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E 1005 WINE
The word " wine " is of
possible Latin , anyhow Indo European origin .
H 1075 ן י י
Concept of root : wine
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Hebrew word
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pronunciation
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English meanings
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ן י י
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yain
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wine
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Related English words
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wine
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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 י י
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yain
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wine
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y . y . n <
*w .
y . n
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Greek
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οινος
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oinos
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wine
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(o) y .
n <
*w y . n
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Latin
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vinum
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vinum
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wine
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v (i) n
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English
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wine
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wine
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w (i) n
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Proto-Semitic *WAYIN --- *WOIN-OS Greek
Ancient Israel had a very important and high quality production of wine . The origin of viticulture is thought to have been on the southern slopes of the Caucasus, specifically in today’s Armenia and the timing is certainly well over 5000 years ago. It was not possible in the Mid-Eastern lowlands such as Babylonia.
One can debate about the question if the word for wine was loaned, transferred from one language into the other. There will be no certainty about that, on the contrary. We see the word very characteristically shaped in each of the mentioned groups, Greek, Latin and Hebrew. Therefore we stick to the thesis of a common origin.
A complication lies in the fact that one of the Indo European languages that geographically, at least today, is nearest to the Caucasus, Armenian, has "gini" for "wine" . This is not related to English "gin" of course. Armenian is spoken today in the land where wine-culture began. Georgian that is not Indo-European , says " gwino " for " wine ". And there also is a non-Indo European word in the Caucasus, " * voino " that indicates alcoholic drinks in general. The * says this is hypothetical. Albanian, that belongs to Indo-European, has "vōne = wine".
Note:
- Proto-Semitic . The Hebrew root is related to Ugaritic that uses a briefer root "Y N". Akkadian "īnu = wine". But in Arabic "wayn = black grapes " and Ethiopian "wayn = grape, wine ", we find the older version that probably was already used in Proto-Semitic, with an initial "W" : "* ו י ן , W Y N".
Note:
- German. "Wein = wine" and all its sisters, like English "wine" are considered as having been derived from Latin "vinum". The solid reasoning behind this is that wine was unknown to the Germanic speakers before they met with the Romans.
In reality this historically sound reasoning gives no linguistic certainty at all. If wine was cultivated over 5000 years ago in the Caucasus, tribes that lived or passed near there would have known this fascinating product. Among them quite possibly Celtic and Germanic tribes.
Another important point is that already in Gothic the vowel was not " I " as in Latin, but "EI".
We suppose that the Germanics knew about wine, liked it when they could get it and had their word for it, probably " wein " as in modern German . When they met , and clashed, with the Romans , in some cases the pronunciation may have undergone Latin influence, introducing an " I " that soon was abolished again for the original " EI " .
Finally the Germanic pronunciation of the initial consonant as W , seen as a sign of early loaning, rather indicates a continuation of an independent word .
Note:
- Proto-Germanic . Nearly all Germanic languages have "WĪN", in Nordic languages spelled "vin". In English "wine", Modern German "Wein" and Middle Dutch/Dutch "wijn" the long " Ī" developed into the new vowel that is nearly identical in all these tongues. Less clear is how come Gothic had "wein" just like these modern West Germanic languages German, Dutch and English. Proto-Germanic may indeed have had "*W EI N", that later under influence of the contact with the Romans became "*W Ī N".
Note:
- Greek. In New Greek we still see on the labels of bottles the word "oinos". It is now pronounced as "inos", but if one goes to Greece one will hear that word very seldom. The Greeks will not offer any "inos", but will serve you "κρασι , krasi". This word comes from " mixture ", as in classic times the wine that was produced, was not easily drinkable if not mixed with water, just as in the old days of Rome.
Anybody who has visited musea with Greek antiquities, has observed that among the most frequently found objects there are those vases called "κρατηρ , kratèr " , in which the wine was mixed with water. And this word "crater" is also used for the place where a, quite less innocent, vulcanic mixture is seen.
Greek scholars tell us that the classic word "oivos" has been preceded with certainty by "woinos".
Note:
- Indo-European . All Indo-European languages had nearly identical words for "wine". But it is uncertain if the original word existed when Indo-European was spoken, either to indicate "wine" or a less refined predecessor of the product. So no hypothesis can be made with reasonable certainty. For a comparison we mention just Greek "OINOS".
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| Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 18/12/2012 at 18.10.50 |
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