E 0913          THIS, THESE

The words " this " and " these " are of Germanic origin .

H 0413            ה ז ה

Concept of root : this

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ה ז ה

hazé

this

Related English words

this;

these

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ה ז ה

hazé

this

(h). z (e)

Dutch

deze

déze

this

(d). z (e)

English

this;

these

this;

these

(th). + s (e) ;

(th). + z (e)

 

 

Proto-Semitic *HAZĒ --- *DĒZĔ Proto-Germanic

 

 

This entry must be read in relation with E 0904 (Hebrew 0299) as well as E 0914 (Hebrew 1076) .

 

Both words, Hebrew and Dutch, are composed of two elements. The first element of each, respectively "HA" and "DE" is the normal definite article. The second part of both is identical , "ZE", and serves to form an indicative pronoun. Hebrew also uses "ZE" and the feminine form "ZOT" without "HA". That is not found in Dutch .

 

The kinship with the English words lies in their last part, simply that " S " . This has the same indicative function we see in the Hebrew and Dutch " Z " . And all these words are composed of the article plus the indicative " S " or " Z " . English does not always use a final E, as the others do.

 

The "TH" of the English article is a development out of an earlier D, that is still seen in other languages as German and Swedish .

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic. Pronouns formed with "Z" are found in Phoenician, Ethiopian and in Aramaic, that also has words with "D", as does Ugaritic. Arabic has the related "DH", It is quite possible that pronouns with D and with Z both existed already in Proto-Semitic, especially as they are also seen in Indo European languages.

     

    The article "HA" is also found in Phoenician and Moabite. The combination may have been used already in Proto-Semitic, though with these short combinations there is not much certainty.

 

Note:
  • Proto-Germanic. A cognate of the Dutch word part "ze" is found in the Gothic demonstrative pronoun "sai" that is seen as going back to a masculin "sa"and female "so", to which a demonstrative " I " was added. Dutch "de-ze", after Old Dutch "de-se" is also comparable to German "die-se" after Old High German "de-se" and English "the-se" after Old English "þes, þis". Old Saxon had "the-se, thiu-s", Old Norse "de-ssi". Runic Old Norse has an older form, of which the definite article has " S ": "sá-si". This last fact does not change the comparison, and the similarity is in the second part, Semitic "ZĒ" and Germanic "-ZE", also "-SE, -SI".

     

    We do not think that the Germanic " D ", that became "TH" in English, has developed out of an earlier " S ", corresponding with a Greek " H ". Here a confusion between the definite article and the demonstrative pronoun may lead us astray. Pronouns with " S" or " Z " have existed parallel to those with " D ", as is still the case today with female "sie" in German and "zij" in Dutch, like indeed "she" in English. Interesting is a comparison with Hebrew in Entry E 0801 (Hebrew 0953) Proto-Germanic remains hard to define, but probably had "*D Ē Z Ĕ".

 

Note:
  • Indo-European. Cognates in other Indo-European languages are very hard to define and the comparison for now has to remain between Semitic and Germanic.

 

 

 

 

 
Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 20/12/2012 at 9.49.55