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E 0334 FIEND
The word " fiend " is of
Germanic origin .
H 0217 ן י ו ע
Concept of root : enemy
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Hebrew word
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pronunciation
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English meanings
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ן י ו ע
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‛oyen
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hostile,
enemy
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Related English words
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fiend
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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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ן י ו ע
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oyen
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hostile, enemy
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‛o i n
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Old English
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fion ;
fēond
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to hate;
enemy
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f i o n ;
f . o n d
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English
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fiend
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fiend
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fi . n d
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Old High German
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fiand;
fien
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fiant
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fiyen
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enemy ;
to hate
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fi . n d
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German
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Feind
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feint
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enemy
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f . n d
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Middle Dutch
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viant
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viyant
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enemy
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vi . n t
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Dutch
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vijand
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veiyant
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enemy
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vi . n d
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Proto-Semitic *‛OYEN --- *FIEN- Proto-Germanic
This entry might require a complicated reasoning. But to put it simply, Dutch "VIJ" that in Middle Dutch still was "VI", corresponds with the Hebrew letters "waw + yod". The first letter of the Hebrew root, "ע", emphasizes the pronunciation of the opening vowel "O" that is represented by the waw: "
ו".
German as often has sharpened the voiced V into a voiceless F. And Old English did the same.
Note:
- Proto-Semitic. There is an opinion according to which the Hebrew word of this entry is based on the root " Ayin Y N = eye" but also " to look askance". So a kind of " eying" negatively that leads to the very strong meaning of "enemy", also if not especially in major conflicts and war. This is possible but very uncertain. And the rather clear similarity with so many Indo European word makes us tend to doubt the matter. With that we have no indication that allows a valid hypothesis for a Proto-Semitic root of this word for the concept of "hostility".
Note:
- Old English, among the various Germanic languages of this entry, is clearly the nearest to Hebrew.
It has the O-sound, be it not in the same position, and still kept a version without final dental in "fion".
Note:
- Germanic and Hebrew. Important is that this way of defining the enemy as " he who hates " is also found in a quite different Hebrew root: "
ש
נ
א , sané " is " to hate " and "
ש
ו
נ
א , soné " stands for "enemy".
Note:
- Proto-Germanic. Old English, just as the predecessors of German and Dutch, has added a dental "D" to the root. The function is the formation of a nominal form of a verb, becoming then noun. This is very often done without having any influence on the message of the root in question. In this case it is considered a suffix to the root of the quoted verbs, like Old High German " fien ". Thus a "fiend" was "the hating one" or "the one who hates (us) ". The verbs are all out of use, but some composite versions have been shaped, as German " verfeinden" = " to become enemy".
This process of the shaping of the noun "fiend" and its sisters may yet have begun in Proto-Germanic, with the noun living on besides the verb. Proto-Germanic possibly had "*FI E N-" as well as already "*FI E ND-.
Note:
- Indo-European. We have no sufficient information from outside Germanic. Sometimes a cognate is seen in Old Indian "pīyati = to taunt, scoff", a thing enemies may do. But it is far from theit basic activity and gives no support for a hypothesis for Indo-European. In Sanscrit an enemy is a "vidvish" and what he feels is "vidvishi = hate, enmity". But here "ví" is a preposition used as prefix. It may express separation, but also confirm the sense of a root, as in this case, with the word "dvésha standing for "hatred, dislike, abhorrence, hostility", but as well the result of such feelings, as "malice, malignity".
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| Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 23/12/2012 at 10.57.10 |
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