E 0421          HART

The word " hart " is of Germanic origin .

H 0503            ר כ

Concept of root : horned animal

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ר כ

kar

ram

Related English words

hart

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ר כ

kar

ram

k . r

Greek

κριος

krios

ram

k . r

Latin

cervus

kervus

deer

c . r v

Old English

heort

deer

h . r t

English

hart

hart

h . r t

Old Norse

hjortr;

hrutr

hjortr;

hrütr

deer;

ram

h . r t;

h r . t

Dutch

hert

hert

deer

h . r t

Norwegian

hjort

yort

deer

h . r t

 

 

Proto-Semitic *KAR --- *KERW Indo-European

 

 

The essential characteristic of these various words stand in their relationship with the words for "horn", that is "cornus" in Latin and "keren" in Hebrew. We remark that the English words "horn" and "hart" are among the very limited number of cases in which a Germanic "H" corresponds with a Mediterranean "K".

 

 

Note:
  • Hebrew. As to the origin of this Hebrew name "kar" for a ram, we doubt very much that this has been derived from a verb "karar". If both words are connected, which is uncertain, things are rather the other way about . The three-consonant verb with the root "K.R.R." has been developed as an extended form from an older root "*K.R" or perhaps "*K.W.R". Various meanings of the verb "karar" are in fact typical for some ways in which a ram may act : "to move to and fro", "to turn about" and "to jump", nearly a description of a fighting ram .
Note:
  • Horns and animals. It becomes not easy to define which came first as a name, the horn or the horned animal. But we see the fact that horns have a third consonant, N, that is not found in the animals’ names. Therefore this N may be a later addition, so that a "horn" is something seen in some animals that have them. If we add to this that the above Hebrew word has no third consonant at all, but also that the same word "kar" is used for the prairie where horned animals live and graze, the picture becomes clearer. We have a look at the various languages.

 

Note:
  • Greek and Latin. Greek "krios" is seen as coming from "kriwos". That means we find the classic "W" extended to "IW" and becoming "I". The same "W" we find in fact in Latin "cervus", spelled as "V". This means that the horned animals from the prairie ( in Hebrew "KAR" ), in Greek and Latin were named by adding a third consonant "W", shaping a root "KRW".

 

Note:
  • Hebrew in modern language uses "kar" for a fattened mutton only and calls a ram "ayil".

 

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic is considered having the same root that thus continued into Hebrew. "*כ ר , K R". We accept the thesis, but we can not give any confirming information for it.

 

Note:
  • Germanic has chosen, probably by changing the K-sound, an H-sound as the opening consonant. It supplies us in Old Norse a rather clear proof that deer and rams are considered as one original group , through the two related words "hjortr" for "hart (male deer)" and "hrutr" for "ram (male ovine)". This makes the common origin clearer.

     

    Besides that, Germanic in naming the horned animals from the prairie or wild grounds, has added a third consonant "T". Thus "H R T" in Germanic corresponds with "C R W" in Latin and Greek, while both are based on the original "K R", found in Hebrew for grazing ground as well as grazing animals. Perhaps the "O" and "U" in several Germanic words are related to the southern "W".

     

    The "J" we find in Norwegian and Old Norse is pronounced "Y"and is a frequent phenomenon in Scandinavian languages . It can be compared with the strong tendency we see in Russian to start vowels with an Y-sound as heard in English "you".

     

    The overall picture is acceptable if we consider that most grazing animals wear horns, at least in their male versions.

 

Note:
  • Proto-Germanic. After the initial consonant "H" Nordic languages have "JO" or a variation of this. English "heorot, heort, hort " may have been based on Nordic influence during the frequent invasions by Danes and Norwegians. Middle Dutch had as usual a variation : "hert, heert, heart, hart, herte" and if we compare this with Middle Low German "herte, harte" and Middle English "hert", the vowel "A" in English "hart" can be seen as a later development.

     

    A different vowel , " I ", is found in some older and newer languages, such as Old Saxon "hirot", Old High German "hiruz, hirz" and then German "Hirsch". Old Norse has a plural "hirtir". We remark that also the well known Norwegian word "fjord" in Old Norse was "fjordr" with a plural "firdir". This means that indeed two different vowels, "E" and "I" may have been used in Proto-Germanic, with a distinction between the two (singular vs plural?) that in later local developments lost clarity. In Gothic the word seems not to be known.

     

    Proto-Germanic probable had "*H E RT-" for "hart" and also "*H I RT-" for some forms.

 

Note:
  • Indo-European.

     

    Celtic gives an indication that is narer to Latin than to Germanic, with Cymric "carw", Cornish "carow" and Breton "karo", all meaning "deer".

     

    Slavic has a hypothesis like "*kŭrvŭ", in which the vowel "ŭ" does not express exactly the original sound that is somewhat duller still. Russian Church Slavic has "krava" and Russian "корова, korova = cow". These words, as names for horned animals are related to the other ones of this entry. For "deer" Russian uses a quite different word, "" олень, korova =oljenj". This word has a quite different, but very important root, that is used in both Semitic and Indo-.European for many h0rned animals. It is also found in the Table "EL" that goes with entry E 0292 (Hebrew 0030). For "bull" Russian says ""бык, buck". Polish has a word "karw" for "(old) ox".

     

    Again Russian Church Slavic has another related word for another horned animal, a roe (well, only the buck has this growth) : "srŭna = roe".

     

    Baltic has a hypothesis not far from Celtic, in "*karw-, *kurw-". Old Prussian "curwis = ox", Lithuanian "kárve = cow", and, interestingly, again Old Prussian with a "satem-centum" effect has "sirwis = roe". Latvian here shows "sirna = roe". Indo-European has a hypothesis of "*K E' R W"-", that seems convincing.

 

 

 

 
"...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: 01/11/2012 at 15.24.47