E 0612          NAME

The word " name " is of Germanic origin

H 0626            ם א נ

Concept of root : solemn speech

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ם א נ

ם א נ

ם ו נ

na’àm;

ne’um;

nom

solemn speech;

oracle;

to speak

Related English words

name

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ם א נ

-

ם א נ

ם ו נ

na’àm;

-

ne’um;

nom

solemn speech;

oracle;

to speak

n (‘a) m,

n (‘u) m; n (o) m

Greek

ονομα

onoma

name, word, phrase, speech, address

(o) n (o) m

Latin

nomen

nomen

name ,

word, title , concept

n (o) m . n

English

name

name

n . m

Old Indian

naman

naman

name

n . m

Old Persian

naman

naman

name

n . m

Lapponian

namma

namma

name

n . m

Finnish

nimi

nimi

name

n . m

Ostyak

nem

nem

name

n . m

Middle Dutch

name;
noemen

name;
numen

name;
to name,
inform
address

n . m;n (o) m

 

 

Hebrew *NOM --- *NŌMĔN Indo-European

 

 

All the mentioned groups of languages use and have developed words on the basis of this same root, " N . M " of this entry .

 

 

Note:
  • Greek and Hebrew. The great number of messages carried by the Greek word "onoma", when confronted with those of Hebrew "na’am" make a common origin quite probable. Later on, European languages have concentrated on the modern meaning of "name", whereas the Hebrew root has let most of the ground to other roots. In Modern Hebrew "na’àm" refers to the pronouncing of an (official) speech.

 

Note:
  • Greek "onoma" is composed of a confirming prefix "O" with the original root "*N (O) M" and a suffix "A" for the formation of a noun.

 

Note:
  • Latin, besides the abovementioned meanings, is rather near to Germanic, or English, in the use of the noun " nomen ", that shows a number of variations that are well known to the English reader regarding the word " name " .

 

Note:
  • Latin has a final N that lacks in various other languages. This is seen as having originated in Umbrian and the Romans have adopted it. Consequently they considered this as part of the root, and the other cases became " nominis, nominem, nomine ".

     

    But also in other groups of languages this final N is seen as a suffix to shape a noun . Examples are Old Indian and Old Persian .

 

Note:
  • Finno-Ugrian. This group of languages, considered as quite distant from Indo European and of course Hebrew , yet has this same root " N . M " for the concept of " name ". The relative words cannot be loanwords, as they are found in Lapp(onian) and Finnish, as well as in Ostyak, that is spoken in Siberia, east of the river Ob .

     

    This is an important reason for the thesis of common origin of Finno-Ugrian and Indo European .

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic. Regretfully we have no information from other Semitic languages. Arabic "naiama = he whispered, groaned, sighed" is far off in meaning. A root "N O M" besides for "to speak" is found for "to be drowsy, slumber". But a combinationm of the two mentioned roots in Hebrew is a clear indication of an origin in old language, that is Proto-Semitic : "* נ ו ם , N W M, nom".

 

Note:
  • Middle Dutch , as often nearer to Hebrew, has the noun "name" and the Verb "noemen", with the roots "N . M" and "N (O) M. Seen the fact that Hebrew and Greek use the words of this entry also to express "speech, address" it is interesting to know that Middle Dutch "noemen" also stands for "to inform officially, address".

 

Note:
  • Germanic has a number of versions that also show an N. But in the case of Gothic this N is just the very common N of plural forms. Singular is " namo" in Gothic, Old High German and Old Saxon. Old English has " nama" . Yet in Swedish we find " namn" for " name " . This form developed in Old Swedish out of earlier " nafn " , a form also found in Old Norse and Old Danish . It has remained in Icelandic . There is no explanation why Old Nordic tongues had this "nafn" instead of "nam-" .

 

Note:
  • Proto-Germanic. Most older and newer Germanic languages use the combination "N A M" to say "name", as in Old English "nama" and Gothic "namo". In several cases a second "N" follows after the "M", The Nordic tongues have "NAVN (Danish, Norwegian)", "NAFN (Old Danish, Old Norwegian, Old Swedish ) and "NAMN (Old and New Swedish). "N" after the "M" is also seen in Gothic cases as the accusative plural "namna". The "M" is then seen as having becoming, "B" and "V" as well as "F" in Scandinavian. It must be noted that a vowel "U" or "O" is found in the verbs for "to name" in Dutch, Middle Dutch and Middle Low German. The probable Proto-Germanic form is "*N Ā M . N", with possibly as well a verbal form "*N Ō M-".

 

Note:
  • Indo-European. There is a hypothesis "*(e)nomen-".

     

    Celtic. An initial vowel is found in Old Irish "ainm-= name", and the plural "anmann= names". Other languages are rather different from the origin, like Old Cymric "anu, enuein".

     

    In Greek "onoma" the first "O" is considered a neutral prefix.

     

    Old Indian indicates the importance of giving a name when it says "nāma = people" and ""nāman = name".

     

    Presuming that the initial vowels in some languages are occasional developments, Indo-European probably had "*N Ō M Ĕ N-.

 

 

 
Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 11/11/2012 at 12.11.42