E 0759          SAW,  SIGHT

The verbal form " saw " and the word " sight "  are of Germanic origin .

H 0849         ה י כ ס , ה כ ס *

Concept of root : view

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

; ה כ ס

ה י כ ס

sakhą;

sikhią

to see;

to view, vision, sight

Related English words

saw, sight

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

      ה כ ס ;

ה י כ ס

sakhą;

sikhią

to see;

view, vision, sight

s . kh .

Old English

seah ;

sihth

saw ;

sight

s . h ;

s . h (t)

English

saw ;

sight

saw ;

sight

s . w ;

s . gh (t)

Dutch

(ik) zag;

gezicht

zagh;

gezicht

(I) saw;

view, vision, sight

z . gh;

z . kh (t)

 

 

Proto-Semitic *SAK(H)À --- *SAGH Proto-Germanic

 

 

Both words or roots we present here, have a limited position. Hebrew "*s kh ." is no more used as a verb. And English "saw" as well as Dutch "zag" ("z . gh") is used only in the past tense of the verb "zien = to see". There is a certain habit in etymology to analyse the verbal forms of present and infinitive, but to give little room to an analysis of what lies at the basis of forms that have different roots. Yet they merit full consideration .

 

 

Note:
  • Hebrew. A third word with this same root, registered in Post Biblical Hebrew, but possibly used already in Biblical times, " ס כ ו י, sakhui " says "transparent" and reinforces the sense of "to see".

     

    The verb of this entry, written with one of the two letters Hebrew uses for the sound S, the Samekh , has a sisterverb " ש כ ה , sakhą", spelled with the other letter "S", the Sin . This proves how the two at times are either alternated or perhaps have been confused in the past , at the outset of alphabetic writing .

 

Note:
  • Hebrew has various other roots that refer to the concepts of "view, vision, see" and that begin with a sibilant and continue with a guttural.

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic. This root is seen in Aramaic and Syriac "ס כ א, segh'ą = to look for". It has derived words in Ethiopian "maskot = outlook" and Arabic "mishką = window". It was probably in use in Proto-Semitic: "*ס כ , S K + accentuated vowel".

     

    Regarding the consonant " K " it is difficult to establish if the change of pronunciation into "KH" as seen in Hebrew ( and nearer to Germanic) may have begun as early as in Proto-Semitic. We leave both possibilities open in the above comparison. The older original " K "- sound was anyhow used.

 

Note:
  • English "saw" and Dutch "zag" and the plural "zagen" can not be explained as forms of the root of "to see". The only explanation is that of a second root that has remained in use for some forms.

 

Note:
  • Germanic and Latin. Some people say that "to see" comes from Latin "sequi", a medio-passive verb that means "to follow". The reasoning is that "to see" stands for "to follow with the eyes". In this way one might as well sustain that "to follow" would have been shaped from "to keep one’s eyes upon". And then it would be the other way about from what is thought. More specifically, if we realize that the Latin verb is not an active form, but a medio-passive one, it becomes clear that with a root "to see", "sequi" would mean "I see for myself > I keep seeing for my self > I follow with my eyes > I follow". These are just two opposed hypotheses, the usual one and the one we just invented. But the third possibility, as well a realistic probability, is that "to see " and "to follow" are quite independent concepts and roots .

     

     

    So we would rather say that seeing is a basic human function that was among the first ones that needed to be expressed. And also following was important and expressed by its own words. This we consider the most probable thesis.

 

Note:
  • English "(I) saw" may have come from an older form, before Old English, that had a G or GH. In fact in "sight" there seem to be still this GH, be it no more pronounced. Old English spelled "sihth", but that must have been a stronger guttural than the modern H.

 

Note:
  • Proto-Germanic. The probable forms in Proto-Germanic are "*S Ă H-" or "*S Ă GH-" and "*S Ĭ HT" or "*S Ĭ GHT". In older languages there are for "saw" to be seen : Gothic "sahw", Old Norse "sa", Old High German "sah", Old English "seah" and Middle Dutch "sach". For "sight" there are Old English "sihth", Old and Middle High German "siht" and Middle Dutch "sicht".

 

Note:
  • Indo-European. Indications for cognates of these important words in other branches of Indo-European seem to lack. The comparison remains as so often between Semitic and Germanic.

 

 

 

 
"...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 12.22.34