E 0474          HYGE, HYCGEAN

The words " hyge" and "hycgean "

 are of Germanic origin .

H 0394            ה ג ה

Concept of root : thinking over

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ה ג ה

hagā

to meditate, reflect

Related English words

Old English : hyge, hycgean

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ה ג ה

hagā

to reflect, meditate

h . g .

Old English

hycgan ;

-

-

hyge;

-

hogian

-

-

to think of, meditate, remember; thought, deliberation; to think, reflect, intend

h . cg ;

-

-

h . g

-

-

Middle Dutch

hachten;

-

-

hoghe, heug;

huegen, heugen

haghten ;

-

-

hoghe, heug;

huegen, heugen

to think of, meditate, remember;

thought, deliberation;

to think about,

h . gh t;

-

-

h . gh

-

-

-

Dutch

heugen

-

geheugen

-

h(eu)ghen;

-

geh(eu)-ghen

to remember;

memory

-

h . g

 

 

Proto-Semitic *HAGÀ --- *HŪG- Proto-Germanic

 

 

Once more it is in Old English and Middle Dutch that we find the greater affinity with Hebrew. The first Middle Dutch verb has a T after the basic root, indicating an intensive form. These words are also used for some kinds of consequences of their action : " to recall, declare, want ".

 

Note:
  • Hebrew shows in the entry E 0633 (Hebrew 0395) an identical root with different meaning. It is possible that one and the same two consonant combination, in this case "H G .", in Hebrew has been used to express these two different meanings : first the reflection and second the expressing oneself in sound.

     

    Perhaps a comparable development is seen in the root "Q R, karā " that stands for "to read" and "to call". But this may also be based on the frequent ancient phenomenon of "reading out loud". A habit that has not yet fully disappeared.

 

Note:
  • Hebrew has as well a another, lengthened root : " ה ג ג , H G G, hagag ", that has the message of "to imagine, fancy".

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic. This root is seen in Aramaic and Syriac "ה ג א , H G Aleph, hag'ā = he thought, mused, meditated". Ugaritic uses this root to express "to count". Arabic, changing the "G" into " J ", with the words hajjawa; tahajjawa says : "he spelled; he recited murmuring".

     

    This root may have existed as "* ה ג, H . G . ", opronounced with a final accentuated vowel, in Proto-Semitic.

 

Note:
  • Proto-Germanic. Old Norse, often an interesting guide for etymology, offers two verbs : "huga = to think, devise", and "hyggja = to think, meditate, remember". These are obviously related, with a common origin. We compare this with Old English showing "hogian = to think about, reflect, intend" and "hycgan = to think, consider, meditate, remember". These verbs cover a common ground of "to think" plus diversified specific meanings. Old High German had "huggen" and "hogen". Nouns with meanings around the concepts of "thought, meditation, deliberation, remembering" are Old Saxon, Old High German and Old Norse "hugi", Gothic "hugs", Old English "hyge" and Middle Dutch "hueghe, heughe, hōghe". Proto-Germanic probably had a basic form, also to shape verbs from it, of "H Ū G-" though this mave begun to develop already a form "H Ü G-.

 

Note:
  • Indo-European Cognates in other Indo-European languages seem not be present and the comparison stays between Semitic and Germanic.

 

 

 

 

 

 
Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 22/10/2012 at 16.11.54