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E 0186 (TO) COME
The verb " to come " is of Germanic origin
H 0786 ם ו ק
Concept of root : raising
and coming
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Hebrew word
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pronunciation
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English meanings
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ם ו ק
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qom
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to
raise, come
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Related English words
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to come
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Comparison between European words and
Hebrew
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Languages
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Words
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Pronunciation
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English meanings
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Similarity in roots
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Hebrew
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ם ו ק
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qom
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to raise, come
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q (o) m
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Middle Dutch
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comen
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comen
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to come, raise
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c (o) m
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Dutch
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komen;
kim
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komen;
kim
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to come;
horizon
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k (o) m;
k (i) m
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Proto-Semitic *QOM --- *KŌM Indo-European
The modern meaning of this Hebrew verb has concentrated on "to raise, get up", also figuratively. But the meaning of "to come" is expressed in Genesis 23: 17 as "to come into possession", a figurative meaning not of "to get up", but of "to come". Also in Genesis 27: 19 the message of "qum-nà" is "come on" , or in Dutch "kom" or "kom nou".
Another very clear example is in the word that in Modern Hebrew is used to express " to come", with a root Beth, Waw, Aleph :
"ב
ו
א". This root is used by God when saying to Moses that he must "Go to the Pharao..". See entry GR 1146 (Hebrew 0287).
The combination of the two concepts of "to raise" and "to move, come, go" is not so strange. We see, not surprisingly once more in Middle Dutch, the verbs "reisen = to (begin to ) travel" and "risen = to come, raise, fall". We see in this root, that is totally different from the Hebrew one, the same combination of meanings. That is culturally important to establish and gives us indications about the way languages develop.
Important are two things. First, that the concept of "to travel = to move from one place to the other" seems to be based on the beginning of such action and consequently comprises both coming and going, according to where the speaker finds himself. The same is valid for the concept we find in "to raise". Today that says "to (make) get up", but in older language like Middle Dutch but also in Old High German, " risan" stood both for "to raise" and "to fall".
In Hebrew "qom" we see both a, limited, vertical movement ( getting up) and a horizontal one (to come), be it in various figurative senses. The conclusion must be that "Q M" or "K M" before the more or less drastic split between Indo-European and Semitic carried the basic concept of "to move (oneself) intentionally in a chosen direction". On that basis further developments took place, both transitive and intransitive ( or causative), in defining and diversifying between various possibilities of directions ( vertical, horizontal ) and destinations (coming, going).
Note:
- Proto-Semitic probably had this root that continued into Hebrew : "*ק ו ם , qom". Aramaic and Syriac have "ק ם , Q M = he stood up, stood" and the same meaning have Arabic "qāma" and Ethiopian "qōma".
Note:
- Dutch "komen", but more Middle Dutch "comen" have as their principal message that of "to come". But the Middle Dutch word still also says "raise, to come up", for which modern language uses the composed verb "opkomen". And also in some fixed expression the meaning is "to go". The composed verb "wegkomen" stands for "to go away, to get away"
The "kim" (German : "Kimme") is the place where the sun rises. Some think this has been derived from a word "kimme = rim". We do not think so: Hebrew "
ק
י
מ
ה , qimà = the rising of the sun" as well. And again in Dutch, the common expression for the rising of the sun is "de zon komt op ( the sun comes up".
Note:
- Proto-Germanic. Nearly all Germanic languages have "kom-", sometimes spelled "com-". There are two particularly interesting exceptions. As is known, in Hebrew a "W" or Waw can be pronounced as a consonant W, F, but also as "O" or "U" or become an " I ". In Gothic we see instead of the vowel "O" the combination "WI" or WU-". In "kwiman = to come" and "kwums = arrival". And in Old High German the verb "to come", besides "coman" and "chuman" also is "queman". Probably Proto-Germanic had the vowel "O" : "*K O M-". But there certainly also existed "*K A M-", still seen in the past forms as English "came" and many others.
As to the relation/developments between "K O-", "KW E-" and "KW A-" one may remark the following. We find words that have been developed out of "KOM" with the prefix "BE-". The meanings of these words go from "becoming, comfortable " to "useful" and more modern "able, capable". There are German "bequem" , Old High German "biquami", Middle Low German "bequeme, bequame", Middle Dutch "bequame". Old English "cwem" and Old Norse "kvæmr" do not use the prefix we see in the others. Finally the initial KW has been conserved in Dutch "kwam = came".
Proto-Germanic probably had various related forms : "*K O M-", "*K WE M-", "*K WA M-", with "*K A M-" coming later.
Note:
- Indo-European. One should keep in mind the relation between "to come" and "to go", two concepts of movement that in older civilizations could be expressed by one root.
Tokharian has "kum-, käm-, pt. *kwäm- for "to come"-
Old Indian for "to go" uses various roots, perhaps interrelated. Among them there is "G A M-" as in "gámati, aor. ágamam" and a conjunctive in which the intial "G" has changed into "J" : "jámat".
Avestan also has an "M" in a root, in which the initial "G" has become, as often, a "J": "jamaiti" for "go(es)" and "-gĕmat = he came, joined".
Latin uses the well known verb "venio, venire" , that is generally seen as having been developed out of an older "*gwen". This would come from a still older "*GW E M". There is no indication for this in Latin itself, so we must leave a question mark.
Indo-European may indeed have had a form "*G W Ē M-", besides an original "*G Ō M-", though perhaps "*K W Ē M-", besides an original "*K Ō M-" is even more likely.
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| Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 24/11/2012 at 15.56.58 |
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