E 0204          CRANE

The birdname "crane" is of Germanic origin .

H 0122            ר ו ג ע

Concept of root: crane (bird)

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ר ו ג ע

‛agur

crane (bird)

Related English words

crane

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ר ו ג ע

‛agur

crane

‛a g r

Greek

γερην

gerèn

crane

 g r(è)n

Latin

grus

grus

crane

 g r(u)

English

crane

crane

 c r(a)n

Middle Dutch

eiger, heiger

eiger, heiger

heron

 (e).g. r,

 h . g . r

Armenian

krunk

krunk

crane

 (kr . nk

 

 

Proto-Semitic *‛AGUR --- *GERU Indo-European

 

 

The similarity between the various names in different languages for the crane is rather striking. But it does not seem easy to establish any descendance from one to the other. This is an indication that all these words found their origin in a common predecessor.

 

It has been tried to see the names as meaning "the bird that cries", which cranes do in a particular way. One should consider that many birds have loud, longish and characteristic cries, so that is not necessarily sufficiently distinguishing to make a name out of it. And for example in Germanic languages another bird, the crow, has occupied the position of "crying bird" with its name. Especially clear this is in that "old" language Dutch, where we have the "kraai" and the verb "kraaien", strictly akin to Englisch "to cry". But then we see in our table also the similarity between the Hebrew word for " crane " and very old Germanic names for a not too different large bird, which is the heron.

 

 

Note:
  • Hebrew. In modern Hebrew the name of this bird, with a suffix, "aguran" is also used for the mechanical crane, just as in English, Italian "gru" and many other languages. The word "‛agur" as such should be a participle of a verb "‛agar", but there seems to be no conclusive other evidence for such a word. On the other hand the "Ayin" must be the fruit of a later development of an earlier root, "G R", identical to that of Latin.

     

    An indication for this lies in another root " G R M" that , according to some scholars, tells about movements that one might imagine to recall those of a crane. But perhaps that goes a bit too much into conjecture. The word "gerem" says "bone".

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic . Proto-Semitic supposedly already had the same root "*ע ג ר" as is found in Hebrew. In Akkadian a not unsimilar word, " iguru " is supposed to mean a kind of large bird. Some say it stood for a "heron" , but others say it may also be a swan.

 

Note:
  • Latin and Hebrew have thus comparable roots. The "U" both have is not necessarily a factor of similarity, nor does it indicate a metathesis, for the reason just explained : in Hebrew this specific "U" often shows the shaping of a participle and is not part of a root.

 

Note:
  • Hebrew and Germanic . We find here an example in which the Hebrew Ayin , which in Germanic simply does not exist as sound, finds an "H" as its cousin. But then the Germanic words have developed into a newer version with an initial R, in which the H then disappeared. A beginning of this process is seen in Old Saxon "hregera" and Old English "hrāgra" . The names with R were already present in Old High German with "reigaro" besides "heigir" and Middle Dutch that had "reger" and "reigher" besides "eiger" and "heiger". One must note that the Hebrew Ayin has had various origins, like probably " R " and "NG".

 

Note:
  • Greek and Germanic have an N added to the root. Old English had "cranoc" a bit like German with "Kranich" in an even more extended word. But Old English also used the shorter version "cran ".

 

Note:
  • Middle Dutch . We can compare the Middle Dutch words with Old English "hragra", Old High German "heigir" and Old Norse "hegri". Old English has a very similar bird name, higora", but that indicates quite different birds, as "jay, magpie, jackdaw, woodpecker".

 

Note:
  • Proto-Germanic Meaning "crane" . With Old Saxon "krano", we find Old English "crane, cranoc,", but also "cornuc". German has "Kran, Kranich" after Old High German "krano". There can be not much doubt about a Proto-Germanic "*KR A N-".

     

    One must note that the Scandinavian languages have the words "trane, trana" for "crane". Nordic scholars state that there is no explanation for this specific development.

     

    Meaning "heron" : The Germanic words for "heron" nearly all have a second consonant "G" and a third consonant "R". In modern German a form "Reiher" developed besides "Reiger" and in modern language this older version disappeared. Danish abbreviated into "hejre".

     

    The initial consonant is often "H", as seen in Old Norse "hegri, Swedish "häger" and Middle Dutch "heiger" (also heger, eiger). But Old English shows "hragra". And then a newcomer, an initial "R", is seeking its place besides the existing versions. This happens in West Germanic languages as Old Saxon with "regera" besides "higara, heiger". Middle Dutch and Middle Low German with " reiger, reger" besides the earlier mentioned Middle Dutch words, but also in Old High German "reigaro" besides "heigaro" and Middle High German "reiger" besides "heiger".

     

    The vowel "EI" present in German and its predecessors, is also seen in Middle Dutch and Middle Low German, but taking the place of an already earlier long "E", also seen in Old Norse and in Norwegian dialectal "hegre" together with "heigre". Swedish "häger" has a differently spelled "E".-sound. The only exception is then the long A in Old English "hragra", for which we have no explanation. Probably Proto-Germanic had "*H E G e R-".

 

Note:
  • Indo-European.

     

    Slavic has changed the initial consonant into "ZJ". And a metathesis had brought the vowel between the two consonants "ZJ" and "R". Old Church Slavonian had "zjeravj" , Russian журавль, zjurawlj.

     

    Baltic. Old Prussian "gerwe", Lithuanian "gérvé" and Latvian "dzerve" show that the development from G into "Z" , comparable with Slavic, has not been followed completely in Baltic. It must be noted that Lithuanian "garnys" is used for "heron, stork".

     

    Armenian "krunk" has a vowel "U" , as is found also in Latin "grus" and in Westphalian "krūne".

     

    Celtic in Cymric, Cornish and Breton has "garan = crane".

     

    Latin has "grus" in which the final "S" is a suffix.

     

    For Indo-European it is hard to define if the initial couple of consonants was " KR " or " GR ". The words in various languages with a vowel "A" between the two probably show a later development, but a short or even dull "E" may have been used earlier. The following vowel may already have been " Ā ", but also and perhaps earlier " Ū ": G ě R Ū - into G ě R Ā N-"

 

 

 

 
"...the town, to which was given the name Babel, because it was there that the Lord confused the language of all the world on the face of which He dispersed them. GENESIS 11,9"
 
Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 29/09/2012 at 17.43.39