E 0459          HORN

The word " horn " is of Germanic origin .

H 0775             ן ר ק

Concept of root : horn

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ן ר ק

qeren

horn

Related English words

horn

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

      ן ר ק

qeren

horn

q . r . n

Greek

κερας

keras

horn

k . r .

Latin

cornu, cornus

cornu, cornus

horn

c . r n

English

horn

horn

h . r n

 

 

Proto-Semitic *QAREN --- *KŌRN Indo-European

 

 

Horns come from a very widely used root that has lived through some changes as well. Horns also have been used as symbols or images for a wide variety of things. We know the horns that the old Germans and Vikings used to wear on their head, a symbol of strength and courage. We also know the very different modern use of the image of horns that a man is said to wear, figuratively , if his wife has betrayed him with another man. And what about the classic image of the "horn of plenty"?.

 

Next is the "qeren" in Hebrew, that also stands for (mainly figurative) power, like in fact Latin "cornu". But that may rather belong to a different category of meanings or even a different root, that is mentioned in entry E 0214 "crown " (Hebrew 0776). Today a "qeren" is a beneficiary fund, such as the " K K L, Keren Kayemeth Leisrael" or "Jewish National Fund". Litterally it says "Fund that exists for Israel".

 

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic had this root we later find in Hebrew "*ק ר ן , Q R N" . It is found in Aramaic and Syriac "ק ר נ א, qarn'ŕ = horn". Ugaritic uses the same root for the same meaning. Arabic and Ethiopian "qarn" and Akkadian "qarnu" all say "horn". In our comparison we used the vowels " A " and " E ", though vowels remain anyhow uncertain.

 

Note:
  • Greek. In "keras" the part "-as" is a suffix, not part of the root, that does not have the " N " we see in Latin, Germanic and Hebrew. But there are related words that have that N , such as "καρηνον , karčnon = head" and " κρανιον , kranion = head, skull " and "κρανη , kranč = skull ". Particularly important here is that the more simple noun "καρα , kara" stands for "head". It also says "person" and "face", besides "top". The picture is a bit complicated but not unclear. The old two-consonant combination, in Greek , "K R" was the top and perhaps from there a person and his face. Either the added third consonant "N" made a specialization into head<>skull, or in usage the three-consonant version with "N" became reserved for these meanings. As to the "horns", it is from the skull that these grow, but the Greeks did not want to mix things and made a noun with a special weighty suffix : "keras". Meanwhile other languages went on to use the three-consonant-combination "K R N" for "skull horns".

 

Note:
  • Latin "cornu" is one of the few words of the so-called fourth declination and it also had to accept a second-declination new-comer in "cornus". The Greek words seen in the previous note are not found in Latin if not as the loanword "cranium = skull".

 

Note:
  • Latin and Germanic. Finally we have one of those rare cases in which a Latin K-sound corresponds with a Germanic H-sounds. See our chapter " The Myth of Hundred" (Hebrew 0001_aa11).

 

Note:
  • English "horn" corresponds with other Germanic languages, such as German "Horn", Dutch "hoorn" or "horen" and Swedish "horn".

 

Note:
  • Proto-Germanic The word for "horn" is nearly identical in all Germanic languages, be it with some differences in pronunciation of the vowel, that for example in Dutch "hoorn, horen" has become long, a development started in Middle Dutch that still also had "horn". Proto-Germanic probably had "*H O RN-". There is no reason for any hypothesis with an initial "GH" or "KH", suggested only by the, understandable, wish to establish a link with other groups of Indo-European languages.

 

Note:
  • Indo-European.

     

    Old Indian has a related word for "horn", in which the initial "K" has become a "Ś" in a normal development, the "R" has acquired the function of vowel and the "N" has required the support of a following "G" in a sort of counterpart of the usual kind of "nasalization" as seen in European languages. The word is "śŕngam = horn". Interesting is how the original initial "K" as well as the vowel be it "U" instead of "O", has remained in the words "kuranga-, kulangá-, kulungá-" that all stand for "antelope", obviously "horned animal".

     

    Avestan gives for "horn" two sisterwords, both related to Latin, with the "C" having become "S" and a metathesis between the "R" and the vowel. This vowel is in "srū-" a "U" instead of "O", as is the case in Old Indian "kuranga" seen before. In the other word, "srvā- , a phenomenon that is frequent in Semitic, but also in Indo-European languages, is the use of the "U" as a consonant "V" .

     

    Hittie "karawar" shows in the first part its kinship with the other words of this entry.

     

    Celtic has the word "corn" in Breton and Cymric, but this is a suspected loanword from Latin. Then there is in Cornish, Cymric and Breton "karn" = hoof", but the difference in message is total. Middle Irish has for "horn" also "congan" that might have lost the "R", but leaves uncertainty.

     

     

    Indo-European probably had just "*K O R N-", in which it is uncertain if the "O" was long or short.

 

 

 

 
"...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: 25/09/2013 at 11.35.14