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GD 1037 BISEN
H 0281 ס ס ב
Concept of root : trample
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Hebrew word
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pronunciation
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English meanings
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ס ס ב;
ס ו ב
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basas;
bos
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to
trample, thrash about;
to tread, trample
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Related English words
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Comparison between European words and
Hebrew
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Languages
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Words
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Pronunciation
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English meanings
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Similarity in roots
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Hebrew
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ס ס ב;
-
- ;
ס ו ב
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basas -
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bos
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to trample, thrash about;
to tread, trample
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b . s . s
<*b . s
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b . w . s
-
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Italian
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pestare
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pestare
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to trample etc.
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p . s t,
< *p .
s
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Middle Dutch
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bisen
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bisen
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to walk around wildly
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b . s
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Proto-Semitic *BESAS, *BOS --- *BIS- Proto-Germanic
There are in Hebrew various roots that in a combination of B or P with S stand for form of using one’s feet.We find them in different entries. Trampling is a specific form of such use. As so frequently we find a sisterword of Hebrew precisely in Dutch, this time again in Middle Dutch. From modern language it has disappeared.
Note:
- Hebrew has developed this word "BASAS" through the doubling of the second consonant ", from an older root "BAS". This was again a concentrated forms of another root "BOS", that has remained in life in Biblical language, with the same meaning of "to trample". In modern Hebrew it has been lost, though some composite forms have remained with a nett shift of meaning: "hewis" is "to defeat" and "hitboses" is "to wallow".
Note:
- Proto-Semitic. This Hebrew root can be found also in Aramaic "ב ס ס, B S S , besas = to tread, trample" . and may well have existed in Proto-Semitic, though this is not certain : "*ב ס ס, B S S ". The vowels are undefined.
Roots with three consonants like this one, usually have developed out of earlier two consonants root, simply by doubling the second one : "B . S" > "B : S : S". And frequently there has been an older version with the same two consonants and a " W " in the middle : "B . W . S". The " W " could have a pronunciation as a vowel or as consonant, opening two possible versions : "BAWAS" and "BOS". The last version should have existed indeed in Proto-Semitic as it has also lived on into Biblical Hebrew. It is added as an alternative to a possible "BESAS". Thus for Proto-Semitic two more versions have to be added : "*ב ו ס, B W S " and "*ב ס , B S "
Note:
- Italian "pestare" has the message of "treading heavily, crush underfoot, trample" and is also used for the crushing done in a mortar, as well as for "to beat, pound". We find some uncertainty around its etymology, but one thing is certain: "pestare" is an intensive form of a verb without the T. This could have been *pessare or pisere, but usually it is found in "pinso, pinsere", a nasalized version of "pisere". This should mean "pestare", but first of all in the sense of "crushing in a mortar with a pestello (pestle)". The odd thing is that Italian has developed a separate word for the continuation of this Latin "pinsere": "pigiare". This word is not based on activities of the feet.
The problem remains that Italian "pestare" has a similarity in meaning with Hebrew "basas" and older "bos", but its Latin predecessors "pinsere" and "pisere" do not share that message. The meaning "to trample" for "pestare" may even be an extension, a specific local Italian development.
Note:
- Proto-Germanic. In modern Dutch the verb has become "biezen". Middle Dutch had "bisen, besen, bissen", that also indicated the trotting about of cattle. Also Old High German had "bisen" as well as the older "bison". It is possible that these words are of common Germanic origin and that Proto-Germanic had "*B Ĭ S-".
Note:
- Indo-European. The abovementioned problem with Italian "pestare" and Latin "pisere" makes it difficult to consider them as a basis for a hypothesis for Indo-European. This is valid also for Greek "πτισσω, ptisso, that is considered a cognate of Latin "pinsere" and shares its meanings, but not also the "trampling" of Italian "pestare". We remain limited to Proto-Germanic.
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| Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 23/12/2012 at 17.05.09 |
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