E 0810          SHIP

The word " ship " is of Germanic origin .

H 0858           ה נ י פ ס                      

Concept of root : ship

 Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ה נ י פ ס

sĕphinà

ship

Related English words

ship

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ה נ י פ ס

sĕphina

ship

s . ph .

Greek

σκαφος

skaphos

ship

s k . ph

Old English

scip

ship

s c . p

English

ship

ship

sh . p

German

Schiff

shìph

ship

sh . ph

Dutch

schip

sghip

ship

sgh . p

 

 

Proto-Semitic *SAPAN --- *SKĀPH-OS, Greek, SKĬP- Proto-Germanic

 

 

In the far past ships were just empty, hollow like the first hollowed-out trees used on rivers. Only later "decks" were invented. Obviously, when the Bible tells about a "sĕphina", we have a ship that is covered already in some way. The story explains how merchants with their "sěphinot" made long trips over the wide seas with their merchandise. It is not often thought of how much the ancient Jews travelled overseas . Perhaps because they worked a lot together with their fellow – nation , that were the Phoenicians that inhabited much of the coast north of Haifa .

 

That those ships were covered becomes clear from a comparison with entry number GD 1104 (Hebrew 0857), that in our hypothesis is based on the same root. There it deals with wooden constructions that cover a living place or a refuge. Here the internal covering of a ship, today called "deck" with a root of the same message, has given the name to the total structure of the vessel. A " pars pro toto " linguistic construction as expressed in Latin.

 

This is confirmed by the use of the word " ס פ ו ן , sippun" for the deck of a ship as well as for a roof in modern language.

 

Note:
  • Hebrew. In this word "sĕphina" the root has an additional N that is not present in English and its sisters. In modern Hebrew a "sappan" is a sailor . But this same N is found in entry GD 1104 (Hebrew 0857) in Indo-European . This leaves some question open as to the sequence of separations of the words or at least of usages among the groups of languages.

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic . This root is found in Phoenician for "ship". Aramaic and Syriac "ס פ י נ א, sephin'à" and "ס פ י ן ת א, sephint'à" and Akkadian has "sapinatu". There is little doubt that all these words come from a root for "to cover", here specifically "to overlay with a deck" This root is seen in entry GD 1104 (Hebrew 0857) and probably was present in Proto-Semitic: "*ס פ ן , S P N".

 

Note:
  • Greek has the words "σκαφος , σκαφιον , σκαφις , σκαφη, skaphè , skaphis , skaphion , skaphos " for various kinds of vessels, from "ship" via " boat" to "canoe". Greek has a very rich variations of words on the basis of single roots, as is also shown here.

     

    But it also has the verb "σκαπτω , skapto" for "to dig, spade". This verb has become in New Greek also, or principally : "σκαβω , skawo" . Besides this, the word "σκαφη , skaphè" also means "a dug hole", as does "σκαμμα , skamma". These are related to the verb "skapto" that was just mentioned. In fact that verb does not have the specific meaning, different from " to dig ", of "to hollow out" . And yet :

     

    This number of facts has opened the way for the conclusion that a ship in Greek, a "skaphos" is called thus because it originally was a hollowed out tree trunk. This idea has neglected the existence of the other root " S K . P " in Greek, found in "σκεφη , σκεπας , skephè, skepas = covering, protection" and "σκεπαζω , skepazo = to cover, protect". One has to conclude that Greek "skaphos", like Hebrew "sěphina" are names for ships that had a deck.

 

Note:
  • Greek and Germanic. It should be noted that the sound S in the development of languages may undergo many changes. In Germanic we see SH, SK, SHK, SGH and in Greek especially the form SK. Sometimes a root passes various of these versions, like SK > SGH > SH. In Hebrew this development from S usually stops at SH, but it also goes versus TS. Such a phenomenon is also seen in modern Italian dialects and in German, but with the fixing of spelling this is no more expressed in writing .

     

    In the Hebrew root of this entry the S has remained as it was.

 

Note:
  • Proto-Germanic. For "ship" we find in older Germanic languages Gothic, Old Saxon, Old Norse and Old Frisian "skip", Old English and Middle Dutch "scip (MD also scep)" and Old High German "scif, scef". Proto-Germanic probably had "*SK Ĭ P-".

 

Note:
  • Latin may have influenced on the thinking of etymologists for Greek as well as on later Greek language. It had the verbs "cavare = to hollow out" and its composite " excavare " with the same meaning. This was even used to say " cavare naves ex arboribus" = "to hollow out ships from trees ". Certainly this was no more the way the classic Romans built their "naves" or "ships". But in Late Latin and Italian "scavare" became also "to dig " and "scavo" became an "excavation". Anyhow, also Late Latin and Italian "scaphum" and "scafo" for "ship" came directly from Greek "skaphos" as loanwords and had no story of their own.

 

Note:
  • Indo-European. Both Germanic and Greek had developed the possible original " S " into "SK", that then in the various Germanic languages became more softer "SKH" or "SH". The first development may have taken place earlier and Indo-European may have had "SK - P". The vowel is nearly always a short " Ĭ ", with " È " as an alternative besides " Ĭ " in Middle Dutch, Middle Low German and Old High German. Moreover modern Swedish changed to " È " in "skepp". This is quite different from the Greek vowel " Ā " in "skaphos". We have no decisive point for a choice. In the comparison we mention both.

 

 

 

 

 
Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 02/01/2013 at 11.00.55