E 0587          MILL

The word " mill " is of Germanic origin .

H 0587            ל ל מ

Concept of root : to mill, grind, rub

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ל ל מ;

ל ל ו מ

millèl;

molel

to mill, grind, rub

Related English words

mill

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ל ל מ;

ל ל ו מ

millèl;

molel

to mill, grind

m . l l

Greek

μυλη,

μυλος

mülè,

mülos

millstone

m . l

Latin

molĕre

molĕre

to mill, grind

m . l

English

to mill

to mill

m . l

Old English

mylen

to mill

m . l

German

mahlen; Mühle

malen,

 müle

to mill;

mill

m l;

m . l

Dutch

malen ;

molen

malen;

molen

to mill;

mill

m l;

m . l

 

 

Hebrew MALAL < *MAL --- *MĂL, *MĬL Indo-European

 

 

Long shots are risky, and this one is very long. But it may hit! The point is that we do not find translations or mssages that are exactly those of "milling", but a lot of circumstantial evidence in meanings like " to rub, scrape, to move to and fro", besides "to stir up", actions for the grinding of grains before real milling came on. The doubling of the L or L-syllable in Hebrew, that has occurred without changing the meaning of the root, does not influence the condition of a common origin, which looks evident.

 

 

Note:
  • Greek does not use a simple verb with this root, but has only nouns, also "μυλων , mülon" for mill . In order to express the action of milling it has "μυλωθρεω , mülothreo" and a "μυλωθρος , mülothros" is a miller. The fact of the common origin of the root with other tongues is not touched by this.

 

Note:
  • Hebrew. To take away any doubt about the identicity of the meanings of the European and Hebrew roots we can quote the word " מ ל י ל ה , melilà" that stands for "ear of wheat" that is mature ( Modern Hebrew) or ground (Biblical Hebrew).

     

    The root "M L L ", from "*M L" certainly is an old root. Its use is not limited to that of "to grind", but also comprehends "to scrape", "move to and fro" , "to rub", and "to stir".

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic. We lack information from other Semitic languages on which to base a hypothesis.

 

Note:
  • Germanic languages show some verbs with the vowel O, others without it. The verbs that do not have the O, have to use another vowel for pronunciation. Easily an A is chosen. English has an I, that in all probability is a development of the O. German and Dutch have the A in their verbs, but have "maintained" the O ( German U) in their nouns.

 

Note:
  • Proto-Germanic The Germanic languages mostly have "MĀ L-" in the verbs, "M Ē L" in the resulting product and "M Ō L" or "M Ū L" in the used instruments and "M I L" or "M U L" in the acting person. The basic supposition for Proto-Germanic must be a "*M vowel L". The vowels will have varied according to the specific meanings and are difficult to specify with certainty.

 

Note:
  • Indo-European.

     

     

    Hittite "malla-" means "to mill, grind" and is clearly related.

     

    Slavic with hypotheses like "*méltī *melnj, *molnj; *moltj, with Old Church Slavonic "mlĕti can be compared with Russian "молоть, molotj= to mill, grind" and мельница, meljnitsa = mill".

     

    Baltic enjoys hypotheses like "*mal-, *mil-", with Lithuanian malūnas = mill" and "mìltai = flour" and Latvian "milti = flour".

     

    Celtic has a complicated picture, as some words are considered loanwords from vulgar Latin "molina" ( from acquamolina), such as Old Irish "mulenn" and Old Cymric "melin". It is quite possible that these words have just been influenced by Latin, as other related words are considered original Celtic. Such are Old Irish "melim = to mill" and "mlith = to be milled", Breton "malaf = to mill" and Cymric "malu = to mill".

     

    In Celtic languages we see words for the result of the milling, that is flour, expressed with "BL" instead of "M vowel L". Cymric has "blawt, blawd", Old Cornish "blot and Breton "bleud.

     

    Albanian mjeł = flour.

     

     

    Indo-European most probably had the two consonant combination "M . L" in use for the concept of "to mill, grind", but the vowel or rather vowels are hard to define with certainty. "*M A L-", "*M E L-" and "*M I L-" may have divided the linguistic territory of verbal and nominal forms.

 

 

 

 
"...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: 07/11/2012 at 17.42.58