E 0733          (TO)  ROAM , ROOM

The verb " to roam " and the word " room " are of Germanic origin .

H 0797             ם א ר

Concept of root : to roam freely

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ם א ר

ם אי ר

rĕ’em

wild animal, antelope, buffalo

Related English words

to roam, room, Old English rūm

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

      ם א י ר

      ם א ר

rĕ’em

wild animal, antelope, buffalo

r . (‘) . m

Old English

rūm;

-

-

rumlic(e);

-

ryman

-

vast, liberal, loose, unrestricted;

at large, liberally;

to widen, open up

r (u) m;

r (y) m

English

to roam;

-

-

room

to move freely in space;

room

r (o) .m

Old High German

rūmi

rūmi

vast

r (u) m .

German

Raum

raum

room,space

r . (u) m

Middle Dutch

rume

rüme

roomy, with space to move around

r (u) m

Dutch

ruim

r(ui)m

space; large, wide

r (ui) m

 

 

Proto-Semitic *RUM --- *RŪM Proto-Germanic < *RŪM Indo-European

 

 

A free herd of horses in the sister language Syriac is called "ramen'à", which makes it more clear that this root indicates those kinds of wild animals that roam and graze in free herds , mostly in open grounds. There they tread and stamp in masses and there are roots with "R.M" that indicate such action .

 

The Germanic words, that is English and its sisters, express with this root what antelopes do, that is to move freely in abundant space. There we see the similarity with the Hebrew word for "antelope". See the following note:

 

Note:
  • Hebrew. Some see this root related with two others that have an R and an M and indicate "to raise (R M M)" and "to elevate (R W M)" and "to be high, proud". These roots exist and are related to other, different European roots, as is shown in entry E 0467 (Hebrew 0839). But they have in no way to do with antelopes, nor with wide open spaces or steppes where the hoofed animals run in herds. Besides this there are other roots with "R M" that indicate free roaming animals, such as "R Y M = wild animal " and " R M S = move around, stamp, trample, tread" , but also "wild animals, reptiles". We will stick to this message.

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic. This root is seen in Aramaic "ר א מ א, re'emà = wild bovine" and again Aramaic and also Syriac "ר י מ א, ra'emà = wild bovine ".

     

    Ugaritic uses a preceding root "R W M" in rum = white (wild) antelope", just like Akkadian "rīmu" and Arabic "ri'm" . Proto-Semitic may already have used the Aleph, but probably had anyhow an original form "*ר ו ם, R W M", pronounced "rum". This later developed into the versions where an Aleph was introduced and the "W = Ū" was substituted by "Y = Ī", as shown in the various languages. It is difficult to establish a timing for these developments.

 

Note:
  • English " antelope " comes from a Greek word "ανθολοψ , antholops" , of not quite certain etymology . Some says it is a badly changed word for " deerlike ". It came into English via Latin .

 

Note:
  • Proto-Germanic In older and newer Germanic languages we find the consonants "R" and "M" with between them a vowel "U", with a few exceptions. English just changed the spelling but retained the "Ū"-sound in "room". Modern German applied a vowel "A", changing to "Raum". Dutch as it frequently does changed the long sharp "Ü" into "UI", a special Dutch vowel that sounds a bit like the vowel in French "feuille", but without the final "Y"-sound. Probably Proto-Germanic had "*R Ū M-".

 

Note:
  • Indo-European The M as the last consonant is present in all Germanic words and there seems to be little reason to suppose that there was an original root "*rewe". The Indo-European hypothesis is "*REU-". This idea has been created in order to establish kinship via Indo European with Latin "rus, ruris = land, countryside". This concept is not even too much similar to that of wide space in which to roam, as it refers mostly to rural life of himan beings. Yet it may well be of a common origin with the Germanic root with a final " M " . In this respect one might like to think that English"roe = deer", where the M lacks, is related to Latin "rus" . This is not certain, but can not be excluded.

     

    Old Irish uses words like "rōe, rōi" for "wide, level field" and "rē" as "space", also in "time".

     

    Old Indian has "ravah-" for "wideness, space", with "ravas-čarāt" being the animals moving there.

     

    Metathesis. A view is that the supposed Indo-European "*REU < *RU-" is related through metathesis with a "UR-" that is found in words expressing the concept of wide. Such as Greek "ευρυς, eurus", Old Indian "uruh (comp. várīyān !)" and Avestan "vouru". This may be a fact. Remains the problem that we have words without final "M" and words with final "M", related but with this difference.

     

    Consequently there is in this entry one of those not seldom cases in which a similarity is seen between Semitic and Germanic, without full support from other Indo-European groups of languages. And again we can only hypothesize on this limited but anyhow real basis : "*R Ū M-", besides the mentioned "R EU-".

 

 

 

 
"...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: 25/11/2012 at 15.54.47