E 0532          LESAN

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

H 0552          ט ק ל

Concept of root : collecting

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ט ק ל

laqath, liqqèth

to collect

Related English words

to collect, Old English lesan

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ט ק ל

laqath, liqqèth

to collect

l . q . t

Greek

λεγω

lego

to collect

l . g < l . k

Latin

lego;

lectum

lego;

lectum

to collect;

collected

l . g < l . k;

l . c (t)

Dutch < Middle Dutch

lezen

<

lesen

lézen

<

lésen

to collect

l . z

<

l . s

German

lesen

lézen

to collect

l . s (l . z)

 

 

Proto-Semitic *LAQATH < "LAQ --- *LĒG- Indo-European

 

 

A simple combination of two consonants, as in this case with "L-G/K", can have a number of meanings. In fact Greek "lego" means "to collect", but also "to talk". But if we find one specific meaning with similar roots in various languages, the kinship becomes obvious.

 

We believe the similarity may go even deeper. In entries GR 1207 (Hebrew 0547 , lakhad) and RU 1269 (Hebrew 0550 , laqagh) we saw Hebrew roots beginning with "L K" and "L Q" in words with a message of taking, seizing etcetera. And they had their relatives in some European languages. It is very probable that they have a common origin with "laqath".

 

 

Note:
  • Hebrew has shifted a bit between Q, the unchangeable "K-sound" and K, the changeable consonant that can become KH in Hebrew and many other things, like S and TSH in other languages in Europe.

 

Note:
  • Hebrew This root "ל ק ט , laqath, L Q TH , to collect" is sometimes seen as related to "נ ק ט , naqath, N Q TH = to take". But this latter root should rather be seen as related to " ק ט ף, qathaph Q TH P = to pluck off ".

     

    Looking into this, we find a two consonant "L Q" and a two consonant "TH P", both carrying the basic meaning of a kind of taking. In "L Q TH" a third consonant TH has been added as an extension to express a certain way of taking, specifically a "picking up". In "N Q TH" a prefix "N" has been added and in "Q TH P" an extension is seen. The prefix "N" is frequent in Hebrew and does not fundamentally change the message of a root. There are many examples of this. In this case "N Q TH" says simply "to take", though in Post Biblical Hebrew the intensive form "niqqèth became "to gather, collect". Intensive forms may be used to express iterativity or repeating.

     

    Not only in Hebrew or Semitic, also in Indo-European languages a general concept like that of "to take" can be subdivided and expressed in many ways . The third consonant "P", added to "Q TH" ( to take) in order to express a more specific way of taking, led to the meaning of "to pluck off".This must have happened already in Proto-Semitic, as the root with this message is also found in Akkadian, Arabic and Aramaic, besides in Hebrew.

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic. This root is seen in various Semitic languages. Aramaic and Syriac have "ל ק ט , leqath = to pick up, glean, gather, collect". Ugaritic uses the same root for "to pick up" and so does Arabic "laqatha", serving all the variations of Hebrew. Then there is a cognate in Akkadian "laqatu = to sweep away".The root was probably in use in Proto-Semitic "*ל ק ט , L Q TH". The mentioned older and shorter two consonant combination "L Q " should naturally have been present in Proto-Semitic.

 

Note:
  • Latin. We have shown also the past participle of "lego (infinitive legere)" that is "lectum", and the T may make us think of a more thorough similarity with "laqath", but that is not so. The T in "lectum" is part of the suffix that shapes that participle.

     

    This Latin verb has composed verbs that have found their way into modern languages, like in English "collect" an "elect".

 

Note:
  • English "to collect" comes, indirectly, from the composed Latin verb "colligo, colligere, collectum". The same word is present in many modern European tongues, especially in a word like "collection" and its sisters.

 

Note:
  • Germanic with this root has done the same trick we often see in Russian. A K-sound in other languages corresponding with Z or S (in German pronounced Z) in Germanic.

     

    It is as well possible that the Germanic words like "lesen" we find in this entry, and that have their rightful place also in entry E 0351 (Hebrew 0250) are not related to the Greek and Latin words "lego".

 

Note:
  • German and Dutch have a particular meaning attached to words that are identical to the above mentioned ones , that is "to read", wrongly seen as of common origin.

 

Note:
  • Proto-Germanic . About all Germanic languages have in common a first consonant "L" , followed by a vowel "E" and a second consonant "S", that sometimes becomes "Z", be it in pronunciation ( German "lesen, lezen") or also in spelling (Dutch "lezen"). The probable Proto-Germanic form is "*L Ē S-".

 

Note:
  • Indo-European . Germanic, as just seen, has a final " S " instead of the " G " found in Latin and Greek. Besides this, there seems to be little or no useful information. The existing hypothesis for Indo-European of "*L Ē G-" seems right. Remains the question mark why in this case Germanic has behaved somewhat like following "satem-centum". The probability is that already in Indo-European there was as well the version "*L Ē S-".

 

 

 

 

 
Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 04/11/2012 at 17.26.30