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E 0997 WHEN
The word " when " is of
Germanic origin .
H 1037 ן ע י
Concept of root : because
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Hebrew word
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pronunciation
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English meanings
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ן ע י
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ya‛an
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because
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Related English words
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when
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Comparison between European words and
Hebrew
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Languages
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Words
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Pronunciation
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English meanings
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Similarity in roots
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Hebrew
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ן ע י
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ya‛an
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because
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y . (‛) . n
>
*w .
(‛) . n
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Old Saxon
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hwanda
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hwanda
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because
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w . n (d)
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Dutch
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want
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want
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because
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w . n (t)
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Proto-Semitic *YA‛AN < WA‛AN --- *WĂND Proto-Germanic
A classic example of development of related old roots in Hebrew and Germanic . Then things change, as initial H or final dental are added in various tongues. In the end only Dutch maintains the word and its meaning. One sees Old Saxon adding that initial H .
Note:
- Hebrew hardly ever maintains an initial W (called Waw, "
ו ") in a word or root , but instead changes it into a " Y " (called Yod).
י "). There are very few exceptions on this rule. Besides this, Hebrew does not like to have less than three consonants, nor to have only one syllable in a word. One of the developments caused by this tendency is the introduction of the characteristic strong guttural vowelstop that is called " Ayin ".
ע". This should have happened with the root of this entry.
Note:
- Proto-Semitic. We have insufficient information to make a hypothesis for Proto-Semitic.
Note:
- English and German. English has the word "when" and German "wann = when" and "wenn = if", that are of the same origin, but in our view have shifted the meaning from "because, on account of, reason why" via "seen the fact that" and "on the moment that" into "when". In the case of "wenn" the development has taken a slightly different bend. Comparable changes have taken place in most sister tongues, with the exception of Dutch.
Note:
- Old Saxon is an interesting example. It added to "hwanne" the little word "ēr" (Old fashioned English "ere" ) to say " as before, because sooner " or " when then " and then finally "when". The same was done in Old Frisian and Dutch. Thus in Old Saxon the set of "hwanne ēr" came to mean "when". Then "ēr" disappeared from Old Saxon and "hwanne" remained as "when". But Dutch maintained the couple and today "wanneer" is still the word for " when ".
This kind of shifting between time and motive should not surprise too much, if one compares English "than" and "then" with German "dann = then " and "denn = because" !
Note:
- Proto-Germanic.In older languages we find Old Dutch "wanda" with Middle Dutch "want(e)", Old Saxon "hwand(a); Old High German "(h)wanta", Old Frisian "hwanda". Proto-Germanic probably had "*HW Ă ND", with a predecessor"*W Ă ND".
Note:
- Indo-European. Information about possible cognates in other branches of Indo-European seem to lack. The comparison remains between Semitic and Germanic.
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| Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 15/12/2012 at 14.09.29 |
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