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E 0407 (TO) HACK
The verb " to hack " is of Germanic origin .
H 0576 ק
ח
מ
Concept of root : to
cut up
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Hebrew word
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pronunciation
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English meanings
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ק ח מ
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maghaq
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to cut
up
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Related English words
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to hack,
Old English haccian
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Comparison between European words and
Hebrew
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Languages
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Words
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Pronunciation
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English meanings
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Similarity in roots
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Hebrew
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ק ח מ
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maghaq
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to cut up
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m . gh . q
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English
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to hack
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to hack
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h . ck
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German
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hacken
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hacken
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to hack,
cut up
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h . ck
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Dutch
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hakken
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hakken
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to hack,
cut up
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h . kk
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Middle Dutch
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hacken
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hacken
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to hack,
cut up
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h . ck
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Old English
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haccian
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to hack,
cut up
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h . cc
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Proto-Semitic *GHAQÀ --- *HĂKK- Proto-Germanic
The supposition of this entry is that the Hebrew root is composed of a later added, prefix M and a two-consonant element "*GH Q" that carried as such a basic message of "hacking" or similar.
This also means that we see no reason to suppose that the Germanic root has been directly derived from words for "hook" (in German "Haken" and in Dutch "haak") and would originally have said "to hook" or "working on something with a hooked utensil". As more often the similarity with Hebrew helps to understand better the etymology of European words.
Note:
- English "to hackle" is an iterative form of "to hack".
Note:
- Hebrew and Germanic are near each other in the meaning of "to cut up", that has lead to the much-used word in German "Haxe", in Dutch "gehakt" and in French "haché" for "minced meat". This way of preparing meat was and is so popular that it has found its way into the famous American "Hamburger" after the German town "Hamburg". In Italy flat minced-meatballs are called "svizzere", " Swiss".
Note:
- Proto-Germanic. We find consequently a double middle consonant in the Germanic verbs. That may indicate the intensity or repetitiveness of the action. In Middle Dutch the verb means not only "to hack", but also specifically working with a "hack", that stands for English "hack" or "pick-axe". A "hack" has a two-ways-hooked shape but is not a hook. Still the words may well be related.
The usual hpothesis is "KHAK-", on the basis of a "necessity" to find "bridges" between Latin "C = K" and Germanic " H ", that are wrongly considered to correspond generally. This is the so-called "Centum-Hundred rule". See our chapter (Hebrew 0001_aa11) In our view Proto-Germanic simply used an initial " H " where this is found in older and newer Germanic languages. So the hypothesis remains "*H Ă KK-".
Note:
- Hebrew offers us some help to sustain our supposition that the root "M.GH.Q" has been built from a prefix "M" and a briefer root "GH.Q". Such a
combination of two-consonants "
ח
ק , GH Q" has a number of applications, but among them we also find "
ח
ק
ק , ghaqaq " a
three-consonant root shaped by doubling the second consonant (Q) of an older root of two-
consonants: "*
ח
ק , *GH Q". And this verb "ghaqaq" amongst other things means specifically
"to cut (in), to excavate", an action that also the old Jews did with a pick-axe. And a "gheiq" is a cave.
See entry E 0406 (Hebrew 0439)
Note:
- Proto-Semitic. We have no evidence from other Semitic languages for this root. It may be a specific Hebrew development, based in Proto-Semitic, but a hypothesis is hard to make. Proto-Semitic probably had a possibly related ""* ח ק ה, GH.Q H (accentuated vowel) ", besides the lengthened "* ח ק ק, GH . Q . Q". Both carry two quite different messages that are independent from each other. One is that of "to cut in, engrave", that may be related to this entry. The other deals with the concepts of "justness, obligation, law, decree" and is also found in important nouns, saying "decree, statute, law". We do not think that the meaning of "law" has developed out of that of "to cut in, engrave", though this would be semantically not fully impossible.
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| Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 06/11/2012 at 12.15.33 |
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