E 0346          FOUL,  FILTH

The words " foul " and " filth " are of Germanic origin .

H 0244            ה ל ב ,

Concept of root : to be worn out, decay, become foul

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ה ל ב

-

ה ל ב ו

balà;

-

bolé

to be worn out, decay, become foul;

decaying, becoming foul

Related English words

foul, filth

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ה ל ב;

-

-

-

ה ו ל ב

-

-

balà;

-

-

-

bolé

-

-

to be worn out, decay, become foul;

decaying, becoming foul

b . l .

Greek

βολιτον;

-

βλαξ

boliton;

-

blaks

bovine dung, filth;

lascivious

b (o) l .;

-

b l .  k

English

foul;

filth

foul

filth

f (ou). l ;

f (i) l

Old English

ful ;

fylth

-

foul ;

putrid matter

f (u) l ;

f (y) l

-

Middle Dutch

vuul

vül

dirty, foul, decaying, morally impure

v (u)  l

 

 

Proto-Semitic *BALA > *BOL --- *FUL- Proto-Germanic > *BOL- Indo-European

 

 

The Greek of this entry has the same initial consonant of the Hebrew word. But the English one has F and the Dutch one V . This kind of differences occurs frequently and if the meanings of the words are near to each other they are just shifts during development of the various sister-languages.

 

Note:
  • Greek "boliton " is often translated as just "bovine dung", which is in fact has become the main message it carries. But it also is used figuratively in certain expressions. This makes it more probable that it originally indicated physical and moral filth, like our Hebrew root. There are more reasons for this supposition.

     

    The first two letters, "BO", for some people recall the word "BOUS", like Latin "BOS", found in English "BOVINE". But the rest of the word , especially the L, cannot be explained as saying something about dung or filth. Besides, there is another version, "BOLBITON", that has an obvious doubling of the initial B, after what was the original root "B.L" of the word. Greek is a champion of this kind of doubling.

     

    Explanation of the misunderstanding we find in the fact that there exists a considerable number of composed words in Greek that have as their first element "BO", effectively derived from "BOUS". This may easily have led to concentration of meaning on that kind of filth that is bovine dung.

 

Note:
  • Greek "blax" confirmes that moral impurity is comprised in the scope of this root. It is expressed by the adding of a third consonant, the K. Changing then a K into an X is a good Greek pronunciation habit, probably serving also expressiveness.

 

Note:
  • Hebrew shows perhaps a kind of mix-up between this entry and E 0660 (Hebrew 0245), between the concepts of old and decaying, physical impurity and moral impurity. Perhaps originally only one of the two versions indicated old age, and the other one the consequences of getting old. Finally that other version also was extended to moral attitudes comparable to physical decay. In the form " BOLE’ " we find the same vowel that is used in the Greek and Germanic (English and Dutch) words of this entry . Hebrew itself may well have had an original root "*BOL", from which the actual one has developed.

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic

     

    Note: This root is present in many Semitic tongues, such as Aramaic and Syriac "ב ל ה, bel'à", Arabic "baliya", Ethiopian "balya" and Akkadian "balū" with the same or very similar meanings. This makes probable its existence in Proto-Semitic : "*ב ל ה". And often at the origin of this kind of construction lies a "*ב ו ל, B W L" .

 

Note:
  • Dutch in modern language has developed in many words the vowel "Ü" into "UI". A pronunciation that is not too unsimilar in relation to this rather particular vowel " UI " is also found in French, for example in the "EU" in the word "feuille". It is hard to express unequivocally in our usual existing signs for vowels. One has to hear it and learn it.

 

Note:
  • Proto-Germanic

     

    The sister words in most Germanic languages begin with a consonant "F". The exceptions that present instead a consonant "V" are as often Dutch, Middle Dutch and Middle Low German and , as sometimes also Middle High German "vul, voul". The vowel is a U or Ü, that may change into "OU" as in English, "AU" as seen besides "U" in Old English , or the tipical newer Dutch vowel "UI", that can be compared to the French vowel in "feuille", but without the "Y"-sound. After the vowel there is always a consonant "L". So Proto-Germanic probably had "*F U L-" .

 

Note:
  • Indo-European

     

    There seem to be no clearly recognizable cognates except Greek that indicates a vowel " O "in "BOL-". Words that have been mentioned in the Note on Indo-European in Entry E 0349 (Hebrew 0229) are sometimes seen as related to "foul", but that is uncertain. They do not have a final consonant " L " and seem related to a different Semitic root. The basis for a hypothesis is narrow, but It is possible that Indo-European used a form "*B O L-".

 

 

 

 
Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 23/12/2012 at 15.42.42