E 0657          PACHYDERM

The word " pachyderm " is of Greek origin .

H 0651         ח פ נ

Concept of root : to swell

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ח פ נ

naphagh;

nippągh;

nippągh;

to blow;

to be blown up;

to blow up

Related English words

pachyderm

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ח פ נ

naphagh;

nippągh;

-

nippągh

to blow;

to be blown up

to blow up

n . p . gh

Greek

παχυς;

-

πυκνος

-

pakhüs;

-

püknos

-

big, fat, swollen;

dense, thick, solid

p . kh;

-

p . kn

-

English

pachyderm

pachyderm

p . ch

Russian

пухнить;

пухлый

pukhnitj;

pukhlǔy

to swell;

swollen

p . kh/gh

 

 

Proto-Semitic *NAP(H)AGH, *PAGHÀ, *POGH --- *PŪKH- Indo-European

 

 

The thesis is also here that the Hebrew initial N is a prefix that has not changed the meaning of the original root, "*P GH". This is a.o. based on the very brief word " פ ה , pé = mouth". Blowing is done with the mouth, if we do not consider the wind. In fact there can be no doubt about this opinion, as Hebrew for "to blow" also uses a verb without that N.
This is the verb " פ ח , פ ו ח , pogh > pagh".

 

 

Note:
  • English "pachyderm " means litterally "thick-skin" and is used to indicate animals like elephants and rhino’s . Both elements of the word come from Greek, where " derma " stands for " skin ". This last word is found in many composed words in English, such as " dermatology " .

 

Note:
  • Greek. The meaning of "swollen" is not the most common one for "pakhüs, but it exists. There are many others, such as "dense, thick, important, rich". The origin is seen by Greek scholars as "*phenkh-", which would mean a temporary nasalization, comparable to the definitive one in Latin "pinguis" ( see hereunder). We see "pakhus" as having its own original "*P A K", related to a "*P U K" at the basis of the word "π υ κ ν ο ς, püknos = dense, thick, solid". At the origin there should have been a "P vowel K(H)-", in which the vowel or vowels are hard to define with certainty.

     

    The word "püknos" in fact has a second group of meanings : "frequent, repeated, numerous". This same phenomenon can be seen in Old Indian, as shown below in the Note on Indo-European.

 

Note:
  • Latin "pinguis" has many meanings, like "thick, fat, fertile", but also "swollen" in both litteral and figurative sense. It is a nasalized form that may have developed out of "*P Ĭ K-".

 

Note:
  • Russian. The two words combined show us that the root carrying the meaning of "to swell" in Russian is "*P Ū KH" . This is fully confirmed by another verb for "to swell", that is the composed verb "распухать , raspukhatj = to swell" . The use of the vowel U brings these verbs nearer to the intensive form in Hebrew , the one that says "to swell".

 

Note:
  • Hebrew "nippągh , to swell" is an intensive form of the basic verb "naphagh". The two versions in the table above, that are based on two different grammatical developments, are both registrated in Post Biblical Hebrew, but that does in itself not mean that they were not already in use in Biblical times.

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic. This root is present in Aramaic and Syriac " נ פ ח, nephagh" . Arabic "nafagha" and Ethiopian "napgha" says "he blew". The same root was probably already in use in Proto-Semitic: "* נ פ ח , N P GH". Also the root without initial "N", as used in Hebrew, was probably already present in Proto-Semitic: "* פ ו ח , P W GH".

     

    ncertain remains in this case if the change in pronunciation of the consonant " P " into " PH = F " may have begun in Proto-Semitic. It is seen in the mentioned words in Ethiopian and Arabic, but in possibly related Akkadian "napāhu = to inflame" and " = smith ( who inflames )" there is an unchanged " P " .

 

Note:
  • Indo-European. Old Indian with a B A H- expresses two groups of meanings. One is, with "bahú-", as in this entry "thick, dense", with also "broad". The other is with "bahulá-", "frequent, much, many, abundant".

     

    Indo-European On the basis of the specified available information, regarding Greek, Latin, Russian and Old Indian, one may suppose that there was a two-consonant root " P vowel K(H) ", with the vowel hard to define with certainty. The possibility of of a "*P Ū K(H)" seems fair.

 

 

 

 
"...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: 28/01/2013 at 17.51.50