E 0441          HERRO, HEARRA

Old Saxon " herro " and Old English " hearra " are of Germanic origin .

H 0440         ר ח

Concept of root : gentleman

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ר ח

ghor

a notable person, lord, nobleman

Related English words

Old English : hearra

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ר ח

ghor

a notable person, lord, nobleman

gh .(o) r

Greek

ηρως

hèros

hero, leader, nobleman, gentleman

h . r

Latin

herus, erus

hérus, érus

gentleman, lord

h . r

Old Saxon

herro

gentleman, lord

h . r

Old English

heorra, hearra

gentleman, lord

h .(o) r

German

Herr

hèr

gentleman, lord

h . r

Middle Dutch

heer, here, haer, hare; heer, here

-

hér, hére, haar, hare; hér, hére

-

nobleman, ruler; distinguished, notable

h . r

Dutch

heer

hér

gentleman, lord

h . r

 

 

Proto-Semitic *GHOR --- *GHĒR- Indo-European

 

 

This is a nice-looking similarity, that may also seem surprising. The difference in vowel is not necessarily decisive. Many brief words received either an " O" or an " A " in the middle in Hebrew . And an " O " as in Hebrew is also present in Old English, as shown above.

 

The GH or possibly original double H is frequently seen corresponding with a Germanic H. In Hebrew it may be a development out of a simple " H ". And as we know, in some versions of Germanic languages, like Flemish, an H is simply pronounced GH, with a sound exactly like that of the Hebrew "GHET".

 

 

Note:
  • Latin soon has abolished this H, as was its habit. Interesting is that the name of the Goddess Juno in Greek sounded "Hèra", like "The Lady".

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic. Noblemen are usually more free then ordinary people and have armed men at their disposal. In Hebrew we see a lengthened root "ח ר ר , GH R R" that says : "to be(come) free". With that same meaning, in Syriac we see with a root "ח ר , GGH R, ghar. Arabic "gharra = he was free". Aramaic, With "ח ר ר , H R R, we see Aramaic "gharar" and, again, Arabic, now with a transitive meaning, "gharrara = he set free, freed". Then we see Ehtiopic "ghara = army, troops" and Amharic "ghara = free, noble".

     

    Proto-Semitic probably already used the same two versions "*ח ר , GH R" and "*ח ר ר , GH R R".

 

Note:
  • The adjective Old Saxon, Middle Low German, Old and Middle High German all have " her " for "noble, of gentle birth, prominent". Old English "har" means "gray, old" and Modern English "hoary" stands for "grey with age", a meaning that in relation with old Myths has led to the concept of "old, venerable". For that reason some scholars see the origin of the Germanic words of this entry in the "fact"(!) that noblemen and rulers mostly are old and have grey hair. But it also indicates the aspects of old dogs with shaggy hair. Sometimes it seems anything goes in etymology.

 

Note:
  • Proto-Germanic. There is a opinion according to which Proto-Germanic had "*GH AI R-". It is quite possible that there has been a predecessor with initial "GH" for the Germanic words of this entry, as this "GH" is also found in Semitic. But it is quite improbable for Proto-Germanic as such, as also Latin and Greek had an initial simple "H".

     

    The Germanic words all have an initial "H" and a second consonant "R". The vowel in between mostly is a long "Ē", sometimes a short "Ĕ" when the R is doubled, as in German "Herr" and already in Old High German "hero". Both have the long "Ē" in the adjectives, "hehr" ( today little used) and "hēr". Old English has both "EA" and "EO". There is an opinion according to which the words with double "RR" would be based on a comparative of the adjective, under influence of Latin "senior". This seems very far off the mark. Doubling of the "R" occurred sometimes when a syllable was added. Proto-Germanic probably had, with a long vowel "E": "H Ē R-" and "*H Ē RR-".

 

Note:
  • Indo-European. A hypothesis for Indo-European probably has to be based on Greek, Latin and Germanic, as there seems to be no conclusive information from other languages regarding this root. Old Indian, besides ásu-ragh = ruler, man in power", has the word "arya- = noble(man)", that has led to the (mal)famous word "Arian". But there is no initial " H " or " GH ", which leaves the relation uncertain. The" Y " in Old Indian seems to be part of the root and this is not found in the group Greek, Latin and Germanic. There is still another Old Indian word, "śū = strong, powerful, valiant; hero", but that is rather related to Greek κυριος, kürios = ruler", indeed a meaning seen in the words of this entry.

     

    Also Avestan "anhū, ahū- = master, lord " is rather far to suppose a common root as some scholars try. And the Avestan word "airyō" refers to the type of language, is related to Old Indian and has the same distance from the other groups. The first mentioned Old Indian word might just have some link to the name of the important Celtic deity "Esus, Aesus.

     

    This means that Indo-European may have had an initial " H" or perhaps " GH " and a final " R" and of course a vowel in between that most probably would have been a long " E ": "H/GH Ē R-.

 

 

 

 

 
"...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: 27/10/2012 at 13.42.44