E 0452          HOF

The Old English word " hof " is of Germanic origin .

H 0462            ה ו ח

Concept of root : protected settlement

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ה ו ח

ghawwa

camp, village

Related English words

Old English hof

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ה ו ח

ghawwa

camp, village

gh . w .

Old English

hof

protected, fenced place of settlement

h . f

Old High German

hof

hof

protected, fenced place of settlement

h . f

Middle Dutch

hof, hoeve

hof, huve

protected settlement

h . f ;

h . v

 

 

Proto-Semitic *GHAWWÀ --- *HŎF- Proto-Germanic < "KŎP- Indo-European

 

 

The fundamental element of these roots is that a protection exists around or for the place where people have settled or have their activities. In Europe that often became the place where a powerful lord lived. Thus it has in both German and Dutch acquired those same meanings that in English were given to the word "court" . Court of a King, Court of Law, Inner Court. Meanwhile it had been used often to say just "garden", if the garden was well protected, like by a wall.

 

The development may have been very gradual and some side tracks may have been practised, like in Old English and Old Norse, that have used "hof" and "hov" also to indicate a "temple". The "may" is due to the possibility that Viking "hov" indicates temples that were built on a height, and the root might be a different one.

 

Probably the general development of the meaning of "hof" has gone hand in hand with that of French "court" .

 

 

Note:
  • Hebrew pronunciation of the letter "waw" can vary, or rather the words written with that letter, can vary much in pronunciation. In brief words like "ghov", "ghog" there is a vowel. But in the word "ghawwa" of this entry we see a consonant " W ", even pronounced double : "ghaWWa". But it still remains the same original element, that can re related to Indo-Europen " O " like to Indo-European " W ".

 

Note:
  • German "Hof" should not have any link with a hypothetical Indo European root " *leu " for " to bend", as sometimes is supposed.

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic. There seems to be no evidence on which to base a hypothesis. Yet in such cases the origin of the Hebrew root may anyhow well lie in Proto-Semitic: "*ח ו ה , GH W H". That is what we suppose now.

 

Note:
  • Proto-Germanic. In older languages one sees Old Norse, Old Frisian, Old English, Old High German and Middle Dutch with identical words "hof" and some variations, carrying narrowly related meanings. Probably Proto-Germanic had "*H O F-. The fact that Proto-Germanic "*hof" is related to Greek "kèpos", is in itself not sufficient reason to suppose a Proto-Germanic "*ghof".

     

    As seen in Dutch with "hof" and "hoeve = farmstead", besides the word "hof" that is present in many Germanic languages, there are lengthened versions in for example Old Saxon "hōva", Old High German "huoba" with what can be considered an extended meaning. Proto-Germanic probably had already this meaning of "farmstead, defined property " as "*H Ō V E-".

 

Note:
  • Greek has a related word in " κηπος, kèpos = garden, enclosed ground", ( also καπος, kapos), with the modern pronunciation of "kipos". This same word indicates also the enclosed ground in which the Olympic contests were held".

 

Note:
  • Indo-European. Outside Greek and Germanic we have little information. There is Albanian "kopsht = garden". It is difficult to establish a solid hypothesis for Indo-European, but on the basis of Greek, Germanic and Albanian "*K Ŏ P-" is a possibility. We give this indication in the comparison above.

 

 

 

 

 
Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 28/10/2012 at 12.24.49