E 0837          (TO)  SLING

The verb " to sling " is of Germanic origin .

H 0908            ך י ל ש ה ; ך ל ש*

Concept of root : to sling

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

 ך י ל ש ה ; ך ל ש*

* shalakh; hishlikh

to hurl, fling, sling

Related English words

to sling

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ך ל ש* ;

ך י ל ש ה

* shalakh hishlikh

to hurl, fling, sling

sh . l . gh

English

to sling

to sling

s l . ng <

*s l . k

Swedish

slunga,

slänga

slunga ,

slenga

to sling, fling, hurl

s l . ng

Dutch

slingeren

slingeren

to hurl, fling, sling

s l . ng

< *s l . k

 

 

Hebrew SHALAKH < Proto-Semitic *SHALAGH --- *SLĬNG < *SLĬG Proto-Germanic

 

 

The English word "to sling" and its sisters are nasalized forms , that is an N has been inserted into an original root "S L G", or possibly "S L K", quite similar to Hebrew.

 

Note:
  • Hebrew in this root gives us an example of how, sometimes, the composite version of a verb with the prefix " HI " and the second vowel changed into " I " : "HISHLIKH" or "HISHELIKH" is not causative, but used to express the same message as the basic form "SHALAKH" already had. Each language has its caprices.

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic. There is little direct information to hypothesize the Proto-Semitic form. But we see in Hebrew that the root "SH L GH", that carries the message of " to send" is used also to shape the noun "shelagh = javelin", a thrown weapon. We see this same use in Ugaritic, Arabic and Akkadian and this makes it probable that Proto-Semitic has "*ש ל ח , SH L GH" also for " to sling, throw, fling". The form "SH L KH" of this entry might even be a specific Hebrew development. Anyhow nothing changes fundamentally in the fact of similarity with the European words.

 

Note:
  • Germanic. German and other languages of the same group have identical verbs with quite different meanings, such as German "schlingen" for "to cling, to bind, to interlace, to tie in a knit, " and even " to swallow". Swedish "slingra" stand for "to twist, oscillate" etcetera. But "slunga" and "slänga" are like English "to sling". Also Dutch with some of the various meanings of the verb "slingeren" comes near English.

     

    Then English " to sling" has various other meanings, different from that of " to fling" , mainly linked to the use of objects indicated with the noun "sling".

     

    The Dutch verb "slingeren" might be an intensive or iterative form of the older verb " slingen " , but that is not quite certain. It may also have been shaped after a noun " slinger = sling ", developed from Middle Dutch " slinge " with the same meaning ".

 

Note:
  • Proto-Germanic. We limit ourselves to words with the same basic meaning found in this entry : "to fling, hurl, sling". In the various older and newer Germanic languages the initial "SL" as well as the combination "NG" are common. Some differences exist in the vowels, but the "I" as in English "to sling" is the most usual one. Old English "slingan" is known to mean "to wind, twist", meanings also present in Old High German. Middle English has various messages, but important is "to fling, hurl", as in modern English. Perhaps for that reason some think that this verb has been loaned from Norwegian, but it is more probably that , as more often is the case, not all meanings of the Old English verb have been recollected. Thus we suppose Old English "*slingan = to sling, hurl, fling".

     

    One has to note that English in the past tense already uses another vowel : "slung". In the Scandinavian languages we find Danish "slynga" and "slænge" saying "to hurl, sling, fling" besides other things. German "schlingen " does not or no more carry the message of this entry, for which it uses the verb "schleudern". Important information comes from Old Norse that has "slynja" and "slyngva", carrying the meanings of "to sling, hurl, fling", but also "to swing" and others. Verbal forms with "Å" and "U" are present. Modern Norwegian has "slenge, slengte, slengt" for "to hurl, fling" and "slenge, slang, slengt" for "to swing".

     

    Proto-Germanic presumably had the form "*SL Ĭ NG-" but used also other vowels in various word forms. And an original form before the nasalization may have been "*S L Ĭ G-".

 

Note:
  • Indo-European. Indications towards possible cognates in other branches of Indo-European seem not available. The comparison remains between Semitic and Germanic.

 

 

 

 
"...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: 05/02/2013 at 15.53.51