E 0551          LUST, LYSTAN

The words " lust " and Old English " lystan " are of Germanic origin .

H 0555         ץ ל , ן ו צ ל

Concept of root : fun and joking

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

,ן ו צ ל

ץ ל ;

latson;

lets

jest;

jester

Related English words

lust, Old English lystan

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ן ו צ ל;

ץ ל

latson;

lets

jest

jester

l . ts

Italian

lazzo

latso

jest

l . ts

Old English

lust ;

lystan

lust ;

to find pleasure, desire

l . st

English

list ;

lust

list ;

lust

l . st

Middle Dutch

lusten

lǔsten

to jest , have fun, find pleasure, desire

l . st

 

 

Hebrew LETS --- *LŬST Proto-Germanic

 

 

There is a simple metathesis of the consonants S and T between on the one hand Germanic with ST and on the other hand Hebrew and Italian with TS. But the development of meanings and messages of this root is quite complicated.

 

Note:
  • English has several words " list " with quite different meanings. The one belonging in this entry is that of " desire, inclination " or as a verb " to please " . It is of common origin with the word " lust " .

 

Note:
  • Proto-Germanic. Middle Dutch shows us here the example with a perfect similarity in message with Hebrew. But the same root has, in various modern languages, given birth to very different meanings that were present in Middle Dutch. The English word "lust" carries the sense of "sexual craving" and is in contrast with German "Lust" that says "pleasure, delight, relish". The German word "lustig" (merry, cheerful) , as in "Die Lustige Witwe" by Franz Léhar, is internationally known. And Modern Dutch , after Middle Dutch as quoted, has developed strongly towards the pleasure of food. The verb "lusten" today has acquired the meaning of "to like" a kind of food.

     

    Improbable that the German root "L ST" (or LUST) would have developed from a shorter one " L T" (or LUT) , without the S , with the basic meaning "to bend" and hence that of "tendency", a root that has led to words that express sadness. Old English had a verb "lutan" that had this meaning of "to bend, incline". And in fact in German and Dutch we find the verb "neigen" with that same meaning and the noun "Neigung" or "neiging" for "tendency". But all this remains too far from the root of this entry.

     

    In Proto-Germanic anyhow this root will have existed and there may have been the form "*L Ŭ ST- with the message of "to jest, joke" and the related meaning of " intense fun or pleasure" .

 

Note:
  • Hebrew has " ה ת ל ו צ ץ , hitlotsets" for "to joke". This verb has a prefix "hit" and has doubled the "ts"-sound. This doubling is a normal and frequent development in Hebrew, probably caused by the tendency to use verbs with three consonants rather than two. The prefix indicates reciprocity or reflection, and in this case "to jest, have fun " for oneself or together with somebody, without this being at the expense of a third person as in the message of the original root "L TS". In Biblical Hebrew there still was the verb " ה ת ל ו ץ , hitlots " for "to jest". This basic meaning was also expressed by the so-called causative form " ה ל י ץ , helits", but that same form also expressed "to lead a conversation" or "to translate (verbally)". In modern language it has become "to recommend".

     

    There is also a quite different meaning, of a root of the same sound but probably not identical of origin, in the Biblical verb "LUTS" or LITS" that says "to boast, brag".

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic. We have no information outside Hebrew on which to base a hypothesis. Sometimes Arabic "lātsa" is considered related, but its meaning "he turned aside" is too far off. It is anyhow possible that the Hebrew root cames from a Proto-Semitic root : "* ל ו ץ, L W TS, luts". Also the later version, found in Hebrew, may have been present in Proto-Semitic : "* ל י ץ, L Y TS, lits"

 

Note:
  • Italian "lazzo" is of uncertain etymology. First there are two identical words, an adjective "lazzo" = "sour" and the noun "lazzo" = "jest". They are considered of different but not known origin. There are some Latin words that are not even found in ordinary dictionaries, for example the verb "lacio" meaning "to lure, entice", which may sometimes be an action of somebody "lusting", but it seems too far off. Remains the total uncertainty about the roads the root of this entry travelled into Italian. There are no indications of loaning either.

 

 

 

 

 
Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 05/11/2012 at 10.29.59