E 0865          (TO)  SPREAD,  DISPERSE

The verb " to spread " is of Germanic origin .

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

H 0719            ש ר פ

Concept of root : spreading

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ש ר  פ

paras;

pirès

to spread ;

to spread, disperse

Related English words

to spread

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ש ר פ

paras;

pirès

to spread;

to spread,

disperse

p . r . s

Latin

spargo;

-

sparsi

-

-

sparsum

-

-

spargo;

-

sparsi;

-

-

sparsum

-

-

to spread, disperse;

( he has) spread, dispersed ;

(it has been) spread, dispersed

sp r . g

sp . r (s)

English

to spread ;

to disperse

to spread ;

to disperse

sp r . g

sp . r (s)

Dutch

spreiden;

verspreiden

spreiden;

verspreiden

to spread;

disperse

sp r . d

Swedish

sprida

sprida

to spread, disperse

sp r . d

 

 

Proto-Semitic *PARAS --- *SPRĒD- Indo-European

 

 

This entry is to be seen in relation with entry E 0260 (Hebrew 0709). Two Hebrew roots, "P R D" and "P R S", have the first two consonants in common and share the meaning "to disperse". Therefore they are also related to the same European words, be it not in an identical way. The difference is that we find here as a third consonant in Hebrew an S and in Germanic the same D we presented in entry E 260 (Hebrew 0709).

 

Note:
  • English, like other Germanic languages, is generous in adding a prefix S to a root, without thereby changing its meaning. Also with "spread" this is the case

 

Note:
  • Latin "spargere" has been mentioned in entry E 260 (Hebrew 0709), to which it is nearer. We quote the Note on Latin from entry E 260 (Hebrew 0709:

     

    Note:
    • Latin has two composite words, that do not have the same meaning : "disperdere" and "dispergere". Obviously they have also two different basic verbs : "perdere" and "spargere", that share two consonants of their roots: "P R". There is also a verb "pergere = to continue (an action)" and that has a less direct relation with this entry. Of the other two the verb "perdere" means "to destroy" in all senses, and in second place also "to lose". "Spargere" stands for "to strew, scatter, sprinkle" and has led to "dispergere". The main forms are "dispergo, dispersi, dispersum", on the basis of "spargo, sparsi, sparsum".

       

      For "sparsum" also a version "spartum", has been in use. Thus we mention various possible roots. In the table the basic verb "spargere" has been mentioned with its possible roots.

       

      In reality the verb "perdere" is not based on an old two-consonant root, but has been built up out of a prefix "per- " and a verb "do". It can be compared with another verb "pereo", constructed out of that same prefix "per-" and a verb "eo". It has continued as such in Italian "perire" and they say "to perish". Finally "perdere" in the sense of "to lose" may well be of a different origin from "perdere = to perish".

 

Note:
  • Hebrew offers the same message in the abiovementioned verb "peras", an intensive form of "paras", and in the verb "hiphrid", a causative form of "parad". The ways of languages are complicated.

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic. This root is found in Aramaic and Syriac, spelled with "samekh" as the third consonant: "פ ר ס , peras = he spread out, extended" . Akkadian uses "SH" instead of "S": "parashu = to spread one's wings, fly". Also Arabic uses "SH" instead of "S" in farasha = he spread out, spread". Hebrew adds the concepts of " to scatter, disperse". The root was probably used in Proto-Semitic : "*פ ר ש , P R S".

 

Note:
  • Proto-Germanic. Older and newer Germanic languages , if and where they have in use the sister words of "to spread", show "SPR" and also the dental "D", but this with the exception of some dialects and Old High German that had "sprītan, spreitan", while Middle High German used both dentals (spriden, spriten, spreiten). High German lost the use of the word "spreiten". Some examples are Old English "sprædan= to spread", Swedish "sprida= to spread" and Danish "sprede = to spread, scatter".

     

    The vowel in between is in Old and Middle High German a long " Ī " in intransitive verbs and "EI" in transitive verbs. An E-sound is found in Old Swedish and Danish and in fact in Old English and English. In Middle Dutch one finds both "spreden" and "spreiden", but without a clear distinction in function. "Spreiden" has become modern Dutch. Danish "sprede" is transitive and as often the medio-passive gets an "S" added : "spredes". Swedish in this case uses "sprida" and "sprida sig".

     

    The probability is that Proto-Germanic used an E-sound: "*SP R Ē D-", though also "*SP R Ī D-" is possible.

 

Note:
  • Indo-European . Different from the root with the three consonants " P R D", in the case of " P R S" we have no indications for cognates in other Indo-European groups than Germanic. The forms of the Latin perfectum and participle are not sufficient to hypothesize an original Indo-European root with a third consonant " S " for "spargere". We quote anyhow the Note on Indo-European from entry E 260 (Hebrew 0709), that remains valid also for this actual entry:

     

    Note:
    • Indo-European. "There are some indications of possible cognates.

       

      Greek has a name for a group of islands that are spread out, scattered along the eastern coast : "Sporades", from the root found in " σπορας, σποραδος, sporas, sporados = dispersed" and "σπειρω, speiro = to disperse, spread, disseminate". Greek indicates "S P Ē R " as well as "S P Ō R Ā D-".

       

      Old Irish in "sreïd = to disperse, throw" has abolished as so often the consonant " P ", has has the " D ".

       

       

      Indo-European. This information means that the initial " S " was present in Indo-European, but not always the final " D". And again we have a case in which the similarity between Semitic and Germanic is stronger than that with Indo-European in general. Here it is that third consonant " D " , in Germanic the fourth consonant, that is similar between Semitic and Germanic, and lacks in some Indo-European words. This may have disappeared, for example from Greek "speiro". Indo-European may have had the same form as seen in Proto-Germanic: "*SP R Ē D-". "

 

 

 

 
"...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 18.07.02