GR 1151          BIKOS

H 0256            ק ב ק ב

Concept of root : bottle

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ק ב ק ב

baqәbuq

bottle

Related English words

beaker

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ק ב ק ב

baqәbuq

bottle

b . q

Greek

βικος

bikos

jug, pitcher

b . k

English

beaker

beaker

b . k

 

 

Proto-Semitic *BUQ --- *BUK Indo-European

 

 

The similarity looks perfect. Three objects used to contain liquid for drinking.

 

Note:
  • Hebrew has just doubled the root, things people do and that can become official if the person who has the initiative is of the right type to influence others. A particular example of doubling we find in the dialect of Antwerp in Belgium. Instead of defining themselves with the usual Dutch (and Flemish) word "ik" for English "I", they say "ikkik"! By the way, "I" is the same word but has lost the final consonant, that was seen in Old English "ic".

     

    Coming back to our Jewish bottle, the doubling might be influenced by a technical development, that from an open jug to a bottle that could be closed. This is just a guess.

     

    Another point to remark is the following. Scholars have linked the word "baqebuq" to a root "ב ו ק, B W Q, or in sound BOQ meaning "to empty", defining this as the function of a bottle. This kind of functional definition sounds pleasant to anybody who likes to drink, but others say a bottle is there first and foremost to keep and conserve liquids. The idea has been stimulated by the existance of a noun "BUQA" meaning "void". But it says also "desolation", and although many recur to a bottle in desolation, it does not seem etymologically convincing.

     

    An existing hypothesis says that the word " baqebuq" imitates the gurgling sound one can make when drinking from a bottle. This "sounds" nice , but we do not think anybody would name a bottle a "gurgler".

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic. There is no abundant information for a hypothesis. But Syriac gives "gadbugą = a narrow-necked jug . A Hebrew verb "with the same doubled root as the word "baqbuq" says " to gurgle", and there is no agreement as to which of the two came first or even if the two are effectively related, which should be the case. Probably Proto-Semitic had a root " *ב ו ק , buq B Q ", for a jug or bottle from which to drink.

 

Note:
  • Greek bikos has a diminutive "bikion" and both were normally used for wine.

 

Note:
  • Proto-Germanic. English "beaker " has sisterwords in for example German " becher " , Norwegian " beger " and Dutch " beker ". Its meaning is a bit less near that of the Hebrew root . There is an opinion that these words would have been loaned into German after the end of the Roman Empire, around 500 E.V., from Latin "bicarium" that in itself would be a loan from our Greek word "bikos". People like to guess this kind of loaning sequence : Greek - Latin - Germanic. And "-arium" would be a nice Latin suffix. But this word "bicarium did not exist in Classic Latin and if it entered the language after the fall of the Empire, it probably came just from Germanic.

     

    Old Saxon had "bikeri", Old High German "behhar" and Old Norse "bikarr". Proto-Germanic probably had "*B I K e R-". The final " R " can be seen as a function-indicating suffix.

 

Note:
  • Indo-European

     

    Greek There are other words related to the same root. Italian "boccale" = "jug, tankard" comes from Latin "baucalis". This is not Classic but Late Latin and it is said to have been loaned from an identical Greek word "βαυκαλις, baukalis vase with narrow neck", that is used for liquids that one drinks, especially wine. The indication from this is "B Ü K".

     

    Slavic. Russian has, with sister words in other Slavic tongues, "кубок, kubok = drinking cup, goblet, tankard" and "кубышка, kubŭshka = pitcher, jug ". The first of these two words seems to be related but the second one does not confirm this and we remain uncertain.

     

     

    Indo-European. Seen Greek and Germanic, supposing that the Germanic word part "BIK" may have developed out of "BOK", a hypothesis may be "*B U K-" or "*B O K-".

 

 

 

 

 
Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 08/10/2012 at 16.48.47