E 0438          HEDGE

The word " hedge " is of Germanic origin .

H 0461            ג ו ח

Concept of root : surround and close

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ג ו ח

ghog;

ghug

to make a circle;

circle

Related English words

hedge

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ג ו ח

ghog;

-

ghug

to make a circle;

circle

gh . g

Middle Dutch

hegen ;

hegge

héghen ;

hègghe

to encircle;

hedge

h . gh

Old English

hecg

hedge

h . cg

Middle English

hegge

hedge

h . g

English

hedge

hedge

h . dg

 

 

Proto-Semitic *GHOG --- *GHĀG Proto-Germanic

 

 

To "encirle" not necessarily implies roundness, neither in this disappeared Middle Dutch word "hegen", nor in its Hebrew cousin that as a noun "ghug" also means "horizon". The aspect of "surrounding and enclosing" is the fundamental one in these roots.

 

Note:
  • English has inserted the D later, as Middle English still had " hegge", like Middle Dutch . Old English had " hecg ".

 

Note:
  • Nasalization A nasalized version is found in Dutch "honk ( Middle Dutch "honc" ) = protected angle" used in the name "honkbal = baseball", the American game in which the Dutch have won the world title and mostly still are number one in Europe. In Scandinavia the nasalized versions "hank" and "honk" stand for "handle, grip", as do German "Henkel" and Dutch "hengsel".

 

Note:
  • Proto-Germanic Some Germanic languages, in part already mentioned in the above table, show the following interesting picture

     

    Middle Dutch : haghen, hegen : to encircle

     

    : hage, hagen, hegge, hege : fence, enclosure, hedge

     

    Old Norse : hegna : to enclose, fence

     

    : hagi : fenced ground

     

    Old Saxon : haga; hago : hedge; fenced ground

     

    Old English : heg(e), haga, hæg, hæcce : fence, enclosure, hedge

     

    Old High German : hag, ahac : hedge, enclosure, town

     

    All Germanic words begin with a consonant "H". The following vowel is mostly an long "Ā", but in Old English and Middle Dutch as well as in modern Dutch there are at the same time in use versions with a long or short "E". This goes both for nouns meaning "fence" as for verbs saying " to fence". In Old Norse we see a verb with "E", as in modern Scandinavian languages. One may suppose that the use of the vowel "E" is a development that has taken place possibly after Proto-Germanic, that thus probably had "*H Ā G-", but some scholars rather see "*GH Ā G-" with the same consonants as in Hebrew. This may well be right. A newer "H" in Germanic may then have developed out of "GH".

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic. This root is also found in Aramaic "ח ו ג , ghog" and Syriac "ח ג , ghog" and may as such have been present in Proto-Semitic : "*ח ו ג , GH W G".

 

Note:
  • Indo-European. Frequently a similarity is found between Semitic and Germanic, without indications for cognates in other Indo-European groups. So again in this case.

 

 

 

 
"...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: 28/10/2012 at 12.15.09