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E 0571 MAST
The word " mast " is of Germanic origin.
H 0621 ט
ו
מ
Concept of root : mast,
pole
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Hebrew word
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pronunciation
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English meanings
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ט ו מ
ט ה ו מ
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moth
mothà |
pole, bar,
support
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Related English words
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mast
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Comparison between European words and
Hebrew
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Languages
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Words
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Pronunciation
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English meanings
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Similarity in roots
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Hebrew
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ט ו מ
ט ה ו מ
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moth
mothà
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pole, bar, support
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m (o) th
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English
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mast
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mast
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m . s t
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Russian
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мачта
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matshta
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mast
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m . tsh t
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Proto-Semitic *MOTH --- *MĂST Indo-European
The similarity here presented is rather limited, but gives yet reason to be mentioned. A possible common origin may exist in words that were not concentrated on the actual meaning of "mast", but dealt with wooden poles that were used for various ends.
The English word "mast" is an old one, with Old Englsh "mǽst" and Middle English "maste". We find "mast" identical in German and Dutch and their predecessors Old High German and Middle Dutch. Oddly, the supposed Indo-European origin is seen as having been "*maiz-do". It seems that a Middle Irish word "maide" for "stick" lies at the basis of this supposition. It should be considered though that a "mast" has characteristics that are quite different from a simple stick. Besides that, the Old Irish word is said to have had a T : "*maite" , not a Z .
The Hebrew word has the same meaning, but instead of the ST in "mast" we see TH. We know that Germanic inserts many S-ses in its practice of development and diversification.
Note:
- Russian "matshta" is sufficiently different from Germanic "mast" to presume it is an independent development and not a loanword. This has to be remarked because Russian has lent many words from Germanic tongues, and among them terms referring to navigation. A major source has been Dutch , on account of the long time Czar Peter the Great passed in Holland to learn personally about the building of ships . In fact the vowel "A" instead of " O " may have been introduced under the influence of Dutch "mast".
Note:
- Hebrew to indicate the mast of a ship prefers the word "toren".
Note:
- Proto-Semitic. We have no information from other Semitic languages for a hypothesis. A similar root with the message of " to slip, shake, totter" found in Hebrew, Aramaic and Arabic has no semantic link to the word "mast, pole" of this entry.
Note:
- Proto-Germanic. Mast" is present in older and newer West- and North-Germanic languages and probably Proto-Germanic used it : "M A ST-".
Note:
- Indo-European.
Latin "malus = standing pole, mast". Oddly "malus" is also an "appletree", with "malum = apple". But few trees do look so little like "masts" and understandibly the words are seen as fully independent from each other. Then phantasy comes in and the thesis becomes "malus < madus < mados < mazdos" and that is like "mast". This all seems not very Latin-like and we must leave it with a question mark. For "malus" an influence by or relation with "palus = pole" is possible.
Slavic has a hypothesis "mostŭ = wooden pole" , certainly related to "mast". But in Russian this word has led to "мост, most = bridge", that is also present in other modern Slavic languages, like already in Old Bulgarian. Russian also has помост, pomost = wooden floor".
Words for "mast" with the vowel " Ă " are also present in other Slavic languages and in Baltic:
Baltic gives us a Lithuanian "māstas = mast", perhaps influenced by German.
Celtic has Irish "maide = stick", as well as Old Irish "matan = stick". As in Hebrew, we find here no " S " in front of the "T". This may be original as we see in Middle Irish admat = construction wood".
Indo-European may have used already the form "*M Ă S T-". An older form without " S " may have been in use. The introduction of a different vowel " O " in Slavic is then a specific development.
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| Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 11/11/2012 at 10.58.11 |
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