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E 0785 SEED
The word " seed " is of
Germanic origin .
H 1081 ע ר ז
Concept of root : to seminate
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Hebrew word
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pronunciation
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English meanings
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ע ר ז
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zar‛à
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to seminate
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Related English words
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seed
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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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ע ר ז
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zar‛à
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to seminate
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z . r (‛) .
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Latin
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serere
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sérere
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to seminate
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s . r
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Proto-Semitic *ZERÀ --- SĒR-ERE Latin < *SĒR- Indo-European
A comparison with the entries E 0783 (Hebrew 0877) and E 0784 (Hebrew 1006) shows us that in the " field (!)" of seminating seeds, Hebrew has used three different sibilants, the S, the Z and the TS . But in fact we see also in Germanic different sibilants used, specifically S and Z , whereas Greek deviates into H , as it more often has done !
The similarity of this entry is a relatively simple one. The difference between a Z and an S in linguistic development is relative. In addition to this in German like in other languages, a written S is often pronounced Z and a written Z pronounced TS. Latin did not really use the Z in building roots but concentrated on S.
The third consonant in Hebrew, the Ayin, has been introduced to diversify, as in shown in the Note below.
Many further developments have taken place, amongst others those shown in the note on Germanic.
Note:
- Hebrew uses this same root to say "arm" : "
ז
ר
ו
ע , zĕrua ". Two further roots talk about comparable activities of the human arm . "
ז
ר
ה , zarà" or "zirrè " stands for "to strew, scatter, dissipate" and "
ז
ר
ק , zaraq " for " to scatter, disperse ! ". This group of three gives an interesting example of linguistic development and diversification in Hebrew.
In modern Hebrew the meanings have shifted a bit. "Zarà" now carries all messages from " to strew, scatter " to " to disperse ", and "zaraq" says "to throw, cast, fling". But "zar‛à" has remained faithful to agriculture and still seminates the fields.
Note:
- Proto-Semitic . The combination of the two consonants " Z + R " is found in nearly all Semitic languages. In Aramaic there are two versions : " ז ר ע, zer‛à" and " ד ר ע, der‛à". Also in Arabic we see besides "zara‛à" also the combination "D + R" , that is as well found in Ugaritic with its two consonant root "D R" for "to sow" and in Soqotri. As a third consonant we find a doubling of the R in several Southern languages, such as Amharic but not Tigrai or Harari , whereas Arabic had a W, later Y. The conclusion is that the root in Proto-Semitic must have been " * ז ר , Z R + accentuated vowel" and probably already " * ז ר ע, Z R Ayin".
Note:
- Russian has for "seed" besides "семя, sjemja" also a noun "зерно, zernó", that shows with its "Z R" a particular similarity with the Hebrew root of this entry.
Note:
- Latin has two verbs "sérere". One ( sero, serui, sertum, serere ) is related to English "series" that itself comes from Latin, and it says "to string, concatenate, continue". It is seen in entry E 0791 (Hebrew 0951).
The other (sero, sevi, satum, serere ), of this entry is related to English "seed" and German "Sat". It means "to seminate", but also "to procreate". This second meaning seems a derivation, as in other languages.
Note:
- Germanic, building further on the basic root "S + R" or "Z + R" as found also in Hebrew and Latin, has followed various roads.
In the meaning of " to strew, scatter, disperse", we see a dental appear between the S and the R, forgetting about a vowel in between. The result is seen in English " to strew", that has its more frequently used sisters in other tongues. German has "streuen", Dutch "strooien ", Norwegian "strø". One sees the addition of a Waw, as the Greeks and the Jews call it, a letter W ( to strew) that easily becomes a U (streuen) or Y (strooien) or melts together with the vowel E into Ø ( strø ).
In semination Germanic semplified things, abolishing the R but still introducing that W we see in Old English "sawan" and in "to sow", but may become again a Y (Dutch "zaaien") and a much weakened Y spelled H in German "sähen" or even simpler in Old Norse "sā" or modern Norwegian and Swedish "så".
Note:
- Proto-Germanic. . Older and newer Germanic languages have an initial "S" that in German is pronounced "Z" and in Dutch also spelled "Z". The following vowel is originally an "A" that has become an "O" in the English verb and an "E", pronounced a long "Ī " in the noun "seed". The A" in the north often is pronounced near "O" in verbs or near "Ē" in nouns. In the verbs we find an second consonant "W", that sometimes becomes a "Y" and often then disappears. Old High German shows the sequence "sāwan, sajen, sāen". In the nouns we find a dental , nearly always "D", but as usual in German and its predecessors a "T". Proto-Germanic probably had the forms "*S A W-" and "*S A D-".
Note:
- Indo European. Regarding "seed", the common reasoning tells us that there was an original root, a very brief " *S Ē-" , with the specific meaning "to sow". From this root have been developed various words mentioned in this entry. But the presence in Latin and Russian of a second consonant " R " indicates that Indo-European anyhow used also this " R ", that is found as well in Semitic : "*S Ē R-".
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| Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 05/01/2013 at 15.51.05 |
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