E 0692          PLOUGH, PLOW, (TO) SPLIT

The sisterwords " plough" and "plow" are of Germanic origin.

The verb " to split " is, via Middle Dutch, of Germanic origin .

H 0692            ח ל פ

Concept of root : splitting

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ח ל פ

palagh;

pillagh

to plow; to furrow;

to split

Related English words

plough , to split

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ח ל פ

palagh;

pillagh

to plow; to furrow;

to split

p . l . gh

English

to plough,

to plow ;

to split

to plough,

to plow ; split

p l . gh ;

p l . w ;

sp . l . t

Dutch

ploeg ,

ploegen ; splijten, splitten;

splitsen

plugh ,

plughen ; spleiten, splitten;

splitsen

plow;

to plow,  split, cleave;

to split up, divide

p l . gh ;

sp . l . t;

sp . l .ts

German

Pflug ,

pflügen ; spleissen

Pflug ,

pflügen ; shpleissen

plough,

to plough ; cleave, split

pf l . g :

shp . l . s

 

 

Proto-Semitic *PALEGH --- *PLŪGH-" Indo-European

 

 

Two are the similarities of this entry, with one Hebrew root. The basic form of this root "palagh" or perhaps " palegh " has the meaning of " to plough " that has the same consonants.

 

Looking further at the vowels in these words we see that the intense form in Hebrew, "pillègh" shares meaning and the vowel " I " with English "to split". The differences are then two, that are rather characteristic for Germanic language development: using a prefix S and a suffix T , without fundamentally changing the meaning of the root that has these added. Thus "P L" becomes SP LT".

 

Hebrew instead , that also has in the basic brief root of two consonants "P L" a meaning of "division, separation, splitting" , has diversified by adding third consonants. In this case a GH to indicate a clear action of dividing by the use of material strength.

 

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic. Some scholars see here a root "*P . L. Aleph", that would carry the meaning of "to split", but also of " to be sharp". There can be little doubt that there was an original two-consonant root "*P . L" with the meaning of "to divide, split, break". But there was certainly need to diversify, the need that brings the development of three-consonant roots, in this case by adding third consonants. In Hebrew we see "P.L.Aleph = to distinguish", "P.L.G = to divide, split, cleave", P.L.GH = to plow, split , cleave", "P.L.Y = to be separated", P.L.SH = to penetrate, invade". The probability that these developments had already taken place in Proto-Semitic is convalidated by the similarity with the Indo European words of this entry. Thus for this entry we have to stick to Proto-Semitic "* פ ל ח , P L GH ".

     

    This root is anyhow seen in Aramaic and Syriac " פ ל ג , pelagh = he plowed, cleft, cultivated". Arabic with the common change to an initial "PH = F" has " falagha = he cleft".

 

Note:
  • Germanic. One notes how the added final consonant , or suffix, varies from T to TS to S or SS in Germanic languages. In the cases of Dutch there is also a diversification in message between "splijTen" and "spliTSen"and the intensive form "spliTTen" that also has led to "spliTSen". The same basis has also given nasalized versions, such as English "splinter".

 

Note:
  • Proto-Germanic. "SP L I T-" is found in most languages, but it had a competitor in "spalten", found in German and its predecessors Old and Middle High German, while Low German has "SPLĪTEN" and "SPLITTEN". Middle Dutch had , as so often, many versions: spalden, spolden, spouden, spouwen" besides "splīten, splitten, spletten, splitsen, splissen" , the verbal forms "spleet, gespleten" and the nouns "splete, splette, spleet = cleft, crevice, fissure, slit". The "U" after "O" in some Dutch words is a development out of "L".

     

    It is probable that Proto-Germanic had both "*SP L I T-" and in some words "*SP L E T-" and "*SP A L T-".

     

    Besides this Proto-Germanic probably had a form "*PL Ō G-" with the meaning of "plow" and "to plow". Older languages give the necessary information. Old Norse had "plōg;r", Old Frisian "plōg", Old High German "pfluog", Middle Low German "plō, plūg" and Middle Dutch "plouch, ploech".

 

Note:
  • Indo-European. The current opinion relays these words to an hypothetical root "*bhei" for "to beat". We think that the people that spoke Indo-European 10 or 12.000 years ago, necessarily made a nett difference between actions of beating and actions of splitting. Distinguishing between these various things they did was very essential in their daily life .

     

    Outside Germanic the information is limited. Clearly related is Old Indian:

     

    Old Indian "phalati = to cleave", "pathati = to split open" and "phāla = ploughshare"

     

    Slavic has a hypothesis for "half", that may be related, in "*polj", that is recognizable in Russian "половина, polowìna = half". There are sisterwords in other languages.

     

     

    Indo European may have had a form "*P A L-" or "*P O L-" for "to split, cleave". It is quite possible that for "to plow", as plowing was already practised, an extended form "*P L . GH-", with the use of a vowel " A " or " U ", had been developed. In our comparison we propose "*P L Ū GH-"

 

 

 

 
"...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: 29/12/2012 at 10.01.23