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E 0263          DONATION

The word " donation " is, via Old French, of Latin origin .

H 0663         ן ד נ  ; ן ת נ

Concept of root : to give

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

;ן ת נ

ן ד נ

natan;

nadan

to give;

gift

Related English words

donate, from Latin

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ן ת נ ;

-

ן ד נ ;

-

ה נ ת

natan;

-

nadan

-

tanà

to give;

-

gift;

-

gift

n . t . n <

*t .- n ;

n . d . n <

*d . n ;

t . n .

New Greek

δινω, δωνω

dino, dono

to give

d . n

Greek

διδωμι;

δανος

didomi;

danos

to give;

gift, loan

d .
d . n

Latin

dare,

donare;

donum

dare, donare;

donum

to give;

-

gift

d .

d . n

English

donation

donation

d . n

 

 

Proto-Semitic *NATAN, *NADAN < *TON, *DON --- *DŌN Indo-European

 

 

For the reader who goes through the list item by item, number by number, here under the letter "Noun" or N it may be a bit annoying to read so often about this N being a confirming prefix, but that is the fact. Also here with the word for "natan = to give". Hebrew has also the verb " ת נ ה , tanà ", that is used for many things, not all too clear, but anyhow also says "to give", and that means sound evidence for defining the N of "natan" a prefix. We find it in Numbers 8.19 "I will assign the Levites to Aaron and his sons", as well as repeatedly in Genesis 34.12 when Hamor says "I will give" and offers "gifts" for Dinah.

 

 

Note:
  • Greek and Latin both have verbs with a very brief root "D" (without N) as well as another root "D N". "D N" is of course the version that is similar to Hebrew. In Greek we find the longer one in New Greek, but also in the noun "danos" of Classic Greek.

     

    The Classic verb "didomi" has a doubled root which is a thing Greeks liked a lot. The last part, "mi" is a suffix that indicates the first person singular, and we see this here only because the practice is for Greek verbs to be shown in the first person singular of the present tense. The usual supposition is that the versions with N have come up under Latin influence, but this is not certain at all.

     

    For Latin , that also has played with a doubling of the root in the past tense "dedi", the brief verb "dare" is seen as having been driven out by "donare". This may seem so from litterature, but still the hypothesis is wrong. This is obvious because Italian, the so-called natural development of Latin, has for "to give" still the verb "dare", and uses "donare" for "making a gift". This means that popular Latin has continued to use "dare".

     

    This does not answer the question of why and when the N was lost, deplaced or, on the contrary, came in. The similarity with Hebrew might just answer this question: the oldest root must have been "D N" and the version without N must have been a shortened version. The action of "giving" is often a familiar one and people may have wanted to express it also a bit less formally.

     

    Classic Greek also has the version "διδοω , didoo" that is again the first person singular of the present tense, but with the suffix based on the nominative, whereas the verbs ending on "mi" use a suffix based on the accusative of the pronomina for " I " and " me ".

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic. Proto-Semitic is not easy to define. But it is important to note that we find in various Semitic languages the following roots: "N D N " in Akkadian "nadānu = to give" and (older) Hebrew. The root "N T N " appears in Hebrew and in Aramaic " נ ת ן , netan = he gave". " Y T N " in Ugaritic and Phoenician expresses "to give". This first consonant " Y " is a prefix, possibly developed out of an earlier " W ". This confirms that also " N " in Hebrew is a prefix. All this means that Proto-Semitic probably had "* ד ן , D N " as found in European. And had developed or was developing " * ת ן , T N ". These two consonant roots may have had a pronunciation of "DON" and " TON".

     

    Also the root with prefix may already have been in use: "* נ ד ן , N D N" and "* נ ת ן , N T N". Further developments may rather have taken place in the various branches that split off.

 

Note:
  • Indo-European. The existing hypothesis is "*dŌ(w)-" or rather "*dŌ-" . This excludes the second consonant "N". But in a number of cases the "N" is present and it probably was so in Indo-European. We will limit ourselves to a reduced number of examples.

     

    Old Indian has "dádāti as the basic verbal form in the present tense. The "D Ā -" is seen in nearly all forms, with the exception of the perfectum "dattá-" where it is followed by a double consonant "TT". But the "act of giving" as well as a "gift" has an "N" : dāná-": "D Ā N-".

     

    Avestan has "D Ā-" as in "dadāiti = he gives".

     

    Celtic has an Irish "dān = gift" , as well as an interesting Cymric "dawn with the same meaning, that seems to indicate an original classic "W", pronounced as a consonant and then receiving a vowel "A" for proper word shaping. But in Old Irish there is a vowel "O" in "do-ra-t = he has given".

     

    Latin in older language had a vowel "U" in the conjugation "duim, duis, duit, duint, and this vowel of the group "W,V,U,O" just disappeared as so often is the case in Semitic as well, leaving a "do, des, dedi, datum, dare". Other Italic languages confirm a "D U N" as in Oskan " dúnúm = gift"and have cognates of both Latin "dare" and "donare".

     

    Slavic. In Old Church Slavonian there are "dati = to give", that is seen as developed from an older hypothetical "*doti", but also the other forms have the vowel "A", as the imperfectum "daj'ati" . Russian has for "to give" the verbs "давать, dawatj" and the shortened "дать, datj". The first one signals as did Cymric an original classic "W" from the group "V,W,U,O" that received a vowel "A" for proper pronunciation.

     

    Baltic has here with "to give" a good memory for the old group "W,V,U,O" in its diphthongs. This is seen in Lithuanian "dúomi ( also dúomu)", dúodu), and Latvian "duòdu". But in other forms there are "dav-" or again "dā-" as in other groups of languages. And Old Prussian had passed on to "D Ā-" in "dāst, dāse, deāai".

     

    Armenian, very interesting, uses a consonant "T" instead of D" , as does Hebrew, in "ta-m = I give".

     

    In various groups the older representatives of the group "V,W,U,O" have lost ground. But they were certainly present in Indo-European, and the existing hypothesis is convincing :"*D Ō W-" or rather "*D Ō-", but also a "*D Ō W N-" or rather "*D Ō N". Yet i is hard to sustain that no speakers of Indo-European ever used a vowel "U" instead of "O". Or an inbetween form as heard in various European languages today, in the South and in the North.

 

 

 

 
"...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: 14/11/2012 at 12.50.27