E 0788          SEMEN

The word " semen " is a loanword from Latin .

H 0916         ן מ ש

Concept of root : seeds and oil

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ן מ ש

shemen

oil

Related English words

semen , from Latin  

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ן מ ש

shemen

oil

sh . m . n

Latin

semen

semen

seed

s . m . n

English

semen

semen

s . m . n

Russian

семя ;

семена

semya ;

semena

seed ;

seeds

s . m . ;

s . m . n

Italian

seme ;

semenza

seme ;

semenza

seed ;

seed (s)

s . m ;

s . m . n

German

Same ;

Samen

zame ; zamen

seed ;

seed (s)

s . m ;

s . m . n

 

 

Proto-Semitic *SHEMEN --- *SĒMĔN Indo-European

 

 

From very old times oil has been produced from seeds, many kinds of seeds. The roots are well-nigh identical. Therefore we see these similar roots express just two phases of one brief sequence : seeds > oil.

 

This should not surprise, as the word "oil" itself is directly related to that important source of oil that are "olives". Naturally, the word "petroleum" is a composition by Late Latin of Greek "petra/petro" that is "stone" and Latin "oleum = oil".

 

In Hebrew there is instead the word " ז י ת , zait", that means "olives" as well as "olive-tree". When looking at German "Sat" and Dutch "zaad", together with their sister "seed", we may wonder if these words are linked as well.

 

 

Note:
  • Hebrew uses the root for various other meanings that English expresses with "fat, fatten". In the field of seeds and sowing we find another Hebrew root in entry E 0785 (Hebrew 1081). - For "seed" and "seeds" there are various other roots, that we will see in other entries : " א צ" and ז ‛ ר " that also has a metathesized form.

     

    The word "shemen" stands for oil, olive oil, fatness" and the verb "shaman " for " to be fat, to become fat", but as a noun for "fat" we see also "shomen" with an adjective "shamen" for "fat". The intensive verb "shimmčn" is "to oil".

     

    Especially interesting, and confirming the probabilty of common origin in the actual entry, is that a "plant" in Hebrew is a "tsemagh". This word has the TS of the doubled word "ts’étse’ą = seed", the M that is an extension in various languages of the basic words for seed, as shown above.

 

Note:
  • Proto-Germanic. German gives us a very interesting link between the realities "seed, semen" and "oil". The adjective "sämig, zemigh" is based on the noun "Same" and means "thick flowing", indicating "liquids" exactly like the way oil flows. We note that a comparable German noun "Seim" stands for "thick flowing liquid". It is especially used for honey and corresponds with Old Saxon "sēm" and Middle Dutch "seem" and points to a probable Proto-Germanic "*S Ē M-".

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic has two roots hypothesized together : " *SH M N " and " *S M N " . The first one, with SH, is present in Hebrew and nearly all Semitic languages . Aramaic and Syriac have "ש מ ן , shemen = was/became fat". The S is found in Arabic "samina = was fat". Akkadian "shamnu = oil, fat". It is hard to establish with certainty which came first, especially as in Indo-European languages there is usually the initial "S". On the other hand pronunciation varies frequently from "S" to "SH" and "TS", independently from the spelling. On the basis of the majority rule and the geographical spread we opt for Proto-Semitic "*ש מ ן , SH M N". For the comparison we use two vowels " E ", that may have been present in Proto-Semitic.

 

Note:
  • Latin. Contrary to what some scholars think, Latin "semen" is not a composition of "se" for "seed" and "men" as a participle ending. The similarity with Hebrew, but also with Russian and German, teaches us differently. Even the use in Italian confirms our view.

 

Note:
  • English, already in Middle English, has loaned the Latin word " semen " as a kind of euphemism for the human sperm.

 

Note:
  • Indo-European. A hypothesis "*saim-" is inspired by the idea that the basic meaning of the words lies in "thick liquid". We refer to the Note on Proto-Germanic. It would have given the indeed existing Proto-Germanic form "*saim-a-", with words like Old High German "seim" and Old Saxon "sēm" that stand for "virgin honey" as it drips from the honeycomb. And it would also have given Greek "αιμα‛, haima = blood", a word that may have come from an older undocumented "*saima". This may be convincing, as in Gothic there is a specific, be it hypothetical, "saims = outflowing blood" or already "clotted blood". This interesting reasoning remains independent from the concept of "seed" that gives to Man "oil" and "fat".

     

    For the group of "semen" , besides Latin and Germanic , there is some more information.

     

    Slavic has an Old Church Slavonic "sĕme". And Russian has indeed "семена, sjemjeną = seeds", a plural of ""семя, sjemyą = seed".

     

    Baltic in Old Prussian is like Latin with "semen = seed" and Lithuanian has "semens, semenys".

     

     

    Indo-European may indeed have had a form "*S Ē M ĕ N-.

 

 

 

 
"...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: 03/12/2012 at 15.26.55