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E 0577 (TO) MEET, MOOT
The words " meet " and " moot " are of Germanic origin
H 0606 א
צ
מ
Concept of root : to
meet, find
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Hebrew word
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pronunciation
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English meanings
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א צ מ
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mats’à
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to
meet, encounter, to find
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Related English words
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to
meet, moot; Old English metan, mot
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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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א צ מ
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mats’à
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to meet, encounter, to find
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m . ts .
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English
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to meet ;
moot ;
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to meet ;
moot
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m . t
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Old English
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metan ;
-
-
mot
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to meet, encounter , to find;
moot
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m . t
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Middle Dutch
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moeten, moten, mueten
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moeten,
moten,
müten
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to meet, encounter
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m . t
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Proto-Semitic *MAT'À, MOT'É --- *MŌT- Proto-Germanic
A TS or tsadi in Hebrew can be related to an S-sound or a T-sound. In this case, with the Germanic T in "to meet" and its sisters, the relative should be a " T ". The combination of messages , "to meet, encounter" and "to find, find out" is present in both Hebrew and Old English!.
Note:
- English and Old English differ as usual. Old English formed an infinitive that was much like that of other West-Germanic tongues, but Modern English abolished this form, using instead the preposition "to", basically with the root of the verb. Both, in the noun that was (and in a way still is ) used to indicate an assembly or meeting, have an O-sound. That might seem a difference with Hebrew, but it is not. "Motsé" in Hebrew stands for "meeting, finding" and has also an O-sound introduced.
Note:
- Proto-Germanic. Germanic languages give us this root in English and Dutch and their predecessors, as well as in Middle Low and High German and Nordic tongues, but in Modern German it is out of use. Modern Dutch uses a composite verb "ontmoeten", that existed already in Middle Dutch. In older languages one sees Old Saxon "mōtian", Old English "mētan, mōtan" = to find, find out, meet, encounter". Gothic has "gamōtjan" and Old Norse "møta". The first consonant is always "M", the second one "T". The vowel is nearly always "O" or a derived sound. Proto-Germanic probably had just "*M Ō T-".
There is no reason to suppose that the Indo-European root of the words of this entry would have had a final D instead of a T.
Note:
- Proto-Semitic. Some evidence from other Semitic languages shows the following. Aramaic has " מ צ א , mets'à, But Biblical Aramaic, in this case not under Hebrew influence, and Syriac have " מ ט א , methà = he reached, came upon". This reinforces the similarity in meaning with the Germanic root of this entry.
Proto-Semitic is usually seen with a supposed root "*M TH Aleph" instead of the Hebrew form "M TS Aleph". This is based on the Syriac we have just seen, but also Amharic metha , East Ethiopic mete, as well as a coexistence in Mandaic Aramaic and would bring Semitic still somewhat nearer to Germanic. In these cases it is hard to be certain, but we tend to a similar hypothesis, notwithstanding the fact that there are quite a few cases with "TS". Examples are Akkadian mutsu , Aramaic, and Ethiopian mats'a = he reached" , Tigre mets'à and Tigrai mets'e. We suppose the root " * M T Aleph" for Proto-Semitic. "* מ ת א , M T Aleph".
Note:
- Proto-Germanic. This one of the many instances in which a similarity in sound and meaning is found between Semitic and Germanic, but no indications are available about possible cognates in other Indo-European groups.
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| Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 28/12/2012 at 9.42.03 |
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