E 0029          ANCHOR , ANCER

The word "anchor" comes via Latin from Greek

H 0121            ן ג ע

Concept of root: to restrain, anchor

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ן ג ע

*‛agan , ‛ogen

to restrain; anchor

Related English words

anchor, from Greek

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ן ג ע

‛ogen ,

 < *‛agan

anchor

‛o g n ,

‛a g n

Greek

αγκυρα

anküra

anchor

 a gk r

Latin

ancora

anchor

a nc . r

English

anchor

anchor

a nch . r

Old English

ancor ,

ancer

anchor

a nc . r

German

Anker

anker

anchor

a nk . r

Old Swedish

akkare

akkare

anchor

a kk . r

Swedish

ankare

ankare

anchor

a nk . r

Icelandic

akkari

akkari

anchor

a kk . r

 

 

Proto-Semitic *‛AGAN --- ANK-URA < *ANK-OS Greek

 

 

In the comparison between Greek and Hebrew we see a shift or metathesis between the respective sounds N and G/K : aGaN versus aNK- . Or, elsewise, the " N " in Greek is the fruit of nasalization and the third consonant " N " in Hebrew an extension of the root.

 

Note:
  • Greek anküra : the R is seen as not having been part of the original root. We believe instead that the root with final R was specific for this specialized item .

 

Note:
  • Hebrew . The Hebrew word " ogen " is Modern Hebrew. There are various opinions as to its origin. It may be based on the Medieval Hebrew "intensive" verbal form " iggèn" that means " to anchor ". It is also believed to have been borrowed from Greek, but is simply too different from " ankűra" to sustain that word as its origin. In the Talmud we see, with a different spelling and sound: "ע ו ג י ן, ogin". There is also a version "ה ו ג י ן, hogin". Here the supposition is a loan based on Greek "onkinos < onkos = hook". But if Greek had a word for "anchor", why should anybody loan "hook" to make it mean "anchor"? Instead Hebrew "ogen" may well have been derived from an older basic verb "*agan " , as presented in the above table . For " agan " a peculiar triple message is referred of " to shut oneself in" and " to be shut in", but also " to be deserted ( comparable to being shut out)".

     

    Yet in Aramaic it has the more active form of " to shut up, imprison". One must conclude that the basic message of the Hebrew root "Ayin.G.N" was that of " to restrain, keep un-free to move". And the Medieval "iggèn" is just a form of specific intensively restraining : what an anchor does to a ship . And that medieval form must have had its origin, presumably in older language. Indeed Biblical Hebrew had the passive form of the verb "agan" in "ne'egan" with the meaning of "to elude, evade", an action that may require from the other side a "fixing, anchoring".

 

Note:
  • Proto-Germanic . Germanic languages according to the general opinion, have loaned this word from Latin that had received it from the Greeks who invented the more-armed anchor. Before seeing the anchors the Romans used, they seemingly still had stone anchors like the Egyptians .

     

    This view is also based on the idea that "anchor" is linked to "ankle" and thus represents a curved or hooked object. We cannot really with full certainty contradict this reasoning, but we are far from convinced of it. We will consider some Germanic words, especially older ones.

     

    It is in fact odd that German and Dutch, but also Old English had an E in the second syllable .

     

    One could imagine that the vowel "O" in the Latin word "ancora" has influenced an existing word in the case of Old English . German, Dutch and Swedish did not change over to this O, but stuck to E respecitively A.

     

    There is another point that must be considered. Elder Germanic words did not have the N , as seen in Old Swedish "akkare" compared with modern Swedish "ankare" . And as well in Old Norwegian "akkeri" versus modern "anker" that was specifically loaned from Dutch . Also Old Danish did not have the N : "akkœrœ" versus modern "Anker".

     

    The conclusion can only be that Proto- Germanic had "AKKER -" and that Latin has led to inserting an N and in some cases an O . In fact Icelandic and Faroerish never have accepted the Latin (Greek and Hebrew) N : "akkeri," or "akker".

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic . Besides in Hebrew, the root "Ayin G N " mentioned in this entry is found in Aramaic " ‛agan". In Arabic there is "'a‛jama= he shut up" The consonant "J" is a typical Arabic development out of "G". This allows us to hypothesize a Proto-Semitic root : "* ע ג ן, Ayin G N " .

 

Note:
  • Indo-European . One may ask the question if anchors were known in the times when Indo-European was spoken. Iron anchors seem to have been forged for the first time in England about 575 e.v.. But the Mediterraneans had been using stone anchors for millennia and gave them their name. And in older times smaller objects must have been used to "anchor" smaller vessels, at sea or in inland waters. For the choice of a word for this comparison we prefer to stick to Greek.

 

 

 

 

 
Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 22/12/2012 at 14.02.26