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E 0731 ROAD, (TO)
RIDE, (TO) TREAD
The words " road " , " to ride "and " to tread " are of Germanic
origin .
H 0808 ד ד ר
Concept of root : to
tread on and - on
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Hebrew word
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pronunciation
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English meanings
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ה ד ר
ד ד ר
ד ד ר
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radą;
radad;
riddčd
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to tread, go on, drive;
to flatten, beat down;
to repel, subdue
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Related English words
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road,
to ride , tread
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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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ה ד ר;
-
ד ד ר,
-
ד ד ר
-
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radą;
-
radad;
-
riddčd
-
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to tread, go on, drive;
to flatten, beat down;
to repel, subdue
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r .d . ;
-
r .d . d <
*r .
d
-
-
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English
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road ;
to ride;
to tread
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road ;
to ride;
to tread
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r (o) . d ;
r (i) d
t r . d
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Old Norse
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rida
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ridha
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to ride.
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r . d
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Gothic
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trudan
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trudan
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to tread heavily
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t r (u) d
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Proto-Semitic *RADÀ, *ROD --- *RĪD- Indo-European
To tread, move along and drive cattle were the use people made of "roads", that we naturally do not imagine as stone roads .
A road in the old days when our languages were shaped, was not a planned construction, but the place, the way on which people treaded and that they in this way flattened for still easier passage. This is the link between the English word "road" and the Hebrew root "R D D". We know that the three-consonant root "R D D" has developed out of a two-consonant "R D". This is all about going on foot.
In order to understand better the basic message of the Semitic root found in Hebrew, it is useful to compare with Syriac "ridą" that means " to go on, move along, drive" , typically what people do on a road and what road's are for . We inserted them in the table as they will have been used in older Biblical times in Hebrew as well.
The English word "road" has been linked to the verb "to ride". Today roads are mostly used for riding and this makes the relationship a logic one. But we should look a bit further back . The words were probably old, from the time before people began to travel on the back of domesticated animals. It is quite possible that the same basic root that was used for "travelling by foot", became adapted to "travelling on animals backs". This might have been done in Germanic or a predecessor by the use of specific vowels : "I" and "E", just as Hebrew, and often also Dutch, did in intensive or iterative forms of verbs. In this way we come to the hypothetical Germanic word "*ridan" , that certainly has existed and has led to English "to ride". Regarding the vowels, we should point out that "road" and Gothic "trudan" have an O- or U-sound inserted.
All this does not mean that also other concepts, as found in German "bereiten" = "to prepare" are related. Preparing does nor did refer to travelling only, but to many things, among which possibly also a trip.
An interesting and revealing complication we find in Old Norse. The verb "ridha" we quoted in our table, has also other meanings. One of them is "to move to and fro, rock" and that might have been used to or be comprehensive of the movement a person is subject to while riding an animal.
The other meaning is that of "to swing and sway a bit" , and this is related to the Hebrew root of entry E 0732 (Hebrew 0809). The moving to and fro we mentioned is also seen in the English expression about ships : "riding at anchor".
Note:
- Proto-Semitic . The first root of this entry is found in Aramaic and Syriac "ר ד א , red'ą = he drove (A), he went on, moved along, drove (S)". Arabic "rada(y) = he trod (on)" and Akkadian "radū =to drive". Proto-Semitic probably used this root : "*ר ד , R D + accentuated vowel".
The second root of this entry, with one or two D's, and in the specific sense we referred to, are seen in J.Aramaic "ר ד ד , redad = he stamped, beat". Further off , but possibly related meanings are seen in Arabic "radda = he drove back" and Akkadian "radādu = to pursue". The shorter root was probably in use in Proto-Semitic, as the older form "*ר ד, R D" but probably there was also already the lengthened "*ר ד ד , R D D".
It must be remarked that there is still another root in Hebrew, that is not only related to the other two, but may well be their predecessor. It's meaning, found in the Bible, was "to roam, wander (restlessly)". This root that probably was present in Proto-Semitic , is ("*) ר ו ד, R W D".
Note:
- English in modern usage, just like other Germanic languages, uses the verb "to ride" for the riding on horses as well as for the riding of cars or trains, besides the figurative meanings the word has acquired. But German did not do so, reserving the word "reiten" for riding on animals, mostly on horseback . This in itself shows that the word "road" has only an indirect relation with "riding" in a car.
Note:
- Germanic has English "to tread", German "treten" and Dutch "treden". Old English had the verb "tredan". In all probability the T has been added to an older root "R D" that existed also in Hebrew. Germanic speakers loved to add S or T to roots, either to emphasize meanings or just in order to emphasize pleasantly the action of speaking.
Gothic, a very Germanic tongue, had the verb "trudan", that was very similar in meaning to Hebrew "radad", as it said "to tread heavily".
Note:
- French "route", for "road", according to the general opinion is of different origin : Latin "via rupta", a way that has been "broken" through the woods.
Note:
- Proto-Germanic . "R I D-" is found in about all older and newer Germanic languages, with the non significant and typical exception of German and its predecessors that use a dental "T" instead of "D". And the sound of the vowel "I" becomes like in English "ride", also in German, spelled "EI" in "reiten" and characteristically without the "Y" sound as a straight vowel "IJ" in Dutch "rijden". Proto-Germanic probably was "*R Ī D-".
Note:
- Indo-European. An existing hypothesis is "*reidh-", which we propose to substitute with "*R Ī D-", though both sounds " Ī " and " EI " may have lived together in different words. As to the second consonant, a distinction between " D " and " DH ", that already easily occurs within the territory and the speakers of one language, is not too significant. The basic sound is " D ".
Celtic has a hypothesis of "*reid-". Old Irish "rīad; reidid = to ride; he rides" referring to horses as well as (later ) carts.
Baltic has a similar hypothesis of "*raid-".
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| Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 31/12/2012 at 11.40.45 |
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