E 0118          (TO)  BREAK

The verb " to break " is of Germanic origin .

H 0718            ס ר פ

Concept of root : to break

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ס ר פ

paras

to break

Related English words

to break

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ס ר פ

paras

to break

p . r . s

French

briser

brizé

to break

b r . s

English

to break

to break

b r . k

Old English

brecan; brycð:

to break; breaks

b r . c

Old Dutch

brijzen

breizen

to break,

to break

 to pieces

b r . z

Middle Dutch

briselen

brizelen

to break,

to break

to pieces

b r . z

Dutch

(ver)brijze-

len

verbreizelen

to break to pieces

b r . z

 

 

Proto-Semitic *PARAS --- *PRŪS- Indo-European

 

 

This Hebrew root is just one out of not less than five three consonant roots that deal with some form of breaking. It has as third consonant an S, and this we find also in some European roots that have the concept of "to break". The constant difference lies between the explosive voiceless labial P in Hebrew and the voiced explosive labial B in Germanic. Latin in this field of "to break" shows us the verb "frangere" with a not explosive labial, F. An initial F is also present in the Arabic sisterword of Hebrew "paras".

 

English " to break " is certainly related to the other words of this entry, but it is somewhat more distant as it has its final K and not a sibilant like the others.

 

 

 

Note:
  • Hebrew. One can find many different meanings for the root "P.R.S", but in for example Isaiah 58:7 it talks about "breaking one's bread with the hungry". This is near that breaking into pieces we find in the Dutch words of this entry .

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic has the same three consonants we see for Hebrew in this entry "*פ ר ס , P R S". It is present in Aramaic and Syriac "פ ר ס , peras = he split, broke, divided". Akkadian "parāsu = to divide, hinder" and this root is used as well as in the Arabic way in "farasa = to break the neck".

 

Note:
  • French. There is some uncertainty about the origin of French "briser", that may be of Celtic ancestry. Gaelic has a word "bris" with comparable meaning of "rupture". Anyhow this question does not change the issue for us. We are looking for similarity between Indo-European languages from Europe and Hebrew. If the partner is Celtic, that is just fine. But we see as more probable that French " briser " comes from Germanic, that also produced the Dutch words .

 

Note:
  • Dutch. Probably there is no reason to suppose that Middle Dutch had loaned this word from French. There was not much need for it, nor is there any specific cultural influence to sustain that thesis. The Middle Dutch noun "briselinge" also stands for "(bread)crumbs". This seems rather far from a French influence.

     

    A decisive reason is the vowel in Old Dutch, that is a typical development in that tongue. A normal " I " (in English the double vowel EE, as in peel" is pronounced like that. ) in many cases in Dutch has become an IJ. This spelling is unique for Dutch. The sound is hard to define. It is like German EI in "fein" and Italian EI in "lei" , but without the final Y-sound. It is not born as a diphthongue, but it is a change of sound of the vowel. This development from I into IJ has taken place for many centuries, during which first one word, than another changed this vowel. Our verb in Old Dutch "brijzen", already having this IJ, was certainly felt as an old Dutch word, and not as a loanword from French. Finally, the choice of a consonant Z already in "brijzen" makes a loan from French even more improbable.

     

    Our verb "verbrijzelen" has an intensifying prefix "ver-" and an iterative suffix "-el-" before the final suffix "-en" for the infinitive form.

 

Note:
  • Proto-Germanic The structure "B R vowel S" is common to most Germanic languages as is also seen in related adjectives and nouns. . In the Nordic words for ""breakable, fragile" , like Old Norse "breysk" the final "S" has become "SK", and in related Middle Dutch "broosch" the similar "SCH". In all probability Proto-Germanic had "*B R Ī S" , or an older "*B R Ü S" or "*B R Ū S" .

 

Note:
  • Indo-European.

     

    Celtic Old Irish has "brissim, brisc" for "break-, breakable", like Breton "bresk". Middle Irish shows "brūire = broken pieces", without the consonant "S" after the vowel, but Old Irish still had the "S" in "brus" = broken pieces. The indication is "*BR Ī S" out of an earlier "BR Ū S-.

     

    Latin has a verb "brisare" that has two meanings, "to break" and "to express, press out". This second meaning perhaps is used especially for the pressing of grapes, that then leaves the "brisa" = "dregs of pressed grapes". "Brisilis" stands for "fragile, breakable".

     

    But Latin also has another word that is related to an action of breaking, like of bread, in the noun "frustum" = " fragment, morsel, piece, bit". There seem to be no indications about verbal forms in Latin, but the origin may have been "*FR Ū S" out of an earlier "*BR Ū S, or yet a perhaps pre-Latin "*PR Ū S". This leaves a question mark because elsewhere in Indo-European languages we have an initial "BR-".

     

    Albanian "brešen, breshen = sleet" is too far off in meaning to give a contribution.

     

    Slavic with Old Church Slavonic "brŭselije" = fragment, sherd" gives some support for a "BR vowel S".

     

    Indo-European may already have had "*BR Ū S-" for "breaking into pieces", but more probable is an original " P " : "*PR Ū S".

 

 

 

 

 

 
Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 29/12/2012 at 16.02.41