E 0752          (TO)  SAG ;  (TO)  SINK

The verbs " to sag " and " to sink " are of Germanic origin .

H 0894            ח ח ש* , ה ח ש, ח ש

Concept of root : going down

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

 ח ; ו ש

 ח ; ש

 ה ח ש

ח ; ח ש *

ח י ח ש ה                                         

shogh;

shagh;

shaghà,

shaghagh;

hishghiagh

to sag, sink;

lowered;

to lower oneself,

bend down;

to make go down

Related English words

to sag , sink

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

 ח ; ו ש

 ח ; ש

 ה ח ש

ח ; ח ש *

-

ח י ח ש ה                                         

shogh;

shagh;

shaghà,shaghagh;

-

-

hishghiagh

to sag, sink;

lowered;

to lower oneself, bend down;

to make go down

sh (o) gh;

sh . gh . ;

sh . gh gh

Old English

sincan

to sink

s . nc

Middle English

saggen

to sag, sink

s . g

English

to sag;

to sink

to sag,

to sink

s . g ;

s . nk

Gothic

sigqan

sighqan

to sink

s . g q

Swedish

sacka ;

sænka

sacka

to sink

s . ck

Norwegian

senke,synke; ;

sige

senke, synke; siye

to lower, sink; to sink, slide down, float

s . nk; s . g

Dutch

zakken; ;

zinken; zijgen

zakken; zinken; zeighen

to lower, sink; to sink; to sag

z . k; z . nk; z . g

 

 

Proto-Semitic *SHOGH, *SHAGH --- *SAKH-, *SAK- Proto-Germanic

 

 

This entry is related to E 0753 (Hebrew 0933) . English "to sag" and "to sink" are of the same origin. "To sink" is nasalized, but is very near the meaning of the other words of this entry. "To sag", more near the original root, has developed various different nuances about the way one or something may go down. Both have their figurative meanings, as have their cousins. The specialized meanings of "to sag" are described in different ways in the other tongues.

 

It is not clear from where Middle English "saggen" has come, though people believe it is a loanword from Scandinavia. The double G makes this anyhow doubtful.

 

For the similarity with Hebrew it is not necessary to define "sacka, saggen, zakken" as intensive forms on account of the doubling of the second consonant. This is uncertain. More probable is that "to sink" has a vowel "I" to express a further-going action than "to sag". It is useful to remark that the verb "ש ח ה, shaghà", already in Biblical Hebrew, also meant "to swim". Aramaic and Syriac used it to say "to bathe oneself". Swimming and bathing are ways of letting oneself sink into water.

 

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic. This root is seen in other Semitic languages, like in Arabic "shaghà = sink into the ground ( said of the foot), but the evidence is rather limited. It may well have been in use in Proto-Semitic, most probably in the oldest form with the central Waw : "* ש ו ח , SH W GH". In the comparison the use of vowel " O " and "A " is proposed.

 

Note:
  • Gothic and Hebrew show an extra similarity through the "doubling" of the final guttural of the root.

 

Note:
  • Proto-Germanic. In the non nasalized version the Nordic languages have "SIG-" as well as "S A K-", English "S A G-" and Dutch "Z A K-". Old Norse "sökkva" is both transitive and intransitive. But the mentioned form "SIG-" meaning "to sink" in active and passive sense, is rather near to the nasalized "sink", found with the same meaning in many older and newer languages.

     

    It must be noted that other vowels then "I" are frequently used in other verbal forms and in causative versions of the verb. German "senken = to make sink". In Danish and Swedish there is also the "short "E-sound", but there it is spelled "sänke" resp. "sänka". And English has the forms "sank, sunk", Dutch "zonk, gezonken" and German "sank, gesunken" near English. Old English has "sincan" and "sencan" , near to German. And it has the verbal forms "sanc" and "suncen" much like modern English. But then Swedish has the infinitive "sjunka" and Danish "sünke".

     

    Proto-Germanic probably had "*SĬ NK-" , but also used other vowels (U, O, E, A) within the same frame. The non nasalized form probably was "*S Ă K/KH-", though the Old Norse verb "sokkva" may induce to supposing also a still present older form "*S Ŏ K-" , a situation again in an impressive way comparable to what is seen in Hebrew, that has "SHAGH" and "SHOGH".

 

Note:
  • Indo-European. Lithuanian has an interesting "senku = I sink", supposing that this is not a loanword from German, as we lack other information about possible cognates in other groups of Indo-European languages.

     

    English "to descend" comes from Latin "descendo, descendere" = "to descend, go down", that is a composed verb of "scando, scandere" = "to rise, climb. go up". This Latin word has a cognate in Sanscrit "skandâmi". Both can hardly be seen as related to the Germanic and Hebrew words of this entry. The comparison stays between Semitic and Germanic.

 

 

 

 

 
Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: Thursday 7 February 2013 at 16.06.08