E 0554          MÆL , MELDIAN

The Old English words " mæl " and " meldian " are  of Germanic origin .

H 0585            ה ל מ ,ל ל מ

Concept of root : to communicate

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ה ל מ

ל ל מ

millà;

malal,millèl

word, talk;

to signal, to talk, inform

Related English words

Old English: mæl, meldian

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ה ל מ ;

ל ל מ

millà;

malal,

millèl

word, talk;

to signal,

to talk, inform

m . l

Greek

όμιλέω

homileo

to stay or belong together

h . m . l

New Greek

μιλαω

milao

to talk

m . l .

Old English

mæl ;

-

meldian

language, talk ;

to inform

m . l

-

m . l d

Middle Dutch

mael

mal

sign

m . l

Norwegian

mål;

-

mæle

mol;

-

mèle

language, talk;

to talk, say

m . l

German

melden

melden

to inform, make known

m . l d

Dutch

melden

melden

to inform, make known

m . l d

Swedish

mål;

-

mäla

-

mol;

-

mèla

-

speech, voice;

to say, inform

m . l

 

 

Proto-Semitic *MAL, *MIL --- *MĂL, "*MÈL Proto-Germanic

 

 

The picture is complicated and we will try to analyze some elements. In several entries we find still other similarities between European words and Hebrew roots with "M L".

 

 

Note:
  • Greek gives us problems here. First of all, the similarity between New Greek and Hebrew is so evident, that a common origin seems obvious. But the general opinion is that the word "milao = to talk", has been formed by abbreviating the mentioned word " homileo = be in company, together, united ". A bit odd, this abbreviating by leaving out the first letter, an H-aspired vowel . Especially as this O would be part of a word "όμος , homos", "the same", thus carrying the main weight of the meaning of the word "homileo". And also a bid strange, this important change in meaning through abolishing the first vowel or possibly the prefix! We are not convinced that this may be the right answer.
    The word "όμιλέω , homileo" has a companion, that is "όμηρέω , homèreo to be together".

     

    The two look a bit alike. L and R, also in Greek, may be exchanged, like in the words for brother or cousin : "αδερφος or αδελφος , aderphos or adelphos". And the letter η, " È " in modern Greek pronounced like ι , " I " , may sometimes interchange with that other vowel. Then there is another couple of words, "μελωδια , melodia = melody", well-known to all English speakers, plus its origin : "μελος, melos, phrase that is sung > song".
    There lies the origin of our word "melody", in the melodically pronouncing of phrases, singing them. This meaning of "melos" has nothing to do with that of the identical word "melos" that says "part, member". Important is also that "to sing" is expressed by the verb "μελπω , melpo" with the addition of a P that may have added something, like emphasis, to the word, but may rather have avoided confusion by distinguishing it from an existing verb "μελω , melo, to look after".
    This P (πι) can be the same that is the essential part of another important root with the message of "speaking", mentioned in entry GR 1112 (Hebrew 0683) and related to the Hebrew word " פ ה , pé = mouth". The supposition, generally sustained, that "milao" comes from "homileo", does not explain the road that must have led to "homileo" from "homos + ??" . Perhaps via "homos+mile"?, with a contraction of the composed result "homomileo" into "homileo"? Anyhow the existence in Greek of a root "M L" that has to do with words is clear from the above information.

 

Note:
  • Hebrew. The root " מ ל ל , M L L" , found in the verb, certainly is an extension of the older root " מ ל , M L", found in the noun " מ ל ה , millà, where the " L " has been doubled just in pronunciation .

     

    This extension has been realized without a change of meaning , that has remained that of communication, of informing somebody else. The basic verbal form, as shown above, is "malal " that says "to signal, give a sign". The intensive form "millèl" shows that speaking is seen effectively as an intensive form of giving signals, as it means "to speak" and "to inform". Understandably, the related noun "millà" stands for "word" as well as "talk". For completeness we mention a verb in which the original root has been doubled with a development of message : " מ ל מ ל , milmèl = he talked, chattered, jabbered" that in modern Hebrew becomes "speak stammeringly, stutteringly".

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic. Proto-Semitic is seen with the same root shown in Hebrew: "* מ ל , M L" . As is known, all Proto-Semitic roots are hypothetical . This root is also seen in Aramaic " מ ל ת א, miltà = word". Again in Aramaic and also in Syriac there is " מ ל ל , mallèl = he spoke, said, talked", with three versions of using speech. Arabic "malla; amla'a" means "he dictated". The mentioned hypothesis for Proto-Semitic leaves little doubt. For the comparison we use vowels " A " and " I ".

 

Note:
  • English as so often, participated in this with Old English, but after that it has changed over to many Latin roots and taken distance from the adventures of other Germanic tongues. Some words indicated above are examples of this development : voice, inform, signal, language.

 

Note:
  • Germanic offers us quite a few related words. Middle Dutch "mael" (sign) corresponds with the message of Hebrew "malal" (to give a sign). We find this root in German in the wellknown composed word "Denkmal" (monument). The various Scandinavian words are related to the meanings of the Hebrew version "millèl", such as talk and information. When we see the German and Dutch word "melden" for "to inform", we may observe a difference in the used vowel (E and not A) but even more the added dental D, that Swedish has not used, remaining nearer to the original root "M L".

 

Note:
  • Proto-Germanic The Norwegian words have their sisters with the same root in the other Nordic languages. Old High German "mahalen" and Old Saxon "mahlian" have an "H" that should have been a later development. The probable Proto-Germanic form is "*M A L-" or also "*M E' L-"

     

    The root "M . L" with in between a vowel A has been put to use also for more solemn speaking and legal speech of action. Thus the word "Mael" in Middle Dutch, with sisters in other tongues, came to mean "session of the court, court action". German "sich vermählen" says : "to marry".

     

    Another development has been to introduce a consonant "dh" or "ð", as in Old English "maðel = speech, talk", and "maðelian = to harangue, make a speech", in a diversification . Obviously this "ð" should not be considered as an indication of an older longer root with a "D" in it. It is rather comparable with that other diversification that is found in the Germanic words like "melden" in the above table. The words with a third consonant "D" in about all Germanic languages show a form we hypothesize as also valid for Proto-Germanic : "*M E LD-".

     

 

Note:
  • Indo-European. As often , the similarity that is found is limited, or nearly limited to one between Hebrew and Germanic. We have unsufficient information for a specific hypothesis for Indo-European different from Proto-Germanic.

 

 

 
"...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: 06/11/2012 at 17.43.45