E 0408          HADDOCK

The fishname " haddock " is, via Norman"haddok", of unknown origin .

H 0309             ג ד

Concept of root : fish

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ד ג ;

ד ג ;

ד ו ג ;

dag;

dag;

dawwag < *dog

fish; n

to fish; n

fisherman

Related English words

haddock

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ג ד

ג ד

ג ד ו

dag;

dag;

dawwag < dog

fish;

to fish;

fisherman

d . g;

d . g;

d . w . g

Middle Dutch

dog

dogger

dogh,

doggher

cod,

fisherman

d . g

English

haddock

haddock

d . ck

 

 

Proto-Semitic *DOG --- *DŎG Indo-European

 

 

Dogger Bank is known to the English as a splendid fishing ground in the North Sea, where also much cod could be fished, besides haddock and herring. It says "the bank (lower water) where the cods live".

 

 

Note:
  • English. Old English had "haddok, and Norman French "hadoc". This sounds exactly like Hebrew " hadog = the fish", but we would not try to give that as the etymology. Wrong is also the supposition that "hadoc" would come from an older French "(h)adot". If that ever existed it was an alteration itself .

     

    No etymology is found for "cod". Somebody has said it means "bag", because there existed a word "cod" for bag, that is still regionally used for "scrotum". But the problem is that a cod does not look like a bag at all. Another odd supposition we might make is that the English turned around the Dutch word "dog", into " cod " , but also that would be uncommon.

 

Note:
  • Hebrew and Dutch. We find the word for "fish", as it says in Hebrew, used for some specific but very abundant fish in Dutch and in fact also in English. A haddock in Middle Dutch is not far off, but is a "dorsch". The old pronunciation would have been like "dorsg", with RS inserted in the older word "dog".

     

    In the Mediterranean Sea the cod and haddock were unknown. In the North Sea they were the fish "par excellence". This explains the difference in use in this similarity.

     

    In Hebrew various words that have to do with fishing are based of the root of this entry. And as well in Middle Dutch this is the case . A "dogge" is a fishing boat and a "dogger" a fisherman using a trawlnet. This confirms our similarity. In English a "dogger" was a fishing boat, but the word seems to be out of use.

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic. Proto-Semitic probably used the root we see in Hebrew that is also found in Ugaritic : "*ד ג , D G". There may well have existed an older root "*ד ו ג , D W G", with the "W" in practice often pronounced as "O" : "dog". In many cases a middle consonant " W " or middle vowel " O " disappears in Hebrew.

 

Note:
  • Indo-European. We find a hypothesis of "*DG'HŪ-", that looks attractive. It is based among other things on Greek.

     

    Greek has the well known word "ιχθυς , ikhthüs = fish". The initial " I " is considered a neutral prefix. This would leave a root that might go back to a "*K D U", remembering somewhat English "cod". Earlier a metathesis would have caused a change from an older "*D W K ", nearer to Hebrew. This remains quite uncertain, though not impossible.

     

    Armenian has "dzuk-n = fish. This is a reality that gives a little bit of support, especially ogether with Germanic .

     

    Proto-Germanic, be it on the basis of English and Dutch , may indeed have had a "*D Ŏ G-".

     

    Baltic gives a Lithuanian "žuvis", in which the final "-is" is a suffix.

     

    The material is limited, but not absent, and a hypothesis of "*D Ŏ G-" can be made for Indo-European.

 

 

 

 
"...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: 13/10/2012 at 17.27.50