E 0495          KEEL

The word " keel " is of Germanic origin .

H 0491             י ל כ

Concept of root : keel

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

י ל כ

kәlì

canoe

Related English words

keel

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

י ל כ

kәlì

canoe

k l (i)

English

keel

keel

k . l

Dutch

kiel

kil

keel

k . l

 

 

Proto-Semitic *KĪL --- *KĪL- Proto-Germanic

 

 

A canoe is little more than a keel. This makes it quite understandable that the same root is used , in English for the keel of a boat and in Hebrew for a canoe .

 

Note:
  • Hebrew uses the same word or identical words for many other things, like "recipient, vase" that in some way have an open shape that is akin to that of a ship’s keel, but also to indicate "tools". See entry GR 1205A (Hebrew 0489a)

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic. There exists uncertainty if Proto-Semitic had a root "*K L Y " like Hebrew, or "*K Y L" as in Arabic. The fact that in Indo European languages the I-sound comes before the L, makes us opt for "*כ י ל , K Y L".

 

Note:
  • Neo-Latin languages use the same word, but have loaned it from Germanic, in French "quille", Spanish "quilla", Portuguese "quilha" and Italian "chiglia".

 

Note:
  • High German has this word as "Kiel" from Low-German. Originally Low German and Dutch were one language with various dialects, easily understandable to all. The political circumstances, especially the de facto independence of Holland from the German Empire, has allowed also the development of an independent language.

     

    As etymology some scholars in Germany talk about "Kehle", in Old English "ceole" as standing for "throat". The reasoning lies in the "throatlike" shape of a ship’s keel. They call help from another Old English word, "cele" that must have meant "rostrum". We mention this theory without having any belief in it. The most simple point remains that a keel does not at all look like a throat, nor as a rostrum.

 

Note:
  • Proto-Germanic. The Hebrew "kelì" is just a canoe, but a Middle Dutch "kiel" is a ship, that can also be seaworthy and big . Old High German "kiol" is a vessel or ship , and Old English "ceōl" is both a "ship" and just a "keel" as meant in modern English. For Proto-Germanic it is clear that there was a first consonant "K" and a second consonant "L". But less certain is the in between vowel . We opt for an "O" , that was diphthongized in Old High German and Old English and then became a long "I", spelled "EE" in English and "IE" in Dutch and German. According to some German "Kiel" is a loanword from Dutch. Our thesis is confirmed by Swedish "köl", in which the vowel is a natural Nordic development out of "O". Danish "køl" and Norwegian "kjøl" are convincing sister words. Thus we have for Proto-Germanic with the meaning of this entry an earlier "*K Ō L-" and probably already the later "*K Ī L-".

 

Note:
  • Indo-European does not offer indications for cognates in other groups of its languages.

 

 

 
"...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 15.40.28