E 0423          HASTEN

The words "haste" and "hasten" are of Germanic origin .

H 0216          ש ו ע

Concept of root: haste

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ש ו ע

‛awash, ‛osh , (modern) ‛ash

to hasten

Related English words

hasten

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ש ו ע

‛awash, ‛osh ,

‛ash

to hasten

‛a w sh ;

‛a sh

English

hasten

hasten

ha s

Germanic

*haifsti

*haifsti

haste

*ha s

 

 

Hebrew *‛OSH < Proto-Semitic *‛OSH --- *HĀST- Proto-Germanic

 

Hebrew *GHOSH < Proto-Semitic GHASH --- *HĀST- Proto-Germanic

 

 

 

Like many times, in this similarity the Germanic H at the beginning of a root finds a pendant in a Hebrew "Ayin", also a weak guttural sound. But in Hebrew there is also a different development, frequently seen as well, in which the initial consonant is much harder. This is seen in entry number E 0424 (Hebrew 0468), that deals with the related root " GH W SH". As is known, we rather frequently see Hebrew initial Ayin correspond with an Arabic initial GH. In this case we find also in Hebrew itself this alternative first consonant "GH". Both Ayin and GH are of course gutturals.

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic. We have no direct evidence for a Proto-Semitic root with an initial Ayin, but there is regarding the related root with initial GH. See entry E 0424 (Hebrew 0468). The Ayin sometimes corresponds with "GH" in other Semitic tongues, especially in Arabic. In this case we see both "Ayin" and "GH" used as initial consonant of related roots with the same basic meaning. Both roots are related and there is a good possibility that both were present in Proto-Semitic.

 

Note:
  • English "hasten", like its German and Dutch sisterwords, has a T inserted after the original root.

 

Note:
    Proto-Germanic . If an existing hypothesis about the origin of "to hasten" would be convincing, Proto-Germanic would seem to show a reminiscence of the older version of the Hebrew root. One might then see such as reminiscence of the Hebrew letter "waw" ( ו ) in the combination "IF" in the old word "*haifsti". The theory says that this hypothetical Proto-Germanic word was simplified to "*haisti" and thus led to "haste". The " IF ", between vowel and consonant, was supposedly present in Old Franconian "*haifst = vehemence", related to Dutch "heftigheid" with the same meaning, that is then found in Old English without the consonant "F" : "h&#aelig;st = vehemence" . This may be correct, but then West Frisian, usually near to Old English has the word "haest" that then has the other meaning : "haste". Besides this it has "haste = fast". Further words that have contributed to the theory about the origin of "haste" are Old Norse "heifst = hatred" and Gothic "haifsts = quarrel".

     

    The fact remains that we have words that have some similarity between them with meanings that may be related in a far off way. Comparing them in Dutch, as this language has changed existing roots less than most others :

     

    haast , Middle Dutch "haest, haeste, haste" : haste; with Proto-Germanic "*H Ā ST-"

     

    haat , Middle Dutch "haet, hate" : hatred ; with Proto-Germanic "*H Ā T-"

     

    heftig , Middle Dutch not present as such : vehement ; with Proto-Germanic "*H Ĕ B-".

     

    In older and newer Germanic languages there are words for "hate, hatred" with the root "H Ā T" and that includes Old Nore "hatr", in which the final "R" is a common suffix. Therefore Old Norse "heifst" that means "hate" is rather accidental. It has several forms , such as "heipt, heift, heifst, heimpt, heimt" and many meanings: "enmity, hatred, jealousy, anger, etcetera". It can be excluded as contribution to the development of the words for "to hate".

     

    The absence of a related word for modern Dutch "heftig = vehement" in Middle Dutch that has only a "haftich = brave, stout", shows it probably has been loaned from identical German "heftig". We must conclude that the three roots for respectively "hate, haste and vehemence" are independent from each other. For Proto-Germanic there were probably "*H Ā T-" for "hate" and "*"*H Ā ST-" for "haste".

 

Note:
  • Indo-European. Outside Germanic we have no information that would allow a hypothesis directly for Indo-European.

 

Note:
  • Background. In both Germanic and Hebrew the concept of "haste" has produced collateral messages, such as "to come fast to help" and "vehemence", as in Old English "haest".

 

Note:
  • "Hase" and "haas" are the German and Dutch names for "hare". Commonly these names are explained as saying "the grey animal". The main characteristic of a hare is decidely not its colour but its speed and hastiness. Thus, if we follow another not uncommon way of reasoning to explain words, we may suppose that there is a kinship between the Hebrew root of this entry and one of the speediest ground animals.

 

 

 

 
"...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: 05/10/2012 at 16.38.50