E 0159          CHANCELLOR

The word " chancellor " is, via Old French, of Latin origin .

H 0368         ן ג

Concept of root : enclose for protection

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ן ג

gan

garden

Related English words

chancellor

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ן ג

gan

garden

g . n

Greek

γανος;

κιγκλις ;

καγκελλος

ganos;

kingklis;

kangellos

garden;

railing ; enclosure

g . n

k . n

Latin

cancelli, cancer

cancer

fence, enclosure

c . n (c)

English

chancellor

chancellor

ch . n (c)

 

 

Proto-Semitic *GAN --- *KAN > *KAN-K- Indo-European

 

 

The most important use of this Hebrew word is perhaps that as "Gan Eden", or the "Garden of Eden". The first Greek word "ganos", is very similar to Hebrew "gan", as it has just added a normal suffix for the definition of the first case of a noun. It is so similar, that some people wonder if it might be a loanword. In Modern Greek it is not found anymore.

 

Note:
  • Latin "cancelli", used only in this plural form, is an adapted diminutive of the older word "cancer", that stood for fence. The meaning had not changed in the process and is the same of the Hebrew root "G N". The second C in "cancer" we believe due to a doubling effect, like in the Greek words.

 

Note:
  • Greek in all probability has doubled the K, repeating it further in the word.That leaves a root of "K N", according to the pronunciation, commonly written with a G instead of N before that second K.

     

    The second word, "kangellos" is a late-Greek loanword from Latin ! This has happened sometimes. Mostly Latin has taken words from Greek.

 

Note:
  • Indo-European There are proposed cognates from Sanskrit, in "kásha = hiding place" and "kásh(y)â = circular wall, enclosure". Some see then "kankana = bracelet" as a nasalization, trying thus to link the words without " N " to Greek and Latin. We see this as a step too far.

     

    We have to base ourselves on Greek and Latin on the Indo-European side, with a hypothesis of "*K A N-K-", developed out of an earlier"*K A N-". Other vowels may have been in use as well, especially " Ĭ " as seen in Greek and in fact comparable to Semitic.

 

Note:
  • Hebrew has the verb " ג נ ן , ganan, that is just an extended form of an older root " ג ן, gan", with the meaning of "to enclose". Thus the noun "gan" is the enclosed garden we also find in Genesis, as "Gan Eden" or the "Garden of Delight".

     

    The basic concept of this root,that we see as "to enclose for protection", is confirmed by the existence of some other roots in Hebrew : " ג נ ז , ganaz , hoard and hide", " כ נ ף , kanaph , to cover (with wings), hide" , and perhaps some others.

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic. We find scholars doubting between "*gann-" and "*ginn-" as Proto-Semitic words. In fact we find in Hebrew, besides "gan", also "ginna" and "ganna". But the last two are found in so called Post Biblical Hebrew. That does not mean that they did not exist earlier, without have been used in the written texts of the Bible. But as Aramaic in its various branches has such forms as "gan, gina, ginta, ginta, gann'ta", this may have been the source of Post Biblical Hebrew . All these words anyhow go back to an original two consonant root " *G N" for Proto-Semitic, just as found in Biblical Hebrew . Then there are Arabic "jannah" and Akkadian "ganna", both saying "garden". Thus Proto-Semitic probably had "*ג ן, G N".

 

Note:
  • English "garden" and its Germanic sisters are of different origin. See entry number E 0357 (Hebrew 0350). "Chancellor" with the original meaning of "gatekeeper" is based on Latin "cancellarius" , the man who stood guard at the gate of the residence of the commander . The CH is based on French, that very frequently has changed a Latin C into CH .

 

 

 

 

 
Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 20/10/2012 at 16.37.09