E 0332          FERTILE

The word " fertile " is, via Old French, of Latin origin .

H 0711            ה ר פ

Concept of root : fertility

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ה ר פ

parà

to be fertile

Related English words

fertile

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ה ר פ

parà

to be fertile

p . r .

Greek

φοριμος

phorimos

fertile

ph . r .

Latin

ferax,

fertilis

ferax,

fertilis

fertile

f . r

f . r

English

fertile

fertile

f . r .

 

 

Proto-Semitic *PARÀ --- *FER- Latin, Greek < *PÈR Indo-European

 

 

This entry with "parà = to be fertile, bear fruit" is to be seen in narrow relation with number E 0867 (Hebrew 0712) , that deals with the action of what is fertile : " פ ר ח , paragh = to sprout, bud". The third phase is seen in the fruit itself, that comes last and is called " פ ר י , pěri".
See for this the entry E 675 (Hebrew 0727) .

 

Besides the root "פ ר ה, P R H (accentuated vowel) " there is also פ ר א , P R Aleph" , also with an accentuated vowel of course, and carrying the same messages. There is a rather common view that the Greek and Latin words for "fertile" mentioned in the above table, with their roots "PH R", pronounced "phèr", respectively "F R", pronounced "fèr" are based on an identical root that says "to carry". This would recall the English expression "to bear fruit".

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic in all probability had the same root still found in Hebrew : "*פ ר ה, P R + accentuated vowel". For our comparison we propose the vowels " E " and " A ", but others may have been in use.

     

    Aramaic "פ ר א , per'à" and Syriac "פ ר י , perì" carry the same meanings of "to bear fruit, be fruitful". So does Ethiopian faraya. And Phoenician uses the root "P R" also for "fruit".

 

Note:
  • Latin. Here in "fertilis" the last part, "-tilis" is a double suffix, and the root remains "F R". THe other word, "ferax", has a suffix "-ax". The common view is that the words "ferax" and "fertilis" are based on the important verb "fero" = to carry", with a great number of figurative or derived meanings. Oddly, among those so many we have not seen specifically "to bear fruit". The derivation of a "fertilis" from "fero" remains doubtful, but the similarity with Greek and Hebrew for "to bear fruit" is there.

 

Note:
  • Greek. The last part of "phorimos " is the double suffix "imos". The root is "P R", that is pronounced with a vowel " O ".

     

    For Greek the situation is only little different from that of Latin. Two verbs, "phero" and its frequentative form "phoreo" are considered at the basis of "phorimos". But the meaning of "to bear fruit" is hardly present. One of the very many derived messages of "phero" is the generic "to produce, bear fruit" . And "phoreo" does not have this, but instead a habitual "wearing (a dress", with "phorèma" being such a dress).

 

Note:
  • Proto-Germanic. As already seen, it is obvious that Germanic languages had an original own name for the product "fruit", with the exception of English that had its loan from Old French. In older languages there are Old Saxon and Old High German "fruht" , Old Frisian "frucht" , Old Norse "fruktr, fryktr" Middle Dutch "vrucht, vrocht" and Middle Low German " vrucht". Proto-Germanic probably had "*FR Ū HT".

     

    Related to English "to sprout" older Germanic languages give the following information. Old Saxon "sprūtan", Old Frisian "sprūta", Old English "spryttan", Old Norse "spretta". Proto-Germanic may have had "*SPR Ü T-" or perhaps "*SPR Ū T-".

 

Note:
  • Indo-European. As seen in the above notes on Latin and Greek, the words "ferax", "fertilis" and "phorimos" may have to be considered independent from the mentioned verbs "fero" for a generic "carrying". The information as such is not sufficient for a hypothesis for Indo-European different from Latin and Greek. But we may refer to entry E 0675 (Hebrew 0727), from which an Indo-European predecessor "P È R-" seems possible, also for the actual entry.

     

    Directly clear is the situation in the related entry E 0867 (Hebrew 0712) , that deals with the action of what is fertile.

 

 

 

 
"...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: 19/11/2012 at 15.12.18