0698_palas page

E 0338 FLAT , FIELD

The word " flat "and " field "ares of Germanic origin .

H 0698 ס ל פ

Concept of root : levelling

Hebrew word		pronunciation				English meanings
ס ל פ		*palas; pillès				to level, smooth

Related English words				flat, field, Old English feld

Comparison between European words and Hebrew
Languages	Words		Pronunciation		English meanings		Similarity in roots
Hebrew	ס ל פ		*palas; pillès		to level, smooth		p . l . s
Greek	πλατυς		platüs		flat, wide		p . l . t
Latin	planus		planus		flat		p . l . n
Italian	piatto		pyatto		flat		p . y . t < *p . l . t
French	plat		plà		flat		p . l . t
English	flat				flat		f . l . t
German	flach, platt; Feld		flakh; plat; felt		flat; flat; field		f . l . kh; p . l . t; f . l d
Dutch	vlak; plat veld		vlak; plat; velt		flat; flat; field		v . l . k; p . l . t; v . l . d
Middle Dutch	vlak, plat		vlak, plat		flat, wide		v . l . k; p . l . t
Swedish	flat		flat		flat		f . l . t
Norwegian	flade		flade		flat		f . l . d

Proto-Semitic PALAS --- PLĀT Indo-European

This entry is related to number E 0066 (Hebrew 0697)

The combination "P L / F L" is followed by four different consonants, for example in respectively Greek and partly Germanic ( T), Latin (N), Germanic (K) and Hebrew , but also Germanic (S), in all versions leading to the same result .

Note:

Hebrew . "Flat" in Modern Hebrew is expressed by various roots, but "levelling" as in the Bible by the root "P L S". This root can have a "samekh" as we have shown, but also a "Sin, ש". In Medieval Hebrew this root is used in "pulas = smoothed, levelled" and the adjective "mephulas" expresses ""levelled, paved" In the Bible "miphlas" says "hovering".

Note:

Proto-Semitic. This root is also found in Phoenician and it may have existed in Proto-Semitic as "*פ ל ס , or פ ל ש , P L S".

Note:

Hebrew and Dutch.As indicated in our Note on Hebrew, "Flat" in Modern Hebrew is expressed by various roots, but "levelling" as in the Bible by the root "P L S". Dutch has both "P L T" and "V L K", two different developments from the unknown past of language. But we find as well "P L S" and even also "V L S", with the meaning of an "expanse of water": a "plas" is a lake and "vlaas" is the same, though in practice little used. There is no doubt about the meaning of "sheet of water", as the same word is also used to indicate the sea "de grote plas" and the pools caused in the street by rain. This leads to a remark on Greek:

Note:

Greek scholars see the word "platus" related to "πελαγος , pelagos" as "big plane of water". We mention this word in entry E 0676 (Hebrew 0689) There we see that word "pelagos =sea", that is obviously related to many other words regarding entities of water.

One may remark that it is very evident when one looks at the sea, especially in Greece, that "flatness" is not the impression one gets at all. The water very seldom is really calm. And usually in Greece not even wideness is what one sees, as there are always islands or the coast within sight.

Note:

English "flat" comes from Old Norwegian according to the general opinion. The Dutch word "veld" (also "veldt") has been absorbed into English via Afrikaans, the Dutch language spoken by South-Africans of Dutch origin, called Boers or Afrikaanders.

Note:

Italian and French, " piatto " and " plat " , in our view, should be of Germanic origin, together with all those above mentioned Germanic words. This is often the case if we find no simple clear link from Latin to French and Italian .

It is really very improbable that Greek " platus " would have been the source. The hypothesis that Byzantine influence would have brought " platus " westward, seems a wild guess .

Note:

Germanic uses two different words of common origin. There is some difference of view about where the words with T (flat, plat) came from . Some suppose that "plat" comes from Latin "plotus" , later "plautus" that was the name of the famous Plautus. This gentleman had earned this title because he had wide, flat feet. By the way, the sole of a foot is a "planta" in Latin. And this tongue did not know words with "P L T" for "flat" or "wide".

The other view is that "plat" is linked with Greek "platus", be it not as a loanword but by having a common origin. This might find some confirmation in the meaning of Middle Dutch, that covers both concepts of "flat" and "wide" , but this remains less meaningful if we consider the following . Oddly both versions, " plat" as well as the word "vlak", cover the two concepts of " flat" and " wide ".

Note:

Proto-Germanic. This entry presents basically two English words that may be seen as related: "field" and "flat" .

FIELD. We may try to distinguish between two groups of messages. The first one is that of "field" and "pasture", expressed in many Germanic languages by the combination "F/V E LD", in which the "V" is as usual found in Middle High German, Middle Low German, Middle Dutch and Dutch . Old English uses also "feld", with a variation in spelling as "fæld". The second that of " stretch of earth, land, region, country". This is expressed in Old English by the word "folde". A comparable distinction is found in Old Saxon between "feld" and "folda". Old Norse and Norwegian have "fold" for "earth, land" but also "meadow", and then one sees Norwegian and Danish "felt " for "field, terrain", that in Swedish is "fält" . The distinction between the two groups of meanings is not all too strict, but it probably originated anyhow already in Proto-Germanic that thus had "*F E LD" for "field" and similar objects and "*F O LD" for "terrain" and similar concepts.

FLAT. There is a variation of words with comparable and certainly related roots and meanings:

"P L A T ", as in German "platt" and Dutch "plat", both meaning "flat". Often these Germanic words are seen as derived from Vulgar Latin or Greek ( see the words in our table), via French "plat". Certainly, French and Old French "plat" come from Vulgar Latin "plattus", just leaving out the suffix "us" that the Germanic speaking Franks did not like to use. But Vulgar Latin just did not loan words from Greek, but had as its main sources the existing Latin (that in this case had "planus") and Germanic languages. Besides this the quoted supposition is improbable on account of English and Old Saxon "flat", that should be based on an older development from an original Proto-Germanic "*plat". One must note that Old English used the same root "F L T", with a vowel "E" in a word saying "floor": "flet, flett", that had a sister word in Old Frisian.

"F/V L A D" is seen in German "Fladen" and Dutch "vlade > vlaai" for a flat cake (English flan) and a "vlet" is a flat bottomed boat or a flat floor, again in Dutch.

"P/F/V L A G/K" , as in German "flach = flat" and Dutch "vlak = flat", as well as Dutch "plak = slab, slice".

For this group of words Proto-Germanic probably had "*P L A T-", and through a diversification, especially for derived meanings may have initiated already : "*F L A T/D". The word with final "K" found in Germanic languages, probably was present in Proto-Germanic, in "*P L A K-" and already also developing into "*F L A K-".

Note:

Indo-European. The concepts of "flat, plain" and those of "wide, broad" frequently apply to the same objects, landscapes or phenomena and this is seen in the use of the words of this entry, that are related amongst each other.

Old Indian has changed from "PL" to "PR" in "prá = width, extension". In another word, the adjective "pŗthú = broad, wide", the "R" has taken the function of a vowel which we express by writing "Ŗ". The vowel "A" thus has disappeared. The message is "PR A TH-".

Avestan is very interesting, as it has two different words, one of which has substituted the "P" with an "F". It also has "R" instead of "L" . Thus "frathah- = broadness" and "perethu = wide, broad".

Slavic has a hypothesis "*ploskj-", and Russian "плоский, ploskiyj = wide, plane". The "S" is a common development out of "K" that is seen in Slavic.

Baltic like Germanic used a final "K" and like Latin a final "N" , according to the existing hypotheses "*pla-k-a." and "*plān-a-". The vowels are "A", but also a vowel "O" may have been used as in Baltic, as we see Lithuanian "plōné = flat cake" besides Latvian "plâns = flat". Old Prussian had "plonis = threshing floor", a typical flat surface.

Indo-European probably used already more versions to cover the concept of wideness plus flatness : "*PL Ā T-", "*PL Ā N-"and as well the somewhat later "*PL Ā K-". Diversification through different final consonants in the root have also led to a "*P L . R", found in Germanic and Celtic ( here without initial P/F/V), mostly used with a vowel "O" as seen in modern English "floor": "*PL Ō R-" .

Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 29/12/2012 at 15.30.55