E 0853          SOUFFLÉ

The word " soufflé " is a loanword from French .

H 0660            ף ש נ

Concept of root : to blow

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ף ש נ

nashaph

to blow

Related English words

soufflé, from French

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ף ש נ

nashaph

to blow

n . sh . ph

Italian

soffiare

soffiare

to blow

s . f (y)

English

soufflée

soufflé

s . f (l)

 

 

Hebrew *NASHAPH --- *SOFF-I-ARE Italian

 

 

This entry seems strictly related to number E 0622 (Hebrew 0659), and is also to be seen in relation with number E 0854 (Hebrew 0871) . As to E 622, "to blow" and "to respire" , are rather like "exhaling" and "inhaling" . The difference would be that Hebrew instead of the Latin prefixes "in" and "ex" uses a differentiation of suffixes, that are the "third consonants" M and P.

 

The similarities that are discussed in entry E 0622 (Hebrew 0659) might thus be considered as inserted here as well, even if we do not repeat them. We chose to have anyhow a separate entry in order to elaborate the possible similarity with Italian "soffiare". We use a kind of conditional because the picture gets more complicated, we regret. It remains anyhow possible that our "nashaph" is the result of a metathesis of "naphash".

 

Note:
  • Italian and Hebrew As we will elaborate hereunder, the common origin of the words that seem to have a similarity, remains an uncertain hypothesis. We will maintain the entry only on account of the similarity with the European words quoted in E 0622 (Hebrew 0659).

 

Note:
  • Hebrew offers us on a plate another word, that means "lip" as well as "language": " ש פ ה" , saphà ". If the N of "nashaph" in this entry is a prefix as it now seems to be, we have a different origin from that of the previous entry "nasham". One has to do with the breathing done with the nose, the other with the blowing done through the lips.

     

    We find it interesting to see that the words for "language" in European are based on the "tongue" as organ, but that Hebrew uses both the word for "tongue (lashon)" and that for "lip (saphà)" to express the concept of language. And the usual one is "saphà".

     

    The uncertainty remains considerable. If "nashaph" and "nasham " are related, the similarity of this entry between "nashaph" and "soffiare " does not indicate a common origin . The decisive point may be that we see for " to blow" , which is done with the lips, "nashaph", or "N" + "SHAPH" , as the lip is "saphà", whereas "nasham" says " to breathe", which is done with the nose. But in Semitic there still has grown some confusion between these two ways in which man deals with air, as we see in Judaic Aramaic both meanings , " to blow" and " to breathe", for "nashaph". To all this may be added that Hebrew has a second similar verb for " to blow", that is "nashav", spelled of course with a final "B".

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic. Proto-Semitic is considered to have used the same root seen in Hebrew , but we do not have evidence of this. There are various related roots that probably were used in Proto-Semitic: "* נ ש ם , N SH M", "* נ פ ש , N P SH" and "* נ ש ב , N SH V". An older two consonant root "* נ ש ה , N SH + accentuated vowel", presumably was present.

 

Note:
  • Italian "soffiare", according to the current opinion, comes from Latin "sufflare = to inflate", litterally regarding the cheeks and figuratively for angryness versus one’s wife as well as in the sense of "boasting". The snack is that this word is seen from Plautus onwards ( after 200 common era ). In Classic Latin "flare" did not exist, but only "flatare" and this word did not typically mean "to blow". There is no clarity and perhaps some confusion came about by Varrus using the word "flatus" for "stink" (cf. English flatus) and the creativity of Plautus. The hypothesis of a common origin stays void and the problem of the etymology of Italian "soffiare" remains.

 

 

 

 
"...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: 14/11/2012 at 11.50.33