E 0893         (TO)  SWERVE

The verb " to swerve " is of Germanic origin .

H 0845             ב ב ס

Concept of root : circling

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ב ב ס

sawav

to turn around, wander

Related English words

to swerve

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

      ב ב ס

sawav

to turn around, wander

s . w . v

Gothic

hwerban; hwarbon

hwerban; hwarbon

to walk, go; to walk about, wander

h w . r v

Old Saxon

hwervan

hwervan

to turn, come back, wander

h w . r v

Old Norse

hverfa;

-

-

hvarfa;

-

-

svarfa

hverfa;

-

-

hvarfa;

-

-

svarfa

to turn, turn towards, go, wander;

to swing, proceed, wander;

to turn over

hv . rf ;

-

-

-

-

-

sv . rf

English

to swerve

to swerve, turn around

s w . r v

Old English

hweorfan

to turn around, travel, wander

hw . r f

Dutch

zwerven

zwerven

to wander

z w . r v

Middle Dutch

werven ; swerven

werven;

swerven

to turn;

turn around

w . r v;

sw . r v

 

 

Proto-Semitic *SAWAV, *SAWAB --- *SWERV, *SWERB Indo-European

 

 

It is useful to have a look at our chapter "Where do we turn?", (Hebrew 0001_aa32) in which under number "2" the subject of "to turn" is mentioned. As seen from the table, the Germanic words of this entry have, besides what seems the basic root "W e RV" also "SW e RV" and "HV e RV". But in Indo European languages there is also a root "V e RT", subject of entry E 1015A (Hebrew 1067A, PAGE IN PREPARATION) and seen in English "writh" and "wreath". One problem is that the Hebrew root does not have the R that we find in the Germanic words. This may have been a later development, as more often is seen in Indo-European languages.

 

Then we see that English and Dutch with the same root give each only one of the meanings of the Hebrew one. With that the similarity looks clear and a common origin probable. Both meanings can also be expressed in an approximate way by the word "circling" , if we renounce the idea of a precise circle.

 

About other languages there is some misunderstanding, if Old English "sweorfan" is seen as related. This verb stands for "to file, polish" and "to rub". This has little or nothing to do with "to swerve", even if one can imagine that some rubbing can be done with a roundish movement. Looking at Norwegian we see a bit better the difference : "sverfa" is "to file" (in Old Norse, new language "file") and "sverva" is "to whirl". And, besides all this, Old English also had, specifically for "to turn around, travel" the verb "hweorfan". With that we come to another special aspect .

 

We know that Germanic easily adds a confirming or also athroistic prefix S, and also that an initial S in Latin may correspond to an H in for example Greek . But in this case we have Middle Dutch complicating the picture by presenting verbs that are obviously related, but of which some have and others do not have the initial S we have in Hebrew. And then we saw in Old English an H instead of an S. Also Norwegian has "hvirvel" for Dutch "wervel", that with the verb "wervelen" belongs to an iterative, or perhaps even intensive version of "werven" that is in the table.

 

In Hebrew we find insufficient indications of a turning movement expressed by a root without S but with double labial. "H PH GH" is to turn around ; " ‘(O) PH N" is a wheel, " ‘ (A) V D" is also to wander and " ‘(A) V T" stands for to twist, but none of these has double labials .

 

Note
  • Proto-Semitic This root is used in Ugaritic to express "to go round". Cognates may be Aramaic "ס ו ב ב א, sowew'ā = rim, border" and Akkadian "shibbu = girdle". Proto-Semitic may have had this root in use "*ס ב ב , S B B", and anyhow probably the basic two consonant root "*ס ב , S B".

 

Note
  • Old English has a number of verbs with common origin that all were used to express the same group of concepts, that are "to turn, turn around, change; move, come, go; travel, wander, roam; return. These verbs are "hweorfan, hweorfian, hwearfian, hwierfan". It is possible that their messages originally were neatly separated between active, causative etcetera, but that distinction was not respected. There was also a related verb with an initial "S", "sweorfan", indicating what probably often was a turning movement, like "to wipe, rub, scour, polish" and also " to grind away". Also in Old Norse there is "swerfa" with meanings comparable to Old English "sweorfan". But the concept of "to turn" is seen in the verb "hverfa = to turn, turn around, turn towards; go, travel" and in "hvarfa = to swing, proceed, go around, wander" and of course figurative meanings.

 

Note:
  • Proto-Germanic . There are quite a few words in Germanic languages that have related meanings to that of "to swerve" and Dutch "zwerven", presenting either a similar root or one that has an initial " H " instead of an " S ". And then there are also words that have neither "S" nor "H", but just a initial "W".

     

    Version "S". The initial consonants for the words that thus regard this entry are "SV-" in North Germanic and "SW-" in East- and West Germanic, with a negligible difference, if any, in pronunciation. Only in Dutch there is the for that language common later development into "ZW-". The second set of consonants, after the vowel , is mostly "RV", Exceptions are "RB" in Gothic "*swerban = to wipe" , Middle High German "swerban= to wipe, to whirl" and Middle High German "swerben = to whirl, turn". Then there is "RF" in Old Norse "svarfa = turn over" and further off, perhaps not really of the same origin "sverfa = to file" together with Old English "sweorfan = to wipe, rub, file".

     

    As to the central vowel we further refer to Old Frisian "swerva = to move oneself, wander, rove", Norwegian landmål "sverva = to turn, whirl" and Old Norse "sverra ( without the second "V") = to swerve, whirl". Presumably Proto-Germanic had "*S W E R V-".

     

    Version "H". Proto-Germanic probably had "*HW E RV".

     

    Version without "H" or "S". It remains uncertain which version is older, but we tend to see as such the version with initial "S" that is in this case is not an added prefix.

 

Note
  • Indo-European. Outside Germanic we find little information. There is a hypothetical Celtic "*swerb-", based on a Cymric "chwerfu = to whirl, turn around", but that gives little support for a hypothesis.

     

    Latin "vagor = to wander, go around" is distant in sound. Then "verto, vertere = to turn" has cognates in various Indo-European languages but is too far from "to swerve". The verb "volvo, volvere = to turn, roll, whirl" is considered as derived from an older "*uelu". This indicates a "*W E L W-, that is comparable to Germanic "W E R V-".

     

    Greek. The verb "ειλυω, eilüo = to roll, to twist" is considered as coming from an older form "*wel(n)üo", to be seen as "W E L W-" that is identical to Latin, comparable to Germanic "W E R V-".

     

    Indo-European. Various languages used many other combinations to express concepts of turning, twisting and rolling . In the field of "to turn , to wander" the existing hypothesis "*(S) W E R V-" (also given with "-R BH-) is convincing . A version "*W E L W-" may have coexisted.

 

 

 

 

 
Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: Monday 16 September 2013 at 14.22.02