E 0711          RAFTER

The word " rafter " is of Germanic origin .

H 0821             ף ר

Concept of root : balk

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ף ר

raph

shelf

Related English words

rafter

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

      ף ר

raph

shelf

r . ph

Indo European

* rép

rép

beam, stake

*r . p

English

rafter

rafter

r . f t

Middle Dutch

reep;

ribbe;

-

rave

rép;

ribbe;

-

rave

bar;

narrow bar, lath;

beam, rafter

r . p ;

r . b ;

-

r . v

Old Swedish

räf

rèf

beam, rafter

r . f

Swedish

raft

raft

beam, rafter

r . f t

Old Norse

raptr

raptr

beam

r . p t

 

 

Proto-Semitic *RAP --- *RĂF Proto-Germanic < *RĂP- Indo-European

 

 

It seems useful to ask help from this, inevitably hypothetical, Indo European root "*r . p". The basic meaning of the root of this entry is that of a wooden balk. This rough piece can be worked, smoothened etcetera, in order to become a beam, a stake or a shelf.

 

This entry is related to number E 0710 (Hebrew 0822) .

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic. This root has a cognate, found in Arabic "raff" with the same meaning. It may well have been in use in Proto-Semitic "*ר ף , R P".

 

Note:
  • Greek "ραβδος , rabdos" that means "stick" may well be related to this root, though the wooden object usually is smaller than a beam or balk.

 

Note:
  • English "rafter" comes from Old English "ræfter" , of which the root is "R F" , to which the T as well as the R have been added. The T is more an emphasizing of pronunciation , very common in Germanic. The "R" with the vowel E in front of it, indicates that the object is functional.

     

    This is even clearer when one sees the Swedish word "raft", without the final "-er". And still more upon knowing the Old Swedish version "räf", about identical to Hebrew . Similar words are present in other Nordic tongues, as well as in German, its predecessors and Middle Dutch.

 

Note:
  • Middle Dutch and Dutch have also an identical word of different origin, "reep" that stand for English "rope". This is also German, as we see in the name of the famous "Reeperbahn" in Hamburg, near the port. This was the place where "Reeps" were made, ropes. Naturally a particularly important market for ropes was that of ships. Consequently the "Reeperbahn" was near the port of Hamburg. Today it furnishes more services than products.

 

Note:
  • Old Norse, besides enjoying the German habit of adding a T after a root, also used frequently a final R to words for functional objects.

 

Note:
  • Proto-Germanic. The older version without final T was probably present in Proto-Germanic : "*R A F-".

 

Note:
  • Indo-European. The abovementioned proposed hypothesis for Indo-European, "*RÈP-" , could be amended into "*RĂP-", with the vowel " A " as seen in Germanic. Also in Latin and Greek one finds this vowel, but it is not certain that the relative words are cognates. The supposition would have to be that Latin and Greek have added a " T " as a very rare prefix in two words in question. These are Latin "trabs, trabis" = beam", also extensively used as "roof" and even "house" The Greek word is less clear, "teramnon = roof, room, house" < "*terab", of uncertain meaning. To this are called "taverna" and even Old English "dorp = village". More solid information about possible cognates in Indo-European seems not available.

     

    For now the comparison rests between Semitic and Germanic, which is a very common phenomenon.

 

 

 

 

 
Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 26/11/2012 at 17.24.12