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E 0870 (TO) STEAL
The verb " to steal " is of
Germanic origin .
H 0867 ר ת ס
Concept of root : stealthily
taking
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Hebrew word
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pronunciation
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English meanings
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ר ת ס
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sittèr
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to
occult
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Related English words
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to
steal
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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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ר ת ס
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sittèr
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to occult
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s . t . r
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Greek
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στερεω
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stereo
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to steal
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s t . r
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English
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to steal
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to steal
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s t . l
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Old English
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stelan
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to steal
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s t . l
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Proto-Semitic *SATAR --- *STĒR- Indo-European
English "to steal" and its Germanic cousins from the start indicate "stealthy " stealing. The two words are of the same root. We are not the first ones to suppose that we find here an example in which the Germanic L corresponds to a Greek and Hebrew R. That does not mean we are able to say why or when this split occurred, but that it happened is quite possible.
Note:
- Hebrew already in the Bible does not use the basic verb "satar". The verb "sittèr" is the intensive form and that means that "to occult" was seen as an intensifying of an activity. Such an activity might have been that of "taking away something (for oneself) ", to be completed by occulting the thing one has taken away. Thus the basic form "*satar" might have had the same meaning as Greek "stereo" and English "to steal".
Note:
- Proto-Semitic. This root is present in Aramaic "ס ת ר , setar = he hid, concealed" and Syriac "ס ת ר , setar = he covered". Ugaritic used the same root to say "to hide, conceal". Arabic and Ethiopian "satara" also mean "to hide, conceal". This root was probably in use in Proto-Semitic "*ס ת ר , S T R".
Note:
- Greek "stereo" should not be confused with "stereos = solid, compact" with the connected verb "stereo = to make solid".
Note:
- English "to steal" has its sisters in other modern languages, such as German "stehlen" and Old Norse "stela".
Note:
- Proto-Germanic. In older languages there are Old Saxon, Old English and Old High German "stelan", Old Norse and Old Frisian "stela", Middle Dutch "stelen" and Gothic "stilan". Proto-Germanic probably had "*ST Ē L-".
Note:
- Indo-European. Besides Germanic and Greek, with the not uncommon linguistic phenomenon of a possibnle interchange between the consonants "L" and "R", there is a hypothetical Celtic"*sterwā" on the basis of Middle Irish "serb = theft". There are also Old Irish "téol = theft" and a wordpart "tlen = to steal, take away". No coherent reasoning around these forms has been established.
Greek "κλεπτω, klepto = to steal", found in English "kleptomania", is related to Latin "clepo and Gothic "hlifan, but can not be seen as a cognate of "to steal". Nor can this be the case for Latin "tollo, tollere" = "to lift, carry off", that is found in our entry LA 1262 (Hebrew 0966). The concept " to lift" is used to express also that of "to steal", as in English "shoplifter", but that does not make it a cognate.
Sanscrit has a not unsimilar basis "STHAG" for "to occult, hide, conceal, cause to vanish". The basic form "STHÂ-" means "stand" and has no relation with it. Then "stéya, stainya are two words for "theft, stealing, robbery" with "stená; steyin for "thief, robber; theft, robbery". In these words we find neither the " R " nor the " L ".
For Indo-European a realistic possibility seems to remain "*S T Ē R-". The Sanscrit words can have had a contemporary different basis within Indo-European or can have changed the version with " S T R " into "S T Y ". This is fully uncertain.
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| Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 28/11/2012 at 12.22.26 |
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