E 0881          STUPID

The word " stupid " is, via French, of Latin origin .

E 0992              ם ט מ ט                   

Concept of root : stupidity

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ם ט מ ט

thimthèm;

thumtham

to make stupid;

to be (made) stupid

Related English words

stupid, from Latin

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ם ט מ ט

thimthèm;

-

thumtham

-

to make stupid

to be (made) stupid

th . m

Latin

stupidus

stupidus

stupid

s t . p

Middle Dutch

stomp, stomb

stomp, stomb

stupid

s t .  mp

 

 

Hebrew THUMTHAM < Proto-Semitic *THUM --- *STŪP- < *TŪP- Indo-European

 

 

The relation between these various words has to be looked into better. First of all the Indo European words have added a prefix S, that obviously has not changed the meaning of the root itself. Then we see the specific characteristics of each.

 

Note:
  • Hebrew in Job 18, 3 uses the original shorter root " ט מ ה , thamà" with the meaning of "senseless" like animals . This verb is also translated as "to be stupid". "Thimthum" stands for "stupidity" in modern language. The doubling of the original two consonant combination into four, as in the verb of this entry, is one of the common ways in Hebrew to avoid having to make all verbal forms with only two consonants available . Proper conjugation of verbs requires more than two of them.

 

Note:
  • Hebrew. The four consonant root ט מ ה ם , in the intensive version with the vowels " I " and " 'E " thimthèm, is indeed found in Post Biblical Hebrew, where it also covers the meaning of "to knead ( into a lump )". Semantically this is non surprising. "To knead somebody to one's will" can be seen as " to make somebody stupid".

 

Note:
  • Latin "stupidus" as an adjective seems a logical derivation from the verb "stupēre ". The messages of "stupidus" are two . One describes a situation that can be of any person, independent of his personal intelligence : "perplex, dazed, struck dumb". The other one plainly states that a person is "stupid, obtuse ". Logic imposes the supposition that the first meaning is the original one, and that the first one (struck dumb, baffled ) is an extension of the use of the root. People who are dumbfounded and do not take proper action, easily will give the impression of "stupidity". But then follows the next problem :

     

    The verb "stupēre" does not cover the two sectors of the adjective "stupidus". It does not say "to be stupid", nor "to make stupid". One message is that of " to be perplex, dazed, dumb struck". Besides it also means " to stand rigid, stop stiff ". Therefore it is useful to remark that this verb " stupēre " has a long ē : "stupēre ". Such verbs can express more strongly the message that can be held already in a verb with a short E, like would be " *stupĕre ". The adjective can be "stupidus" in both cases. But such a verb is not known and we must suppose it has gone out of use.

     

    Generally it is thought that these words come from a root without initial S that should have meant " to hit". If one is dumb-struck he has been struck, is the idea. Such a root is not found in Latin, but Greek has "τυπτω , tüpto" for " to hit ". This verb has no development versus the meanings of "stupeo" though, and thus this hypothesis remains very uncertain.

 

Note:
  • Latin and Hebrew. We are for now still left with the difference between the explosive labial P in Latin and the soft labial M in Hebrew. Therefore we will now look into Middle Dutch.

 

Note:
  • Middle Dutch perhaps once more plays a lonely explanatory role. In entry E 0275 (Hebrew 0317) we have found words that indicate specifically dumbness, among which Dutch and Middle Dutch "stom". But these, together with German "stumm" come from the original meaning of "to be silent" and "to be unable to speak". Such qualities regretfully may lead to being considered dumb or stupid.

     

    Now we see in Middle Dutch words of a different origin, "stomp" and "stumb" that are near to Latin as well as Hebrew . The word "stomp" seems to be in between the two : " TH . M " <> " ST . MP " <> " S T . P ".

     

    Perhaps the words from two sources have also led to the definite form " stom " that has remained in modern language. But if, as so often, Middle Dutch has conserved some older forms, we have an indication for Proto-Germanic. And indeed, also in Middle High German, that is somewhat distant from Middle Dutch, we find the same root in : "stump". Some scholars see here a collateral form of the words without P, as "dom, dumm" of entry E 0275 (Hebrew 0317), but such a suggestion does not at all explain the final " P ", that is so similar to Latin.

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic. We are without evidence from other Semitic languages and have to base a hypothesis on Hebrew only. This is not so difficult if we have the evidence of the typical formation of a doubled root. The single one was old and present in Proto-Semitic. It probably had an " O "-sound between the two consonants : "* ט ו ם, TH W M, thom (or) thum".

 

Note:
  • Proto-Germanic. On the basis of Middle High German "stump" and Middle Dutch "stomp" a hypothesis has to be made : "ST Ŭ MP", as a nasalized form of an older "ST Ŭ P".

 

Note:
  • Indo-European. One can not say with any probability that the words of this entry come from a basic concept of "to hit, strike". Latin "stupidus" and Proto-Germanic "stup-" suggest a hypothesis of Indo-European "*ST Ŭ P" < "*T Ŭ P".

 

 

 

 

 
Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 13/12/2012 at 15.29.50