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E 0745 RUIN
The word " ruin " is, via Old French, of Latin origin .
H 0800 ע ע ר
Concept of root : to
frantumate
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Hebrew word
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pronunciation
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English meanings
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ע ע ר
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r‛a‛à
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to
frantumate
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Related English words
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ruin,
from Latin
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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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ע ע ר
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r‛a‛à
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to frantumate
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r (‛) . (‛) .
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Greek
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ραιω
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rayo
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to frantumate
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r . y .
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Latin
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ruere;
ruina
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ruere;
-
-
ruina
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to destroy, tear down,
to collapse;
ruin
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r (u)
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English
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ruin
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ruin
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r (u)
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Proto-Semitic *R‛À --- *RĀW-, *RŪ- Indo-European
The combination "
ר
ע
", Resh + Ayin, is a difficult one for European ears. The R is normal, but the Ayin seems to English speakers a sort of hesitation in speech or in pronunciation. And yet it is very important in Semitic languages and a pleasure to use. This brief combination in Hebrew has been extremely productive, and many roots with diverging meanings have been created with it.
Several of these show similarity with European roots and we have to insert them in our list. Naturally there will be no Ayin in any European word, but one has to see in each example what replaces it or not. In this case that is a " W ", that is either pronounced with a vowel, or independently as a vowel itself.
Note:
- Hebrew. It is useful to remark that there are two more identical roots in Hebrew. One of them means "to make friends with, be associated with", and is related to the following nouns "
ר
ע ה, re‛é = friend, companion" and " ר
ע , ré‛à = fellowman, friend, companion". These are the ones Leviticus 19.18 tells us we shall love as ourselves. The other identical root has a quite different sense : " to be evil, be bad". This is related to the noun "ר ע , r‛à" also "ro‛à". The ways of language!
Note:
- Proto-Semitic. The supposed roots for those other two meanings in Proto-Semitic had just two consonants, the Resh and the Ayin , or : "*ר ע , R . ‛, R Ayin". This brief root is found in Akkadian and Ugaritic for the concept of "friendship".
For the meaning of this entry we lack such confirmation.
Hebrew has here a root in which the second consonant has been doubled : ר ע ע , R Ayin Ayin". This is a frequent phenomenon in Hebrew. Such an extended root is also used for some of the other meanings, like "to be evil, be bad" and "to make friends with" , besides our " to break into pieces, to shatter". Thus for "to shatter", we have no information from other Semitic languages that would support a hypothesis for Proto-Semitic of an original version with one Ayin. So we mention a hypothesis of "*ר ע ע , R Ayin Ayin", with the remark that an original two consonant unit "*ר ע , R Ayin ", nearly inevitably must have existed.
Note:
- Greek. The similarity is so, that we can exclude that this brief Greek root has been derived from a longer one that began with an S, as some think. Not seldom we see an Ayin in Hebrew correspond in Greek with an " I ", that may be pronounced also as " Y ".
Note:
- Latin has two similar verbs "ruere", that have different origins. The "ruere" of interest for this entry carries both the transitive and the intransitive messages of "tearing to pieces" and "going to pieces". This second meaning lives on in the daughters of the Latin word "ruina", such as English "ruin". The N in "ruina" is part of a suffix to form a noun.
The other root, of that other similar verb "ruere", originally is presumed to have been "*KH R (u)" and meant "to storm, rush" .
Note:
- Indo-European.
Old Indian. In "rav-, ru = to tear out, frantumate" there is a very interesting example of using the "W"-group of sounds in more than one way. Also in this case that is either as a vowel ( in "ru-") or as a consonant ( in "rav-", with the help of a vowel "A" for pronunciation).
Slavic has Old Church Slavonic (in a never prefect translitteration) "rŭvo = to tear out", related to "to tear down" for which it may have been used as well.
Baltic with many hypotheses anyhow has Lithuanian "ráju, ráuti = to tear out, eradicate".
Tocharian has added a consonant " S " in various positions. So "rsu-" and "ræss, pt. *ræsw-" mean " to tear out, tear off".
Indo-European probably had the forms as seen in Old Indian. A "*R Ū-" that lived on a.o. in Latin and, with various destinations, a form in which the " W-"sound was a consonant, supported by a vowel " A ": "R Ā W-".
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| Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 25/11/2012 at 16.28.47 |
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