E 0076          BI- , BE_

The Old English prefixes " bi- " and " be- " are , together

   with the English prefix " be- " . of Germanic origin

H 0226         -ב

Concept of root : in, at

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

-ב

be, bi

in, at

Related English words

Old English : bi- , be- . English be-.

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

-ב

be

in, at

b .

Old English

bi- , be-

be- , in, at

b .

English

be-

be-

b .

Dutch

b-,

bij

b,

bei

in, at,

near

b .

Middle Dutch

bi

bi

at, near

b .

Russian

в, во

w, wo

in, at

w .<b .

 

 

Proto-Semitic *BE, *BI, *BA --- *BE, *BI Indo-European

 

 

This similarity is between prefixes and prepositions, that have the same meaning. There should be no confusion with a similar prefix "be-" or "bi-" used in various Germanic languages with verbs . In Hebrew this preposition is written attached to the following word.

 

The Old English prefixes " bi- " and " be – " were used as in Hebrew and Dutch, also with a locative meaning . English also has various words with the same prefix and use, like "beneath", "below", "beside".

 

Note:
  • Russian. As is mostly the case, the original Russian B is pronounced as W. Words in which the B-sound has been maintained, are written with a special letter, б . The tendency of changing from B to W is also seen in Polish and Chech. They write this preposition directly as W, respectively V.

 

Note:
  • Old English and Dutch have this letter "B", just like Hebrew, attached to a series of words, thus indicating a localization :

     

    būtan   b (uit) en  outside  ūt / uit  = out
    binnan  b (inn) en  inside  in  = in
    bufan  b (ov) en  upon  uf / ov < op  =up
       be (west) en  west of
       be (zuid) en  south of
       be (oost) en  east of
       be (noord) en  north of

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic. Proto-Semitic had this same preposition still used in Hebrew. It can also be found in Aramaic, Syriac, Ugaritic, Phoenician, Arabic and Ethiopian.

 

Note:
  • Indo-European may well have used this form "*B E-", that is found in Germanic and Slavic.

 

 

 

 
"...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: Monday 9 July 2012 at 13.36.32