E 0047          ARID

The word " arid " is, via French, of Latin origin .

H 0442            ב ר ח

Concept of root : aridity

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ב ר ח

gharav;

ghorev

to be dry;

drought

Related English words

arid

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ב ר ח

gharav; ghorev

to be dry;

drought,

gh . r . b

Latin

areo

areo

to be dry, arid

a r . <

* h . r

English

arid

arid

a r . (d)

Dutch

haar

haar

dry, arid

h . r

 

 

Proto-Semitic *GHAREB < *GHARÀ --- *HĀR- Indo-European

 

 

Hebrew has a third consonant, B, that lacks in the other words. But other roots on the basis of "GH R", with or without talk about burning heat , carry the same concept of aridity. Therefore we believe that the third consonant B has been an instrument of diversification. See the examples in our Note on Latin.

 

 

Note:
  • Latin in this word , in older times , probably has had an initial H that has disappeared early. Usually this root is seen as related to one indicating burning heat, and drought in the Mediterranean as in the Middle East most certainly may have to do with burning heat. There is also in Hebrew another root with "GH R", precisely " ח ר ה, gharą " that says "to burn" also figuratively. And a couple of roots that double on the basis of "GH R", like "ח ר ח ר, GH R GH R" and "ח ר ר , GH R R" both have the concept of burning and heat.

 

Note:
  • Dutch. There is a verb "haren" in Dutch, that means "to sharpen" (a scythe), that then has a "haar" as its sharp edge. "Haar" is also a "sharp wind" and "piercing" cold, that some people try to link to "aridity", which is rather doubtful. There are more concepts served by a word "haar", such as "hair" and "hill". There is just a number of different concepts served by similar words. And "haar" a.o. is said of an arid meadow, in Holland a remarkable phenomenon.

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic. This root is found in Aramaic "ח ר ב , gharev". Proto-Semitic probably already had the same root Hebrew uses: "*ח ר ב , GH R B". And also the predecessor with two consonants and final accentuated vowel: "*ח ר ה , GH R H (accentuated vowel)".

     

    We have no indications that the change in pronunciation of the final consonant " B " into " V ", as seen in Hebrew and Aramaic, may have begun in Proto-Semitic. Besides this it is uncertain when and where the " B " as third consonant, with its objective of diversification, has been added to the older two consonant root "*ח ר, GH R ".

 

Note:
  • Indo-European. There exists an opinion that Latin "areo, arēre" comes from a root with "*s-" because that is found in words for "ash", from Old Indian "ásah" to English "ash". See our entry E 0051 (Hebrew 0071) regarding "ash", that is related to quite different Semitic words. But here we deal with "dry, drought, aridity", not with "burning" as such. Then there are quite a few more fully different roots that deal with the important matter of "to burn" . One of these is Latin "ardēo, ardēre". There is as such no reason to put them together without proof.

     

    Our supposition of an older Latin "*harēo", that may be an emphasized form of a still older "*haro, harĕre", can be put together with existing Dutch "haar", justifying a courageous hypothesis of Indo-European "*H Ā R-", with a message of "arid".

 

 

 

 

 
Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 24/01/2013 at 11.36.08