E 0469          HURRY

The word " hurry " is of Germanic origin .

H 0573            ר ה מ

Concept of root : hurry

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ר ה מ

mihèr

to hurry, to cause to hurry

Related English words

hurry

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ר ה מ

mihèr

to hurry,

to cause to hurry

m h r

English

hurry

hurry

h . r

Middle Dutch

hurre, horre

hǔrre, horre

come on, at it, get going

h . r

 

 

Proto-Semitic *MAHAR < *HAR --- *HŬR- Proto-Germanic

 

 

Now and then English is the European and Germanic language that has remained nearest to Hebrew. In this case the similarity can be seen as in the Hebrew root "M H R", the first letter, M, is a prefix and the second part "H + R" in itself carries a meaning near to that of the English relative "hurry". And in fact we find also the Hebrew verb " ח ר ץ , gharats " that also means "to hurry, make a hurry". In this second verb and root the initial consonant (the one at the right), ח ghet, can be seen as a stronger version of the consonant ה , that sounds like English " H ".

 

In fact we can frequently see in Hebrew a GH(et) developed out of a H(é). So the existence of "gharats" might confirm that also "H R" had a.o. an original meaning of "hurry".

 

On the other hand we see a Hebrew root "R W TS", with a verb pronounced "ROTS", for "to run". This might give things a more complicated look again, though it does not affect the supposition of similarity and of common origin of this entry.

 

Luckily we find another verb still, " ח ר ד , gharad ", that has various meanings, among which according to some scholars also "to hurry".

 

 

Note:
  • English "to hurry" lives without any etymological explanation. Some say it is an imitative sound. But the similarity with Hebrew shows things are different.

 

Note:
  • Middle Dutch "hurre" is an isolated word as well , but its pure existence reinforces the supposition of common origin between Germanic and Hebrew. There is also a verb "horten" in Middle Dutch, that indicates especially a fast and litterally running way of attacking, as well as the inciting of a horse, besides violent pushing etcetera. This confirms an old root "H R" related to the Hebrew one, used for a number of specific cases of fast and hurried action. The third consonant of "horten", the T, is a normal instrument in Germanic for the confirming or intensifying of the meaning of a root.

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic. We have no information from other languages that would allow a hypothesis, as one finds a root "M . H . R" in other Semitic languages, such as Syriac, Arabic and Ethiopian to mean " to be skilled, practiced.", but no indication with the specific message of "hurry".

     

    Yet the Hebrew verb with the meaning of "hurry" is well developed, with the further forms "nimhar = he hurried, was anxious", "hitmahèr = became faster", "mahèr = speedily, in hurry" and "meherà = haste, hurry; hastily, speedily". It is probable that this was based already on a Proto-Semitic root "*מ ה ר, M . H . R".

     

    The other Hebrew root with the meaning of "to hurry", mentioned before, "ח ר ץ , GH . R . TS, gharats " makes clear that the two consonant unit "GH R", originally " H . R", carried already the message of "hurry". Thus Proto-Semitic probably used a two consonant root "*ה ר ה , harà " .

 

Note:
  • Proto-Germanic. To the information from Middle Dutch and English may be added Middle High German "hurren = to hurry". Further in the Nordic languages the word "hurtig" stands for "fast". Here "-ig" is a suffix and the message is carried by the first part "hurt-". It is probable that this Nordic word together with the West Germanic ones go back to a Proto-Germanic "H Ŭ R-" or "H Ŭ RT-". Well known is the Norwegian "hurtigruten", that sails all the way north along the coast.

 

Note:
  • Indo-European. From other Indo-European groups than Germanic we have no information about possible cognates. The comparison remains between Semitic and Germanic, which is a frequent phenomenon.

 

 

 

 

 
Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 06/11/2012 at 11.22.28