E 0429          TO HAVE , HOLD

The words "have" and "hold" are of  Germanic origin

H 0017          א ה ב

Concept of root : to hold

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

א ה ב

ahav

to hold with pleasure

Related English words

have

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

א ה ב

ahav

to hold with pleasure

a h . b

Latin

habeo

habeo

to hold, have

h . b

Old Norse

hafa

hafa

to have, to use, to hold, to be (well , not well), to take

h . f

Old English

habban

habban

to have, to hold, to retain, to cherish, to esteem, to look after

h . b

English

to have

to hold

to have

to hold

h . v ;

h . l d

 

 

Proto-Semitic *AHAB (AHAV) --- *HAB Indo-European

 

 

Comparing with entry E 0014 (Hebrew 0016), which deals with exactly the same Hebrew word, we draw the attention now to its original meaning. Apparently the root "H . B" started out by meaning that the subject of the verb is holding something. This basic concept has remained in Latin and Germanic languages. We note that the original "B" is still there in Spanish "haber", German "haben" and Dutch "hebben", but that it has changed into "V" in English "have" , French "avoir" and Italian "avere". The accent of its meaning has shifted more strongly to, or concentrated on the material side, that of possessing. In Hebrew, and in Greek as we have seen in entry E 0014 (Hebrew 0016) , the meaning has specialized on the personal side of holding what one likes, liking what one holds and from there to loving the thing or person one holds.

 

 

Note:
  • Dutch gives a special practical example of the kind of development in the meanings of a root as seen above. In fact Dutch disposes of words that express directly the concept of love. There is "liefde", like German "Liebe", for English "love". And there is also "min" or "minne" for "love". And yet when telling a girl he loves her, a Dutchman will invariably say " ik houd van je", literally "I hold of you".

 

Note:
  • Hebrew Translations of Biblical texts with words based on the root "Aleph H B" of this entry show that the very expert authors find some difficulties . Older translators tended to simply use always " to love" for "ahav".

     

    Genesis 22.2 : Abrahams "beloved" son Isaac

     

    Genesis 37.4 : (Jacob) loved (Joseph), becomes " preferred"

     

    Leviticus 19.18 : "Love" your next like yourself becomes " "wish for your next ( scil. to have) what you wish ( scil. to have ) for yourself ".

     

    Deuteronomium : 6.5 You shall "love" God

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic The Hebrew root is found also in Ugaritic and thus it may have esisted as such already in Proto-Semitic, as " *א ה ב , Aleph H B". The probability that this is so, is reinforced if our reasoning in the comparison between Hebrew and Indo European is right. But the similarity between Hebrew and Greek as seen in E 0014 (Hebrew 0016) makes it more probable that various of the Hebrew roots in the table below were already present in Proto-Semitic, such as ע ג ב , Ayin G B" : Greek agapao" is nearer to Hebrew "‛agav " then to Hebrew " 'ahav ". A full picture for Proto-Semitic is hard to establish.

 

Note:
  • Have in English is said to have derived from an Indo-European root "*kap", meaning " to take, grasp". This root certainly must have existed and is clearly seen in Latin "capere" with just that meaning. To our opinion it is also related to the Hebrew root "kaph", which is "hand" or "palm of the hand". In this generally accepted opinion that "to have" comes from "*kap", this root would refer to the result of that action of taking or grasping. The thing I take I will then have.

     

    We doubt this to be true. Scholars say a Germanic "H", like that in "have", corresponds with a Latin "C", following the famous law of "hundred and centum". But if one makes further comparisons between the Latin and Germanic tongues, one has to state that that famous law is not valid. Only in a very limited number of cases we find a Latin "C" corresponding with a Germanic "H". See the relative chapter, (The Myth of Hundred).

     

    On top of that we have here a Latin word "habeo", which already has that same "H" of its Germanic relatives, "haben, have, hebben" and even with the same meaning. So feet on the ground. This is kinship.

 

Note:
  • Hold in English is sometimes considered as coming from an Indo European root "*kel" with the original message of driving cattle. This idea has been influenced by the fact that in Gothic the verb " haldan " was effectively used to say " to herd " . Obviously this use regarding cattle was a derivation , very reasonable. We still talk about " to keep cattle " or in Dutch " vee houden ", that certainly in the mind of people comprehends the care and herding where necessary.

     

    It is possible that English " to hold ", Old English " healdan " from older Germanic like Old Saxon " haldan ", in German " halten " and Old Norse " halda " , are related to the verb " to have " like it is in the action or activity itself. Yet we cannot define such a diversification in development, through which one became "HaB-" and the other " HaL", later HaLD", would have occurred. Uncertainty reigns here.

 

Note:
  • Hebrew: linguistic development. Hebrew presents in fact a series of roots, with common origin and variations of related meanings. :

     

                                    root      pron.   meaning      root       pron.     meaning    root       pron.  meaning

             origin     * H . B     hav        hold          * H . B      hav       love          *G . B     gav         love (intense)

    Bible      A . H . B  ahav     hold with    H . B . B  hawav   love         'A. G . B  'agav   love and

                                                pleasure                                                                                desire

    Modern  A . H . B ahav    like, love    H . B . B  hibev    like, love  'A . G . B  'agav  be in love

                                                                                                                                            (passion)

     

    This table requires some further explanation. From left to right we see three different roots, of which the first one is the weaker one and the right one the stronger one in pronunciation. In fact we go from א ה ב via ח ב ב to ע ג ב , or in sound from ahav via hawav( or ghawav) and hibev (or ghibbèv) to 'agav, with the stronger guttural interruption of Ayin. And the same goes for the messages , from holding to passion.

     

    So this table shows an eloquent example of the way languages develop. Here, starting out with a root with two consonants ( a C.C-root ), three things happen :

     

    • 1. the first consonant is substitued by stronger ones.

       

    • 2. a new consonant is added in front of the others.

       

    • 3. this new consonant is subsequently substituted by stronger ones as well

     

    All this in order to diversify and create new nuances in the messages the speaker wants to convey. And it has led to three different C.C.C-roots ( i.e. roots with three consonants ).

     

    But nothing flows all as smoothly as one would think.The first basic root, the soft one , "*hav", is identical to English "have". But even with the softest third consonant in front, "ahav", it has later invaded the terrain that was first explored by the second one , "hawav", which then seems to have fled into its own intensive form "hibev". To no avail, as in modern language "ahav" is the principal word to indicate the developed meaning of "love".

     

    The odd result of all this is that Hebrew has remained without a normal verb that would mean "to have". If somebody today wants to communicate that he has something, he says "me is". Or a suffix " I " is added to the noun to indicate that "it" belongs to "me", simply as "I" ="ME". Really an interesting consequence of this language development. And at the same time a strong confirmation of the kinship between English "have", Latin "habeo" and Hebrew "ahav".

     

    Mother's love. For a proper understanding of the here discussed concept of "have-hold-love", it is important to know that in Hebrew there exists another root meaning "to love". This is the root "R . H . M" ( raham ). This word is related to the noun "rehem", in English "womb". It indicates the more tenderly loving of the mother for her child . Consequently it has developed meanings of "compassion", "charity" and "mercy". The frequent Semitic name Rahman is based on this same root.

 

Note:
  • English and Old Norse. It is very interesting to see the various uses Old English and Old Norse make of the verbs for "to have", as specified in the Table. For example Old English "habban" when meaning "to cherish" brings us nearer to the Hebrew development' from "to have, hold " towards "to cherish, love".

 

Note:
  • Proto-Germanic. The Germanic words for "TO HAVE" often are put together for analysis of their origin with other words like English "to heave" and "heavy", Old Norse "haptr = prisoner", Old Swedish "hapter = slave" and German "Haft= capitivity". These word may well be related to the concepts of "to have" and "to hold", but Proto-Germanic certainly had its word for "to have", and we should try to make a hypothesis as such. In considering the available information it is useful to have in mind that the consonants "B" and "V" often interchange. This is the case for example in Hebrew, in Germanic and in Greek. See the related chapter, (To have, hold and love ).

     

    In Germanic languages as Old English we find different sister consonants in the various forms based on the same root.

     

    The verbs meaning "to have " in Germanic languages have an initial consonant "H" . This is then followed by a long vowel "Ā", with a few exceptions. A short "E" is found in Dutch and Middle Dutch (besides dialectal "haven") but also already in Old Saxon "hebbian" and Old Frisian "hebba". One notes that in these cases the consonant B" is doubled and this may indicate an intensive form of an earlier version with long A and single "B" . Interesting is that Old English had "habban", with present "hæbbe, hæfst, hæfð, hæbbað, habbað",and an imperative "hafa".

     

    Proto-Germanic probably still had "*H Ā B-", but already also used "*H Ā V-" and besides this developed further diversified forms with "*H E BB-"

     

    The Germanic words for "TO HOLD" are often put together with words that do not have the "D" after the "L". Such words deal with the concepts "to haul" and "to hale" and are found in entry E 0413 (Hebrew 0398) and may be just far relatives. The specific use of these verbs for "to keep cattle" should not be seen as the original meaning, even though it is the one known for Gothic. The following information shows that the existing hypothesis of "*GH A LD-" for Proto-Germanic has no real basis. A predecessor "GH" , if ever, would have exited earlier.

     

    In the meaning "to hold" , all verbs have an initial consonant "H" followed by a vowel with after that the group "LD". The vowel is a short "A" in Gothic "haldan", Old Norse and Nynorsk "halda" (with from Danish in Riksmål "holde"), Old Frisian "halda", Old High German and German "halten, but Middle High German "halden" and "halten". Swedish, after Old Swedish with "halda" and "halla", shows "hålla" with "höll" in other forms. A short "O" is used in English "to hold", Danish "holde" after Old Danish "haldæ". Middle Low German has a long "O" in "holden" . Middle Dutch developed its "holden" into "houden", that remained in Dutch. But Middle Dutch still used "halden", besides dialectal "helden". Old English finally used "healdan" besides or perhaps more after "haldan". From this emerges a probable Proto-Germanic "*H Ă LD-", with the use of the "O" introduced later in specific languages . A vowel "IE" is and was used ( Old English and modern Dutch "hield") in other forms of the same root.

     

 

Note:
  • Indo-European. It remains important to distinguish clearly between the words related to Latin "habeo = to have, hold", linked to a concept of "belonging", and those related to Latin "capio = to take, seize, obtain", linked to the concept of " (take into the) hand".

     

    Outside Latin and Germanic there is not much solid information, and the hypothesis for Indo-European remains "*H Ā B-.

 

 

 

 

 
Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 23/09/2012 at 14.45.14