E 0125          BRUNNA

Old English " brunna " is of Germanic origin .

H 0292            ר ו ב

Concept of root : spring

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ר ו ב

bor; bawir

pit, cistern; spring

Related English words

Old English : brunna

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ר ו ב

bor

-

bawir

pit, cistern;

spring

b (o) r ;

-

b . w . r

Old English

brunna ,

burna, burn

spring, fountain

br (u) n

b (u) rn

Middle Dutch

born;

born ;

spring;

b (o) r n

Dutch

borrelen

borrelen

 to bubble

b (o) r

 

 

Proto-Semitic *BOR --- *BRU-N Proto-Germanic < *BREU- Indo-European

 

 

The similarity, including the use of the same vowel in Hebrew and Dutch , is striking. The Dutch verb is specifically used for the movement of water from a spring, though it has acquired also other comparable uses. The root is certainly related to that of the entry number E 0124 (Hebrew 0228). It is important to read the Note on Proto-Semitic in that entry.

 

Note:
  • Hebrew gives here a very interesting example of the complicated life of the letter " ו ", called "waw". In the first version of the root of this entry it is used as a vowel O, and the word is BOR, that stands for "pit, cistern". In the second version the "waw" is used as a consonant W. Naturally two vowels are introduced to create a pronouncable and meaningful word, "spring". The diversification of sound plus meaning within the frame of the root is clear. A comparison with another root, that of entry number E 0130 (Hebrew 0231), is useful.

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic. Proto-Semitic had in all probability this same root in use. See also our Note in entry E 0124 (Hebrew0228). Proto-Semitic : "*ב ו ר , B W R", in which the central letter may represent a pronunciation as a consonant or as a vowel, "bor" or "bawir".

 

Note:
  • Modern Hebrew uses this word no more for a well or spring, but to say: "pit, tomb, prison". As we know from the Bible, pits were used to imprison people.

 

Note:
  • Old English uses three words, amongst which we can see a metathesis between BR . N and B . RN .

 

Note:
  • Dutch and Middle Dutch. The noun "born" in modern Dutch has undergone a metathesis and has become "bron". The N is a later addition to the original root. The verb "borrelen" is , quite understandibly, an iterative. It has also had other forms with a T or D inserted.

 

Note:
  • Proto-Germanic. In nearly all languages we find the initial BR, and a vowel "U" , followed by a single or double "N". Dutch as an exception has a short vowel "O" in "bron" and the older "born", that was present in Middle Low German and is also found in German as a second choice after "Brunnen". Proto-Germanic probably was "*B R U N -"

 

Note:
  • Indo-European. The common opinion has a hypothesis of a basic root "*BREU-" for Indo-European. See entry E 0124 (Hebrew0228).

 

 

 

 
"...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: 23/12/2012 at 18.24.05