E 0304          ESSAY

The word "essay" comes from French .

        H 0192          ה ש ע

Concept of root : to practice

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ה ש ע

‛assà

to do, make, exercise

Related English words

essay , from French

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ה ש ע

‛assà

to do, make, exercise

‛a s (y)

Greek

ασκεω

askeo

to exercise

 a s k

French

essayer

esséyé

to exercise, try

 e s . y

English

essay

essay

e s . y

 

 

Proto-Semitic *‛ASSA --- *AS-K-EO Greek

 

 

The etymology of Greek "askeo" is simply unknown. The K-sound can well be an infix that stands for a beginning or preparatory action, in line with one of the basic idea’s of exercizing. Then the original basis is "A S". This shows some similarity with the Hebrew root. And in the messages of both there is similarity.

 

Note:
  • French. Usually this word, essayer, is seen as derived from Vulgar Latin "exagiare", = "to weigh out", that should then be read in the sense of "to examine". But also usually a warning "unattested" is added. In fact there is no semantic link. It remains hard to guess where the word really comes from, as certainly there are no direct common sources between French and Greek, nor between French and Hebrew. Uncertainty will probably remain with us.

 

Note:
  • Vowel. To avoid misunderstanding it may be useful to point out that vowels mostly are not decisive in the defining of meanings of roots. The actual Hebrew word "‛assà" has other forms with different vowels : "é‛èssé" means "I will practice".

 

Note:
  • Hebrew also has the verb " נ ס ה , nasà" that has an intensive version "nissè" , standing for "to try, test, proof, challenge" and that might be related to the words of this entry. In older words there is not always a strict distinction between the two letters Hebrew uses for " S ": These are the Samech ס and the Sin ש . The reader knows that this last sign can be Sin with the sound S or , and much more frequently, Shin with the sound SH. The initial N of "nissè" can be a prefix in front of an original root without N and the same meaning. This is hypothetical of course.

 

Note:
  • Hebrew. The often so-called "third consonant" of this Hebrew root, the "Y", has been put between brackets, because there is no agreement about its being part of the root. It can be seen in many verbal forms, such as "‛assiti = I did". It is also found in other Semitic languages.

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic. This root is present in OS Arabic "ע ס ו , ‛assù" and Moabite "ע ש ת י, ‛astì" and has cognates in Ugaritic "‛shy = he made" and Arabic "sa‛ay = he did, made, acted ".

     

    Proto-Semitic probably already had the same root we see here for Hebrew : "*ע ש ה" .

 

 

 

 

 
Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 22/12/2012 at 17.28.37