E 0433          (TO) HEAL,  HEALTH

The words " heal " and " health " are of Germanic origin.

H 0422            ל ח *

Concept of root : human health

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ל ח *

ghal

human health

Related English words

heal, health

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ל ח *

ghal

human health

gh . l <

*h . l

English

to heal, health

to heal, health

h . l

 

 

Proto-Semitic *GHALÀ --- *HEIL- Proto-Germanic < *KĒL- Indo-European

 

 

This entry is related to E 0433 (Hebrew 0423), in which there are indications for an older Proto-Semitic root, as shown above.

 

This antique Hebrew root we suppose. "* GH L. ", is the basis of a number of roots with three consonants, that are about conditions of human health:
ח ל א ghal’à to fall ill
ח ל ה ghalà to be ill, weak
ח ל ם ghalam to be(come) healthy, strong
ח ל ש ghalash to be(come) weak
and perhaps ח ל ל ghalall wounded, killed
ח ל ף ghalaph to regain strength
or even ח י ל ghayal to suffer pain

 

There are still other roots that contain the combination "GH L", but without having any bearing on the human health. But the number of roots shown above is sufficiently significant to suppose a similarity with "health".

 

Note:
  • Hebrew. The last of the above group, "G H Y L" might also have an original component "*Y L", which might bring it into relation with English "to ail" and "ill".

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic. This same root is found in Aramaic and may have a cognate in Arabic "ghall, ghalal = weakness (in the legs)". There are in Hebrew many roots that begin with "GH L", and their meanings are ver different among each other. Of the aforementioned list of roots with some bearing on human health, we find "ח ל י ם , ghalim= healthy" , GH L M" in Syriac and also in Arabic "ghalim = fat, healthy ( of animals)" Then there is "ח ל ש (א), ghalash(à)GH L SH (Aleph)", in Aramaic and Syriac. It is probable that in Proto-Semitic a root "*ח ל , GH L" was present, besides anyhow still the earlier "*ה ל , H L", with reference to " health". See E 0433 (Hebrew 0423)

 

Note:
  • Proto-Germanic. Besides in English "to heal", this root can be seen in many old and modern languages. Usually it is defined as meaning "whole, healthy" and seen as related to the hypothetical Indo European "*kailo". The existence of the Hebrew reference to human health in positive and negative conditions makes the direct link to "whole" less certain. In fact not all agree to it. Another factor is that Hebrew has another root "K L", that carries the meanings of "entire" or "whole", but also that of "all ". See entry E 0023 (Hebrew 0485 ).

     

    We insert the Note on Proto-Germanic from the just mentioned entry E 0023 (Hebrew 0485 )

     

    " The word "all" or "al" is found in about all Germanic languages, though Old English "eal" indicates a possible older "oll", which is anyhow the modern pronunciation. For Old Flemish we also see a vowel "O" in "olla", but this is to be seen as a dialectal development. Words for "whole" like German "heil" and Dutch "heel, heil", are used to indicate, besides "whole" also the different concept of "healthy, undamaged". In this sense we find also words with a vowel "A", as Gothic "hails", Old English "hāl" and "English "hale". The probable Proto-Germanic root remains "*A L" for the meaning "all", with "*H Ē L-" for the meaning "whole"."

     

    For the meaning "healthy" there are many words in older Germanic languages. These words often are identical to words meaning "whole", but the question is if they are each time "one word only with both meanings : "healthy" as well as " whole". In Middle Dutch there is the adjective "heil" that stands for "healthy" and "prosperous", and the substantive "heil, heile" meaning "hail, welfare, happy situation", but not "whole". Then there is "heel, geheel" that means "healthy, undamaged, prosperous", but also "whole". This indicates that there may have been originally two roots, both beginning with "H" and ending with "L", one of which indicated just aspects of human health and well being, and the other the concepts of "whole" and, on the basis of a comparison with Semitic, perhaps as well "all". Then a flow over of meanings has taken place.

     

    Looking at Old English we see as well the two different origins in "hāl = "healthy, " as well as "whole" and "hælu = health, prosperity". For Old Norse Norwegian scholars give us two identical words "heill", one with the meaning of "luck" and the other "whole, undamaged, healthy". Obviously the split of the two origins is imperfect, as "healthy" and "lucky" in other tongues go together, distinguished from "whole". In this somewhat mixed up situation it is hard to find a solid basis in some older languages, as we are not sure to have a complete picture from those. Proto-Germanic probably had a form "*H Ē L-" that may have had the message of "whole" as distinguished from"*H EI L-" with the concept of "healthy".

 

Note:
  • Indo-European. As mentioned before, there is a hypothesis of "*K AI L -O" or according to others "*Q OI L -OS". These ideas are linked to the basic one that a Germanic " H " corresponds to a Latin " K "-sound. This has then convinced people that Proto-Germanic should have been nearer to Latin, thus having had an intermediate form : "KH AI L-AZ". Regretfully or not, the basis is simply wrong, as shown in out chapter The Myth of Hundred and the annexed Table. See our chapter regarding the Myth of Hundred (The Myth of Hundred). Only in a very limited number of cases Germanic " H " corresponds to Latin " K " ( spelled " C " ).

     

    There are words in other Indo-European groups that are quoted as related to Germanic words, that is to "*H EI L-" = "healthy. Greek "koilu = beautiful", that is not even present in important dictionaries, with a root "koil-" that stands for "belly" and "hollow, concave". Latin "caelum" for "heaven" has no semantic link as all with "health", however healthy it might be to live in Heaven.

     

    An also cited word is Old Church Slavonic "čelŭ" = whole". And then we find in Russian "целебный, tselebnŭy = healthy" and "целиком, tselikom =wholly, entirely". This means that Russian "TSEL-" serves the two concepts that is Germanic have "H Ē L- and "HEIL". This makes possible a hypothesis of "*K Ē L-" for Indo-European.

     

    This leaves a problem of a kind one often finds. Of the Indo-European groups of languages, Germanic ( here with "*H . L") is nearer to Hebrew then the others. And in the existing hypothesis it is nearer then Indo-European inself ( here "*K . L"). Have there been subsequent developments back and forward along the lines or is the hypothesis for Indo-European wrong? Should it indeed be "*H Ē L-"

 

 

 

 
"...the town, to which was given the name Babel, because it was there that the Lord confused the language of all the world on the face of which He dispersed them. GENESIS 11,9"
 
Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 27/12/2012 at 14.24.16