E 0491         ITER, ITINERARY

The word " iter " is a loanword from Latin .

The word " itinerary " is of Latin origin .

H 0076A           ה ת א

Concept of root: to travel, to come

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ה ת א

atą; *ittą

to come

Related English words

iter, itinerary

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ה ת א

atą, *ittą

to come

a t . ; * i t .

Russian

идти

idti

to go, to be underway, to come

 i d

Greek

ιθι

ithi

come !

 i th

Latin

iter, iteris;

-

-

itare

-

iter, iteris;

-

-

itare

-

the going, moving, way ;

to go, move frequently

 i t ;

English

iter ;

itinerary

iter ;

itinerary

i t ;

i t  . n

 

 

Proto-Semitic *ATÁ --- *Ī T- Indo-European

 

 

The first basic remark is that in older times words or roots were often used in a more neutral sense, that later became specified . Thus a word could mean "moving" and then become either "moving away" or "moving toward", which is the essential difference between "to go" and "to come". Thus we see here Latin nearer the original neuter sense, with Greek and Hebrew dedicated to the version of " to come ". And Russian with the full range of "going, coming, moving on".

 

 

Note:
  • Russian. The verb "idti" as shown in the table, carries all the fundamental meanings. First the "moving, changing place, walk," that does not specify if the subject is coming or going. Then the specified message of "to go" and the other specified message of "to come".

 

Note:
  • Hebrew. The intense form of the verb, "*ittą" is not registered in the written text of the Bible, but is interesting as it would feature the same initial " Ī " that dominates many Indo-European forms.

 

Note:
  • Latin.The verb "itare" is considered an intensive form of another important verb, that has the forms "eo, ii, itum, ire" and stands for "going (especially by foot)", not in the specific sense of "to go away" in contrast with "to come", but "to proceed". It is as such also used for travelling on horse back, by ship etcetera, besides of course figurative meanings. But in other Italic tongues, narrowly related to Latin", the consonant "T" was normally present. "T" is also found , but with a probably different or double origin, in the participium "itum" and in the future tense "futurus". Latin anyhow probably had "Ī T-".

 

Note:
  • Greek.This similarity invites us to look further into the Greek use of words for "to come; to go". We see that it uses three rather different roots in the verb for to come. One is "erkh" in "ερχομαι , erkhomai = I come, I go ", the form usually presented to indicate the verb as such. Another is "ελθω , eltho = (that) I come, I go ". This different root is used in the momentaneous tenses, while the first one served the continuous tenses. This is a typical and important distinction in Greek. The root of " eltho " obviously has received an infix " L ".

     

    Further there is the verb "ειμι , eimi = to go, to come". This verb can be compared to Latin "eo, ire" and also here there are verbal forms with a dental in them, belonging thus to a different root, again as in Latin. So an old root is still found in the imperative tense "ιθι , ithi = come !, go!". To this may be added the noun " ιθμα , ithma = going, movement, pace, foot". This confirms a basic message of movement, that can be either neutral or coming or going. The original Greek form probably was "*Ī TH-".

     

    It is important that the mentioned verb "eimi" seems to be the same as "eimi" that means " to be", but they are of different origin. "Eimi = to be" comes from "es-mi", with a root "es". "Eimi = to come, go" comes from a root "*ei < *ī".

 

Note:
  • Greek. There is much uncertainty about the etymology of "erkhomai" . It is related to Hebrew as well, as is seen in entry GR 1172 (Hebrew 0062). The meanings of "to come" ( more used today) and "to go" are concentrations from the original message of " to be underway". In older civilizations many roots expressed more or less specialized ideas, such as that of moving without specifying the direction of the movement. This was also the case with the root of "erkhomai".

 

Note:
  • Semitic tongues show the following forms, all with the meaning of "to come", sometimes also specified as "to come back" and "to arrive":

     

    Hebrewata to come, arriveAleph T Aleph or Vowel
    Aramaic et'a to comeAleph T Aleph
    Arabic ata(y)to come Aleph T Vowel (Y)
    Ugaritic atw to come Aleph T W
    S.Arabic at, atw to come Aleph T (W)
    Ethiopian atąwato come back Aleph T W

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic. This Hebrew verb has in the forms of the past an "I-sound" after the " T ". This " I " , as Yod, is usually considered as "the" third consonant", but it remains an improper root part. "I" is also found in one branch, but not in the other branches of Aramaic. And it is there in Arabic. In Ugaritic and some Southern languages we see a "W" as third consonant. We tend to agree with the supposition that Proto-Semitic had just " *Aleph T", with an accentuated vowel after the "T", indicated as : "* א ת ה ".

 

Note:
  • Proto-Germanic. Old English uses the verb "gān = to go", identical to Dutch. But it mixes into the use forms based on another root, just as is the praxis witth the meaning "to be". So "ēode = he went". This is related to Latin "eo, ire", but the dental "D" is not part of the root, so it is not related to "iter". In Gothic "iddja = went" we again see a dental, a "D" that may have developed out of an earlier "T". It is quite possible that Proto-Germanic used a "* Ī- " and also an "* Ī D-".

 

Note:
  • Indo-European. On the basis of Latin, Greek and Russian a hypothesis for Indo-European of "*Ī T-" seems justified. But then we must look further into the other branches. :

     

    Slavic, with Old Church Slavonian "iti" is still nearer to Latin "iter, itare" and Greek "ithi" than Russian with a "ĪD T I-". Czech has "jet, jit" for "to go". Slavic probably had "*Ī T-". In some cases there is a "D" instead of "T", as in Lithuanian "eidine = way of walking".

     

    Baltic. Old Lituanian shows an infinitive "eīti", but the dental "T" may not be part of the root, as it is absent from most other forms. The same goes for Latvian "eĪti".

     

    Celtic. Old Irish has "ethae = has gone"

     

    Old Indian first of all has simply a basic "éti = to go, walk", as well as íti = going". Then there are also words like "-āya, áyāt, ih, tí" , that show no relation with the root of this entry, but perhaps with the mentioned Latin verb "eo, ire".

     

    Avestan has "aēiti = to go".

     

    Hittite is interesting with the words īt; ītten = go ", confirming an Ī T-".

     

    Indo-European probably had "*Ī T-, besides a form without dental that continued into a.o. Latin, Greek and Old Indian.

 

 

 

 

 
Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 21/12/2012 at 16.16.50