ו ת ע
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‛attud
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ram,
he-goat
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‛a t d
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English
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wether
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gelded ram
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w . th
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Middle and Old English
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wether
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ram
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w . th
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German
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Widder
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widder
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ram
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w d
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Dutch
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weder
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weder
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ram
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w d
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Proto-Semitic *‛ATAD --- *WED-ER Proto-Germanic
This case of similarity is not too obvious. But Germanic "W" may well have a Hebrew "Ayin" as its relative. That would be the case here. The double dentals, "DD" in Germanic and "TT" in Hebrew, also correspond. This together with the identical meaning should be sufficient to conclude some vicinity.
Scholars are in fact convinced that the last consonant , the R , in the Germanic words, has been added later. They link it to the Greek word "etos" that is seen is entry E 0307 (Hebrew 0194). This word means "year", and the expressed conclusion is that a "Widder" originally meant " yearling ". In the same way the word " ‛attud " might be related, be it a bit far off, to " ‛et ", seen in entry E 0307 (Hebrew 0194). Thus a "ram" as "attud" would mean the same, or also "just ready, just mature" for his function. This is in fact not impossible, but far from certain.
Note:
- Hebrew. The root "
ע
ת
ד , Ayin, Tav, Dalet " of this entry carries some meanings that give support to the supposition of the previous paragraph. The intensive form " ‛ittèd " stands for " to procure, make ready" and the reflexive form " hit‛attèd " says "to be determined". A one year old ram has had the right time to be prepared and ready for his "task". And the word " ‛atid " says "ready, provisions".
Note:
- Proto-Semitic. This Hebrew word has sister words in Akkadian "atūdu = he-goat" and Arabic "‛atūd = he-goat". The root may well have been present in Proto-Semitic "* ע ת ד" .
Note:
- Proto-Germanic. In West-Germanic and East-Germanic the words for "wether" begin with a consonant "W", in North-Germanic with a consonant "V", that has the same pronunciation. The following vowel mostly has a long or short sound "E", that in Swedish and Danish is spelled "Ä". Old Franconian "wither" and High German "Widder" have a vowel "I" that was already present in Old High German "wider". This "I" is a specific development out of earlier "E" . Gothic "widrus" says "lamb" and thus is not identical in meaning.
The following consonant is mostly "D", that in English and its predecessors has become, as so often is the case, a "TH". The same happened in Old Franconian. The final consonant "R", preceded by a dull "E" or other vowels according to the characteristics of each language, represent the shaping of a noun, the same way we see in English "baker = he who bakes". The probable Proto-Germanic form was "*W E D e R-".
Note:
- Indo-European. It has been tried to link the Germanic words for "wether" to Latin "vetus = old", on the basis that Latin "vitulus = calf" would really mean "yearling". One of those nice sounding idea's that have no basis. Calfs are younger than a year and in many languages, as soon as they become yearlings, they are no more calves but get other names.
We have no indications from outside Germanic and a hypothesis for Indo-European is hard to make.
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| Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 04/10/2012 at 17.41.43 |
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