|
E 0942 TROUGH
The word " trough " is of
Germanic origin .
H 0325 ר ו ד ר ד
Concept of root : container
for liquids or loose food
|
Hebrew word
|
pronunciation
|
English meanings
|
|
ר ו ד ר ד
|
dardur
|
cask,
barrel
|
|
|
|
Related English words
|
trough , Old English: trog
|
|
|
Comparison between European words and
Hebrew
|
Languages
|
Words
|
Pronunciation
|
English meanings
|
Similarity in roots
|
|
Hebrew
|
ר ו ד ר ד
|
dardur
|
cask, barrel
|
d . r
|
|
Greek
|
δροιτη
|
droitè
|
tub, trough
|
d r . t
|
|
English
|
trough
|
|
trough
|
t r . gh
|
|
Old English
|
trog
|
|
trough
|
t r . g
|
|
Old High German
|
trog
|
trog
|
trough
|
t r . g
|
Proto-Semitic DŪR --- *DROGH Indo-European
On the basis of a combination of two consonants, "D and R" , Hebrew has doubled the root, Greek has added a suffix "tè" and Germanic has added an H or G, all to shape a word meaning a type of container for liquids. Containers for liquids very often are round, in many places.
Note:
- Greek has this root D R with the O-vowel in a number of words for wet and water. The most basic one might be "δροσος , drosos", that says "water, liquid, dew."
Note:
- Hebrew does not give much information in this case, but there is the old word
"ד
ר
ו
ר , deror", that stands for "drop". This opens another road
to a similarity between Hebrew and Germanic.
Some people believe that "dardur" comes from a verb "dardar = to roll", with a nearly identical noun "dirdur = rolling". We should like to remark that the function of a cask is that of "to contain", not "to be rolled". And a full cask should effectively stay put, not be rolled. Besides this, that verb would not be Biblical Hebrew, but Modern Hebrew based on an Arab word? Arabic has "durdūr = whirlpool" and also an odd specific "dardara = he rolled the food in his mouth", later used for "he chewed".
The similarity between these Arab words and Hebrew in this case regards only the sound, not the meaning and is in all probability fortuitous. One may add another identical word , found in the Bible, "dardar" that stands for "thistles" , from which all rolling is nicely absent. Anyhow we believe that the choice of the newly created Modern Hebrew verb probably has been based not just on that Arab verb, "dardara" which says "to chew" and "to roll one's food in one's mouth". Instead it must have been inspired by the Biblical word "ד ו ר , dur" for "circle", also used to say "ball".
There are also Arab words that are neatly related though. "We have "dāra = he moved in a circle", "daur = circumference" and the interesting word "dār = buildings surrounding a court" that most people know from the town "Dar es Salaam".
Note:
- Proto-Semitic. The information from outside Hebrew refers to the concepts of "circle" and "roundness" and the doubling we see in "dardur" indicates an older "*D U R" . And this is identical to the Hebrew word "ד
ו
ר , dur = circle". Consequently it is not the rolling, but a characteristic roundness that led to "dirdur".
Note:
- Old English was a Germanic language that had not undergone the enormous changes that
the French speaking Normans of William the Conqueror brought to the English language.
Often Old English words are very near Dutch . In this case both are identical : "trog " .
Note:
- Germanic. There is a popular theory about the origin of the Germanic words of this entry. This theory defines its meaning as " wooden trough, hollowed out tree". Then it states that the word "trog" has developed out of the Dutch word "teer = tar", an indispensable means for the building of ships the Dutch were good at. The name "teer" would therefore have been derived from words for "tree". Middle Dutch as so often used various versions for "tar", such as "teer, terre, tar, tharre, theer". The original would then have been "*te *derre", standing for "belonging to tree" in which "*derre" would be an old word for "tree" related to Russian "дерево, derevo= tree". The Baltic words for "tar" are called in to help : Lithuanian "dervà" an Latvian "darva". The dental "D" is certainly nearer to Hebrew and Greek. So this is very interesting as a theory, but the Germanic words for tree had already "T" in Old Saxon "treo" and were not present in Middle Dutch. Besides this, the word "terre" meant "tar", but also "grease" and "dirt" that have no relation to wood and trees. It is still possible that the "TR" in "trough" has a connection with the "TR" in "tree", but it is not related to the non existing "*derre".
Note:
- Proto-Germanic. It must be mentioned that Germanic has developed a related root, found in German "Truhe = chest" that has a cover. Old High German had here "truha" and "trucha" as to "trog" for "trough". For "trough" older and newer Germanic languages all have the initial consonants "TR" and nearly all have the final consonant "G". Middle Dutch spelled "troch" and of course modern English has "trough". Norwegian has "trau" that comes somewhat near to English in pronunciation. Old English "trog" was used for "trough" but also for "hollow vessel, canoe" and even "tray", but for this last meaning it also had with a long vowel "trīg" that again was as well a "wooden board".
The in between vowel is nearly always "O", though Danish has "trug" and Swedish spells "tråg". The exception is modern Norwegian "trau" after Old Norse "trog" and naturally English "trough". Proto-Germanic presumably had "*T R O G-", though some scholars would rather see a vowel U : "*TR Ŭ G-".
Note:
- Indo-European. There is a hypothesized "*druko". There is not much information that would allow to confirm this hypothesis. There is an Old and Middle Irish "drochta" for "tub, barrel", and together with Greek as seen in the Table, that is interesting enough to mention an amended hypothesis "*D R O GH-" for Indo-European.
|
|
|
| Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 15/10/2012 at 15.30.19 |
|