E 0814          CURT, SHORT, KARAT

The word " short " is of Germanic origin .

The word " curt " is of Latin origin .

The word " karat " is a loanword from Hebrew.

H 0511           ת ר כ

Concept of root : to cut off

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ת ר כ

karat

korat

to cut off

cutting off

Related English words

short; curt from Latin ; ( karat )

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ת ר כ

karat

korat

to cut off

cutting off

k . r . t

Greek

κειρω

keiro

to cut off

k . r

Latin

*caro;

-

-

curtus

-

*caro;

-

-

curtus

-

*to cut off,

piece of meat;

cut off, shortened

*k . r

-

-

k . r t

-

Old English

scort

short

sc . r t

English

short ;

curt ;

( karat )

short ;

curt ;

( karat )

sh . r t ;

c . r t ;

k . r . t

Old High German

scurz;

scurt

scurz;

scurt

short;

cut off piece

sc .rz

sc . rt

Dutch

kort

kort

short

k . r t

 

 

Proto-Semitic *KARAT --- *KORT- Indo-European

 

 

In older languages, spoken in technically less developed societies, we may find many words that give different specific ways of cutting actions, that in modern languages are expressed by one word only, eventually with the addition of a specification of the instrument that is used. In this entry we encounter the concept of cutting. Today we "cut" with an axe, knife, scissors, razor etcetera. In old times Greeks and Jews used amongst others this specific root "K R" or " K R T" to express special ways of cutting. Shortness originally is also the result of having been cut. This is seen in various words.

 

One of the first remarks is that the Latin verb "*caro" is hypothetical, with a weak basis, that is found in the words "carō" and "carnis" that both mean "meat". The words were used and "carne" in modern Latin languages is used to indicate meat in the general sense, but naturally comprehended also "meat in pieces" and "piece of meat". A piece of meat is normally the result of cutting. This has led to the idea that a verb meaning "to cut" should be at the basis of the mentioned Latin nouns "carō" and "carnis". There is no further evidence for this idea at all . And "to cut" in Latin was "seco, secare". In fact a verb "caro" existed, but it meant "to card", an action of textile fibers that has no link at all to cutting. The other Latin word in the table, "curtus" seems to recall a similar origin, but with a vowel "U": "*cur".

 

It is further useful to see that in old Umbrian "carne" just meant "meat" and that there was another word "karu" for "part", independent from any action of cutting and of the kind of material, with a related "kartu = distributed". We left the verb in the table to maintain the dialogue. A second Latin verb "*caro = to cut" still may have existed, but in that case it has fully disappeared without leaving any cognates and wihout having any relation with the words "carō" and "carnis".

 

 

Note:
  • Greek uses this word more specifically for cutting off hair, also by shaving, and cutting branches. But it has also a quite different meaning, referred to in the entry number GR 1196 (Hebrew 0512) .

 

Note:
  • Hebrew in this word has a root with the "כ" or kaph, but there are other roots with meanings in the wider field of cutting that have a root beginning with "ק" or "koph" , such as "qaragh" that says "to shave", sharing this position with Greek "κειρω , keiro" of this entry that has "to shave" as one of its specific meanings.

 

Note:
  • Greek, Latin and Hebrew show a difference in roots, because Latin and Hebrew have a "T" extra, which we do not find in Greek. This T in Latin "C R T"probably indicates an intensified form of a root "C (U) R".

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic.This Hebrew root is also seen in Moabite "כ ר ת )", and in Akkadian "kurrutu = to cut off" and probably was used in Proto-Semitic: "*כ ר ת , K R T".

 

Note:
  • English, in Old English had undergone a change, the adding of a confirming prefix S . Then Middle English did not like the SC and made SH out of it. The English word " karat " does not really belong in our list, as it is a loanword from Hebrew, not as often is believed, from Arab " qirat" that is a sisterword .

 

Note:
  • Proto-Germanic. With regard to Germanic words as German "kurz" and Dutch "kort", the general opinion is that they have been loaned from Latin that had "curtus", seen in the above table. This loaning would have taken place early, before the general "Lautverschiebung = shift of sounds" took place in German. The presence of the same root in old North Germanic languages is then explained by loaning from Low German "kort = short". But "curtus" in Classic Latin did not have a meaning of "short". Besides this, the dominating vowel in the older and newer Germanic words is an "O" and not the "U", that is found in German and its predecessors .

     

    Older Germanic languages also have words with an initial extra "S" , added without bringing a change in meaning, as in Old High German "scurz" and Old English "sceort".

     

    In the meaning of "to cut off" the root with a prefix "S" is found in German "Schurz" and Dutch "schort" that mean "apron". To this may be added Old Norse "skürta = shirt" and even English "shirt". Another meaning that developed is that of "to lack" as in Old Norse "skorta" and Dutch "schorten". It is very important to note that in Old High German, the root with "SK" also had the meaning of " cut off piece" as seen in Hebrew "karat" with the form "koret = cut off tree trunk".

     

    Consequently Proto-Germanic presumably had two related roots, one with a prefix "S" absorbed into the root and one remained without that "S". Thus "*K O RT_" and besides this already "*SK O RT-".

 

Note:
  • Indo-European.

     

    Old Indian has "kártati = to cut, cut off", besides a nasalized version in which an " Ŗ " has taken the role of vowel :kŗntáti" with the same meaning. "kartana- = cutting off".

     

    Avestan also has a nasalized "kŏrŏntaiti = cuts", but a knife is a karŏta-".

     

    Slavic, with a hypothesis of "*kortŭkŭ", but also "*kortiti", has Old Church Slavonic "kratj-kj = short" and Russian "короткий, korotkij = short" as well as "краткий, kratkij = short".

     

     

    Indo-European probably had the consonants "*K R T", but the used vowel is less easy to define. Possible hypotheses are both "*K Ŭ R T-" and "*K Ŏ R T-".

 

 

 

 

 
Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 02/11/2012 at 15.39.18