E 0507          (TO)  KNOCK

The verb " to knock " is of Germanic origin .

H 0639         ף ג נ

Concept of root : pound even to death

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ף ג נ;

ף ג נ ו

nagaph;

nogeph

to hit, pound, kill;

hitting, pounding, killing

Related English words

to knock

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ף ג נ;

-

ף ג נ ו

-

-

nagaph;

-

nogeph

-

-

to pound, hit, kill;

pounding, hitting, killing

n . g . ph

Old Norse

hnöggva ; hnöggr ;

knoka

hnöggva ; hnöggr ;

knoka 

to bump, hit ; hit;

to hit

hn (o) ggv; hn (o) gg;

kn (o) k

English

to knock

to knock

k n (o) ck

Dutch

nokken

nokken

to bump, pound

n (o) k

 

 

Proto-Semitic *NAGAPH < *NOG --- *KNŎK < *NŎK Proto-Germanic

 

 

We refer to the comments of entry E 0506 (Hebrew 0638). This Hebrew root "N G PH" is a further development out of a basic root "*N G", that specifies a kind of beating and pummeling that can have the final consequence of death of the victim. Obviously the basic similarity is not affected by that and we have inserted this entry for reasons of completeness. See also entry E 0512 (Hebrew 0764).

 

In entry E 0618 (Hebrew 0637) we find several related Hebrew roots that begin with " N G".

 

Note:
  • Hebrew and Old Norse. We find here in the Old Norse verb a third consonant "V" that merits a comparison with the Hebrew third consonant "PH". Both are labials, but there is no direct explanation for this striking development of a similarity.

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic. Proto-Semitic is seen as having used this root "* נ ג ף , N G P", that lived on in Hebrew and is also found in Aramaic " נ ג ף , negaph he struck, smote". The probable predecessor, present in Proto-Semitic, was "* נ ו ג , N W G", with a pronunciation "NOG".

 

Note:
  • Proto-Germanic. In E 0506 (Hebrew 0638) we wrote: " In Germanic languages we find "KN O K-" , both in Old Norse and Norwegian" knoka", Swedish dialect "knoka ( with O-sound as in "awe")", English "knock", Middle High German "knochen" ( typically with K becoming CH) and Dutch "knokken". English again lost the initial " K " in pronunciation.

     

    But then surprisingly, now we see that Old Norse has also "hnöggva", with a root that seems quite a bit nearer to the Hebrew one of this entry: Norse "N G V " versus Hebrew N G P". Yet this may have been a specific Old Norse development that later on was lost again. Proto-Germanic probably had "*KN Ŏ K", that developed out of an earlier "*N Ŏ K", as seen in Dutch .

 

 

 

 

 
Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 12/11/2012 at 18.04.59