E 0376          GLOSS

The English word " gloss " is of Latin origin .

H 0361            ה ל ג

Concept of root : to unveil, manifest

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ה ל ג

gillà

to unveil, manifest, make known

Related English words

gloss

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ה ל ג

gillà

to unveil, manifest, make known

g l .

Greek

γλωσσα,

γλωττα

glossa; glotta

tongue

g l . s

Latin

glossa; glossema

glossa; glossema

explanation of words

g l . s

Middle Dutch

glosen

ghlosen

to explain, make clear

gh l .s

English

gloss

explanation

g l . s

 

 

Proto-Semitic *GALÀ --- *GLOS-SA Latin

 

 

The explanation of development from Greek to English seems simple. But the Hebrew word complicates things already, with a quite possibly related root giving a meaning that came about only in Latin and has not been documented in Greek. Would the Romans really have loaned a word for "tongue", abolishing its real meaning and giving it another one way off the original ?

 

But if we look at Classic Greek itself we find that "glossa" means not only tongue and language, but was also used for "idiom, dialect, foreign or unusual way of speaking, people who speak a certain language or dialect "

 

Then looking at Hebrew we find, for this root that does not have a third consonant "S" like the Greek one, also some further variation, especially in the basic form "galà". This says "to discover, open, go into exile". The last part could be seen as "going amidst strangers who speak differently" and its sense is confirmed in the causative version "higĕlà = he carried away intoexile". But perhaps the occurring of two so different meanings should make us conclude that we have two similar but not identical roots.

 

We have not solved this problem, and our hypothesis of common origin stays at a below average level of probability .

 

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic We refer to our note on Proto-Semitic in entry RU 1285 (Hebrew 0360) : In Semitic, the two consonant root " G . L . " is used to express and is at the basis of many concepts. It is not easy to establish a common base for these messages. One of them is that of " to uncover". In the narrow meaning of " to undress, be(come) naked", which is the common ground with Russian , it is linked to that of " to uncover", that is also found in Phoenician "ג ל י , G L Y " ., and Aramaic "ג ל א , G L Aleph " . It has a probable cognate in Arabic "jala = he unveiled" ( as often with an initial J instead of G ). The Hebrew root of this entry probably existed as such in Proto-Semitic: "*ג ל ה , G L H ( accentuated vowel) ".

 

 

 

 

 

 
Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 19/10/2012 at 14.37.08