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E 0010 ÆDELE
The Old English word "ædele" is of Germanic origin
H 0012 א ד ר
Concept of root :
magnificence
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Hebrew word
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pronunciation
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English meanings
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א ד ר
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eder
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power,
magnificence
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Related English words
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Old English: ædele
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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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א ד ר
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eder
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power, magnifi-cence
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e d . r
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Old English
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aedele
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noble
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a d . l
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German and Dutch
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edel
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edel
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noble, eminent
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e d . l
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German, Dutch
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Adel, adel
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adel
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nobility
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a d . l
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Middle Dutch
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edel
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edel
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noble,
magnifi-cent
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e d . l
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Swedish
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ätta, ättar
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etta, ettar
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family,
dynasty
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a t .
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Proto-Semitic *ADER --- *ADEL, EDEL Indo-European
The similarity is strong. The difference in the third consonant, which is "R" in Hebrew and "L" in German and Dutch, is not uncommon. Also within one language an "R" may substiute an "L" and vice-versa in some cases. In fact we show under entry E 0011 (Hebrew 0011), which deals with the same Hebrew root, that in that language the first two consonants together, "ad" or "ed", without the "R", carry the basic meaning of glory, nobility or magnificence we find in the words with the three consonants.
German "Adel" refers especially to nobility and so-called noble families. The Swedish word "ätta " has been mentioned in the table because it seems to be related to "adel", and does not have the final R. This is a further indication that the German L and the Hebrew R are later additions, as third consonants, to an older root "Alpeh + Daleth " or "Vowel(A) + D ".
The word "Ader" in German, as in Nordic and Dutch, has the meaning of "vein".
This entry must be seen in connection with number E 0012 (Hebrew 0073). We refer to the text of that entry .
Note:
- Proto-Semitic is seen as having had the same root that is still found in Hebrew : א
ד
ר, *Aleph D R". It is also present in Phoenician and Ugaritic.
Note:
- Proto-Germanic probably had the form "*Ā D e L", though also "*Ē D e L" is quite possible. But a second form, strictly related should have been present as well, as seen in entry number E 0012 (Hebrew 0073): "*Ā TH e L" It must be remarked that in older languages this root was used not only to indicate people of noble descent, but also the concepts of "qualities, nature, descendance, lineage", generally in a positive judgment. Interesting in this respect is Faroese "aðal" that stands for "pure, good grain".
Note:
- Indo-European . There is an interesting theory according to which the Indo-European words of this entry, that are Germanic, have as origin a meaning of "born from one's father", as there exists in Hittite a word "atta- = father". It is not clear why Hittite is called in, as in fact "atta" means "father" also in Latin and Greek and even in Gothic. The Goths on the basis of this word would have given "Attila" his name. In Old Indian "attā" reveals a meaning of "mother, older sister". And Irish aite says "foster-father". A comparable root is found in non Indo-European words like Hungarian "atya = father", Turkish "ata = father" and Basque aita = father". These words should not be considered as baby talk! If this theory would be right, this would not change the basic similarity with Semitic.
The limited amount of specific information makes a hypothesis different from Proto-Germanic hard to formulate.
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| Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 23/09/2012 at 10.49.24 |
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