GR 1171          EREIPO

H 0444           ב ר ח

Concept of root : to devastate

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ב ר ח

-

ב ר ה ח

-

gharav;

-

héghériv

-

to be waste, desolate, devastated;

to devastate, rip down, cut down

Related English words

none

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ב ר ח

-

-

ב ר ה ח

-

-

gharav;

-

-

héghériv

-

-

to be waste, desolate, devastated;

to rip down, cut down, devastate

gh . r . b

Greek

ερειπω

ereipo

to rip down, destroy, devastate

. r . p

 

 

Proto-Semitic *GHARAB, *GHEREB --- *REIP- Greek < RĒP- Indo-European

 

 

Our a bit audacious supposition would be that in the Greek word the opening vowel "E" may be not a meaningless extra, but part of the root. Thus it even may have been preceded by a version with H in front of it, later abolished as is a Greek habit. This is guessing, but the two roots of this entry with identical meanings are anyhow too near to just forget about a possibly significant similarity. And if we look at entry E 0420 (Hebrew 0405), we find a root with an interesting verb with " H . R -", that in its intensive form has "ה ר ס , haras = to overthrow, destroy completely", overlapping some meanings of the root of this entry that begins with " GH . R -".

 

There may yet be a different explanation that we have not found . Greek scholars see for "ereipo" a root "*reip". It is though difficult to find another example of such a root-form "*reip-" in Greek. And a combination of the two consonants R + P with other vowels has meanings that are totally unrelated to those of "ereipo". In our indication of origin we stick to this Greek view.

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic. This Hebrew verb "héghériv" is a causative form of "gharav", already mentioned in our note on Proto-Semitic in entry E 0209 (Hebrew 0443), with the basic meaning of " to be waste, desolate". The root is present in Aramaic "*ח ר ב , gharev = was laid waste". Arabic " ghariba" and Akkadian "gharābu" carry the same meaning of "to be in ruins, waste". The root probably was used in this sense already in Proto-Semitic. "*ח ר ב , GH R B". In the above comparison the supposed vowels are both " A " or both " E ", but different choices may have existed , like " A " + " E ".

     

    The final consonant " B " certainly was in use in Proto-Semitic as suc, and it is little probable that a change of pronunciation towards " V ", as seen in Hebrew, began in Proto-Semitic, as both Akkadian and Arabic still used the unchanged " B ".

 

Note:
  • Proto-Germanic. Based on several Germanic languages, there exists a hypothesis of an original "*R Ī F-" with a meaning of "to tear down, to pieces". We suppose the consonant "F" hs developed out of an earlier "P" and propose a Proto-Germanic "*R Ī P-".

     

    English " to rip" for "to tear down, - to pieces" , together with Southern Dutch "rippen" and Frisian "rippe" , carrying the same meaning, find company in Old Norse"rīfa" and Norwegian "rivne", saying "to tear apart, split". Old Swedish had "rīva = to tear apart".

 

Note:
  • Greek. According to Greek scholars the initial " E " is just a neutral prefix, a frequent phenomenon in Greek though one more often finds an " A " in this role. As root is considered " reip- " that may have developed out of an earlier form with a vowel " Ē ".

 

Note:
  • Indo-European. We have little information, besides Greek and Germanic. But Russian "рвать, rwatj = to tear, rend, tear to pieces" is probably related. A solid hypothesis is hard to specify. A possible one is "*R Ē P-".

     

     

 

 

 
Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 24/01/2013 at 15.27.07