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E 0339 (TO) FLEE , FLY
The verbs " to flee " and " to fly " are of German origin .
H 0700 ט ל
פ
Concept of root :
to flee, escape
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Hebrew word
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pronunciation
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English meanings
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ט ל פ
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palath ;
pillèth
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to to flee, escape
;
to to make flee, rescue
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Related English words
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to flee,
fly
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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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ט ל פ
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palath ;
-
pillèth
-
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to flee, escape ;
to make flee, rescue
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p . l . th
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English
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to flee;
(to fly )
flight
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to flee;
(to fly );
flight
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f . l
. ;
f l .
gh t
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Old English
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flēon ;
flēogan
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to flee ;
(to fly)
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f l
. ;
f l .
g
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Dutch
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vlieden ;
vluchten
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vliden;
vlukhten
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to flee, fly
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v l .
d ;
v l .
gh t
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Middle Dutch
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vlieden ;
vluchten
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to flee ;
to flee, make flee
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v l . d ;
v l . gh t
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German
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fliehen;
flüchten
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fliyen;
flükhten
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to flee
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f . l . ;
f . l . kht
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Proto-Semitic *PALATH --- *FLĪD- < *FLŌD- Proto-Germanic
There is quite some debate about the question if the verbs " to flee " and " to fly " go back to one single root. For that reason we have referred " to fly " in brackets . But as in Hebrew the meaning of the root " P L TH " is concentrated around the concept of " to flee " , it is probable that English " to fly " is of different origin, unless : either Germanic has extended the use of " to flee " into the realm of " to fly " , or there has been reciprocal influence among the forms of both verbs .
The striking thing in the comparison is that we find , as often, the greatest similarity between Hebrew and Dutch . Both have as a third consonant a dental, be it TH, T or D . And with this the idea of a common origin becomes more convincing .
The meaning of "to flee" in Hebrew is found in the basic version of the verb, "palath", whereas the intensive one "pillèth" in this case is really causative : "to make escape, rescue". Both meanings are covered by the Middle Dutch word "vluchten".
In this entry the difference between the labials P, F and V is not essential and may have to be considered a difference in development on the basis of the same root.
It is useful to compare this entry with entry E 0339 (Hebrew 0713), that also deals with the concepts of fleeing and flying.
Interesting but a bit complicated cases of similarity can then be found in the entries E 0067 (Hebrew 0268) and E 0866 (Hebrew 0269).
Note:
- Proto-Semitic The initial labials P, F and B can interchange to a(n un)certain extent , both in one language and in between languages. So we find here this root in Aramaic and Syriac "פ ל ט , pelath = he escaped" and in the Tel Amarna letters "palithmi = he escaped" as in Hebrew. Arabic has "falata = he escaped ( with T instead of TH)" and in Akkadian there is "balāthu = he has been saved (B instead of P)". Ethiopian " falatha= he separated" has a somewhat different message. The Hebrew root was probably present in Proto-Semitic "*פ ל ט , P L TH". We further find a related root "M L TH= to escape, slip away, be saved" with still another initial labial, found in Hebrew and Aramaic, with an Arabic cognate " malitsa " . For our comparison we use two vowels " A ".
Note:
- English and Middle Dutch. Middle Dutch besides "vlieden" had also "vlien", that is nearer to English and German. It is thought that "vlieden" is a later development , defined as "supercorrect" pronunciation. We think it is the other way about. "Vlieden" with the dental indeed is very correct, as the comparison with the other verb "vluchten" and which the Hebrew root "P L TH" demonstrates. Shortened forms of words do not always resist and may well lose out versus the original ones.
Note:
- Proto-Germanic once more has two parellel developments on the basis of either the same or a similar origin, as argued above . If they have one origin, both are related to the Hebrew root of this entry : "P L TH". The first Germanic root has a softened dental that subsequently has disappeared from English and German: "V L D" in Dutch and " F L", but also "F L D" in English. Proto-Germanic probably had the form "*FL . D", using mostly the vowels "Ī" and "Ĕ".
The second has maintained dental "T" but has inserted a guttural in front of it. This is a very frequent phenomenon in Germanic : "FL KHT"and "VL KHT". The first one was probably already present in Proto-Germanic : "*FL KH T-".
Note:
- Indo-European. We have no information from other Indo-European language groups that might allow a hypothesis independent from the Germanic one, apart from the fact that the "KH" had not yet been introduced in front of the dental that remained "D": "*FL Ō D-".
In Old Indian, Avestan, Greek and Celtic the concepts of "to fly, to flee" and some related ones are expressed with a root "* P . T" , with vowel " A " in the first couple and " E " in the other two. "To fly" does not belong to the meanings served by Latin "peto, petere".
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| Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 29/12/2012 at 15.34.59 |
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