E 0665          PARK

The word " park " is of Germanic origin .

H 0714         ך ר פ

Concept of root : closing off

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ך ר פ

parakh

to separate, close off

Related English words

park

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ך ר פ

parakh

to separate, close off, limit

p . r . kh

English

park

park

p . r k

Old English

pearroc

fence; enclosed space

p . r . c

Dutch

park;

perk;

-

-

perken;

-

afperken;

 beperken

park;

perk;

-

-

perken,

-

afperken;

beperken

park;

fenced space, bound;

to fence in, limit;

to fence in;

to limit

p . r k

 

 

Proto-Semitic *PARAKH --- *PĂRIK Proto-Germanic

 

 

A park is typically a space that has been closed off by a division from other spaces. This is exactly one of the messages of this Hebrew root "P R K". At the end of a word in Hebrew a " K " always becomes " KH ", as in Exodus 26:31 and further, where this root is used to indicate the severe separation from the Holy Ark.

 

An identical three consonant combination carries the messages of "to break, crush, rub, grind". This is presumably unrelated.

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic. The root P R K in the sense of this entry is found in Aramaic and Syriac "פ ר ך , perakh" and in Akkadian with "paraku = to bar, close off" and "parakku = apartment, shrine". It was probably in use in Proto-Semitic: "*פ ר ך , P R K".
Note:
  • Dutch has been given as an example , because it offeres, besides "park", a second noun and , even more important, a verb with the same meanings as the Hebrew one. This verb "afperken" has a prefix "af", that reinforces the separation-concept. Besides this, the basic verb "perken" also has the other meaning of the Hebrew root : "to limit". This is in modern Dutch mostly expressed by the composed verb "beperken".

 

Note:
  • Neo-Latin languages all have loaned this word from Germanic. So we see Vulgar Latin with " parcus , parricus ", French "parc", Italian "parco" . The first one is a latinized form , with its suffix "-us " . The further existing Classic Latin words "parcus = thrifty" and "parcere = to save up, spare" have no connection in meaning with the Germanic ones.

 

Note:
  • Proto-Germanic. Besides Old English "pearroc = fence, fenced space", there is Old High German "pfarrih, pferrih" in a typical early Germanic form. Middle Dutch had as often a number of variations in "parc, paerc, perc, perric, parric". Proto-Germanic may have had both "*P Ă RIK" and "*P Ĕ RIK".

 

Note:
  • Indo-European. This one of the many cases in which there is a similarity between Semitic and Germanic, without known cognates in other Indo-European languages. There are Welsh "parc" and Gaelic "pairc", but these have been lent from English.

 

 

 

 
"...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: 19/11/2012 at 18.09.20