E 0156          CHAFF

The word " chaff " is of Germanic origin .

H 0479            ש ב כ

Concept of root : trampling underfoot

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ש ב כ

kavash

to trample, subjugate

Related English words

chaff

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ש ב כ

kavash

to trample, subjugate

k v sh

Middle Dutch

caf, caves

caf, caves

chaff

c v s

Old English

ceaf

chaff

c . f

English

chaff

chaff

ch . f

Dutch ;

Middle Dutch ;

kaf ;

cave, caven

kaf ;

cave, caven

chaff ;

chaff, to thresh

k . f ;

k . v

 

 

Proto-Semitic *KABASH --- *KĂV Proto-Germanic

 

 

Perhaps we are letting loose too much our fantasy. But let us have a look at the following.

 

First it must be remarked that this Hebrew root " K B SH " should be related to " K B S ", that is found in entry E 982 (Hebrew 0478 ). Both deal with the physical actions of pressing, squeezing, besides treading. In K.B.S. these actions have received a specification in their objectrives, like "to wash, to full" . This may in Hebrew have been expressed by the small difference between the third consonants, that are S and SH . But in other Semitic languages the final " S " also express the basic actions, as seen in the following note.

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic. This Hebrew root "K B SH" is also found in Aramaic and Syriac "כ ב ש , kevash = to tread down, subdue, press". It has cognates "K B S" in Arabic "kabasa = to press, squeeze, attack, raid" and Akkadian "kabāsu = to tread (down), press". It was probably used in Proto-Semitic : "*כ ב ש , K B SH", possibly together with a version "*כ ב ש , K B S".

     

    The pronunciation of the central consonant " B " in Hebrew and Aramaic, the North West, in a number of words is " V ", but in Arabic "kabasa" and Akkadian "kabāsu" it is still " B ", which can be presumed also for Proto-Semitic.

 

Note:
  • English etymology for "chaff", which is obviously of the same root as the Dutch words, talks about a.o. Old English "ceafl = jaw, cheek". We think chaff is the thing that is specifically not eaten, and thus is conceptually linked neither to the jaw nor to the cheek.

 

Note:
  • Dutch does not do much better either. It is agreed that "kaf" stands for the remains after the threshing of grains. Threshing was done by trampling mostly or also by animals, before the flail was invented. The ruling thought is that "chaff" may be a non-Indo-European or "substrate"-word : a term used by the people that lived around the North Sea before the Indo-Europeans came in. Those people that built the dolmens and perhaps Stonehenge. That is quite possible, but it would not change the fact of kinship with Semitic languages. And it is probable that the remains after the trampling received a name linked to the verb used for this specific way of trampling.

 

Note:
  • Western Germanic and Hebrew differ then in that the "conquering" by "trampling under foot" as a meaning for this trampling has developed in Hebrew only.

     

    But the similarity of original roots is seen by the English and Dutch nouns, " chaff " etcetera, expressing the result of the action that is expressed by the Hebrew root. It goes a bit far, but such conceptional developments occur in linguistic development . And in the specific case of the couple of roots "K B SH" and " K B S" a comparable development is seen in the specifying of the actions by their objectives, as seen in entry E 982 (Hebrew 0478 ), regarding "to full" and "to wash".

 

Note:
  • Proto-Germanic . An important indication is that Middle Dutch uses also the consonant "V" instead of "F" in the case as "cave", "caves". Then the form "kaf" is present in Middle High German, Middle Low German and Middle Dutch (spelled "caf") . This is all West Germanic, as English "chaff" and Old English ceaf" that are common developments out of "*kaf". Proto-Germanic may well have been in this the predecessor of West Germanic with a form "*K Ă V-".

 

Note:
  • Indo-European. Regretfully we have no indications about possible cognates in other Indo-European language groups.

 

 

 

 

 
"...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: 24/01/2013 at 17.58.38