E 0817          SICKLE,   SAW

The words " sickle "and " saw "are  of Germanic origin.

H 0852             ן י כ ס

Concept of root : to cut

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ן י כ ס

sakkin

cutter, knife

Related English words

sickle, from Latin ; saw

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

      ן י כ ס

sakkin

cutter, knife

s . k

Latin

secare;

secula

secare;

secula

to cut ;

sickle

s . c

Old English

seax;

 sicol , sicel;

sagu, sage

knife ;

sickle ;

saw

s . k (s);

s . k (l);

s . g .

English

 sickle;

-

saw

sickle (cutter);

saw

s . ck (l);

s . w

Old Norse

sigdr

       sax

sigdr;

sax

sickle;

(heavy) knife

s (i) gd

s (a) ks

Dutch

sikkel;

zaag

sikkel;

zaagh

sickle;

saw

s . k . ;

z . gh

 

 

Proto-Semitic *SAKÀ --- *SĂK- Proto-Germanic < *SEIK-, *SĂK-" Indo-European

 

 

Biblical Hebrew is not only an old language, it was very old already when Mosé spoke it. On account of this reality we find old words with a root that is not , and in all probability we should say "no more", found in other words, verbs or nouns. This is the case with this word "sakkin" for "knife". But it has been generally accepted that in ancient Indo European there was a root "*sek" for "to cut". This is the root of this entry, though we define it as "S K", considering the E simply a vowel necessary for pronunciation, but that does not carry the essence of the message of the root.

 

Note:
  • Hebrew. "Sakkin" is a noun, formed on the basis of a root "* ס כ ה , sakhà " , becoming "*sakkì " in the intensive form that has given this noun for "cutter, knife".

     

    It has a version in which the S-sound is indicated with the letter Sin instead of the Samekh of this entry : "ס כ י ן ", as well as "ש כ י ן " .
    A knife can be used to "pierce" something, but normally it is used for cutting. It is therefore possible but not too probable that "sakkìn" has been derived from a verb "sakhà = to pierce". There is little doubt that both have at their origin a root "*S . K ."

 

Note:
  • Saxons . The Saxons , who partly stayed in Germany and partly came to England, are said to have gained their name because they used a typical arm that was between a heavy knife and a small sword. They called it, together with the Frisians and the speakers of Old High German, "sahs", though some scholars claim it was a "*saxsam". This word can be compared to Hebrew "sakkin".

     

    Note:
  • Proto-Semitic is considered as having a word with the same root Hebrew shows "*ס כ , S K + accentuated vowel". Further there is in Hebrew a three consonant root, shaped by the doubling of the second consonant, "K" : "ש כ ך , S K K = to pierce, transfix", typical actions done with a knife. It is uncertain though if that extended root was already used in Proto-Semitic.

     

    Interesting is to see that the " I - sound " we find in for example English "sickle" is also found in Arabic "sikkīn = knife", and that also has a related verb "shakka = he pierced". The two consonant verb with initial "S" and words for "knife" are further found in Aramaic and Syriac "ס כ א, sikk'à" and "ס כ י ן א, sekkin'à".

 

Note:
  • English . "Sickle" is seen as a loanword from Latin, but this is very doubtful . The final L is quite insufficient as an indication . The old Anglo Saxons seem to have used this word already. This means that as a loanword it would be very old. Why it would be loaned , when the Germanic speakers had their own words for this old instrument ? Perhaps the Romans had better ones? This is not the case, as the Latin word that is suspected of having been loaned, "secula" seems to be just a dialectal word from Campania round Naples. Then Latin has a "sicula", but that is a small dagger".

     

    Old English "sigthe = sickle" is of certain Germanic origin . The same goes for Old Norse "sigdr" = "sickle"

     

    "Saw", Middle English "sawe" is an alteration of Old English "sage", that came from "sagu" and can be seen as an independent Germanic development of the root of this entry.

 

Note:
  • Proto-Germanic. The words for "saw" in Germanic languages all have an initial "S", except Dutch "zaag" that changed to "Z" after Middle Dutch "saghe, seghe" and German "Säge", that pronounces its "S" as "Z". The second consonant is "G" with the exception of Old Danish and modern English that have "saw". The vowel usually is an "A", but Old and Middle High German as well as Middle Dutch and Middle Low German use both "A" and "E". In Old Norse an "O"-sound and in Icelandic an "Ö" just in the nouns besides the "A" in the related verbs can be considered a special separate development. Proto-Germanic probably had for the saw a form "*S Ā G-".

     

    For the instrument "sickle" older Germanic words had a word part "S I G" as seen in Old English "sighte" and Old Norse "sigdr". Then a plowknife in Old High German was a "seh". Proto-Germanic probably used a form "*S Ĭ G-D But besides this we see from Old English "seax" and an unsuspected Old Norse "sax" a third basic form in Proto-Germanic, this time with a meaning and root identical to Hebrew. A big heavy knife, also a small sword, is a "seax" or "sax", with a basic "*S Ă K-S".

 

Note:
  • Indo-European. An existing hypothesis is "*S E(I)K-", which may be right, though also "*S Ă K-" is quite possible. It finds further support in Old Church Slavonic "seka" = to cut".

 

 

 

 
"...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: 27/11/2012 at 18.22.32