GD 1111          TIPPELEN

H 0995                ף פ ט                 

Concept of root : walking with little steps

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ף פ ט

thaphaph

to walk with little steps

Related English words

step

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ף פ ט

thaphaph

to walk with little steps

th . ph . ph < th . ph

Dutch

tippelen

tippelen

to walk with little steps

t . p . l <

t . p

 

 

Proto-Semitic *THAP --- *(S)TĂP- Proto-Germanic < *TĂP Indo-European

 

 

English does not have one verb that expresses those various ways of walking with small steps, but talks of trotting, toddling, tramping, or just the elegant stepping of high-heeled female feet. In both old Hebrew and in modern Dutch we find one verb that comprises various types of this walking with little steps.

 

Note:
  • Hebrew "thaphaph" obviously has a doubled root, based on an original " TH . PH ". As to the etymology it is interesting to see that this same or an identical root gives the word " ט ף , thaph" that means "children ", in plural. A child is also a "thephel". But a verb, or the verb, "thaphaph" also says " to drip ", with a drop being a "thippā". This indicates that the basic idea behind this root lies in the kind of movement, also with the kind of sound, and not in the kind of producer ( the child ) of little steps with their characteristics.

 

Note:
  • Dutch "tippelen" is an iterative or intensive form of an older verb. Usually the supposition goes to "*tippen", linking the verb to the noun "tip" which is the same as in English. Though one can walk with little steps on one’s toes, that is certainly not the thing children do. So we rather suppose that the original verb was "*tappen". It is quite regular for Dutch to make an iterative or intensive version of verbs that have A as a vowel, using the vowels I and E. We deal with this in our chapter "Getting Intensive", (Hebrew 0001_aa26).

     

    This supposition is reinforced by the existence of the verb "stappen = to step" that may have received in Indo European or Proto-Germanic an initial S, a prefix that has not changed the meaning of the root.

 

Note:
  • English. The word "step" has an initial S added. It has sisters in other Germanic tongues, such as "stap" in Dutch.

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic. There is not very much to go by. Ethiopian like Hebrew has "thaph" for "children" and Arabic "thifl" for "child", nearly like Hebrew. Proto-Semitic may have used a basic combination " ט ף , TH P" to express the concepts of "child" and "the kind of movements and sounds with which little children walk".

 

Note:
  • Proto-Germanic. There is only information from Dutch. True, that language has conserved relatively many old roots, and Dutch words normally have a Proto-Germanic origin, but information from other languages would help. A hypothesis for Proto-Germanic "*T Ă P" anyhow might be near the mark. For the word "step" a version "*ST Ă P" should already have been present.

 

Note:
  • Indo-European. The combination of the consonants " T " and " P ", with a vowel in between and with a meaning related to that of this entry, is found in Russian "топать, topatj = to trample, stamp". There is limited information to confirm the existing hypothesis of a Indo-European "*T A P for "to tread, trample", but this may be right.

 

 

 

 
"...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: 07/02/2013 at 14.47.59