E 0834         (TO)  SLAKE

The verb " to slake " is of Germanic origin .

H 0907         ח ל ש

Concept of root : letting off

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ח ל ש

shalagh

to set free, let go

Related English words

to slake

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ח ל ש

to set free, let go

sh . l . gh

Latin

solvere ;

-

solutus

solvere ;

-

solutus

to loosen, untie ;

free, unbound

s . l v

English

to slake

to slake

s l . k

Middle Dutch

slaken

slaken

to set free, let go

s l . k

 

 

Proto-Semitic *SHALAGH < *SHALÀ --- *SLĀK- Proto-Germanic

 

 

This same root or an identical one is present in entry RU 1270 (Hebrew 0906) with a different similarity that is with Russian. The actual one , with a different message , is with Latin and Germanic. All three, the Hebrew , Latin and Middle Dutch root serve also some other, related meanings, but the mentioned one is sufficiently clear to establish a relevant similarity. Relevant to presume a common origin.

 

Note:
  • Hebrew. There is a difference between the two messages of the root "SH L GH", as mentioned in this entry ( to loosen, set free) and in RU 1270 (Hebrew 0906) = to send. It is worth mentioning that a rather similar Hebrew verb "SH L KH" says "to throw, fling, cast off, drive off".

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic. As shown in entry RU 1270 (Hebrew 0906) , this root "SH L GH" is found in various Semitic languages. It was probably present in Proto-Semitic also in the sense of this entry : "*ש ל ח , SH L GH". But there presumably was a shorter two consonant root "*ש ל ה , SH L + accentuated vowel ", that carried the concept of making something go away from or taking something out of an existing position.

 

Note:
  • Latin "solvere" is also found in entry E 0845 (Hebrew 0911) , in an again different further similarity with Hebrew. The existing view is that "solvo, solvi, solutum", with supposed older forms as "*soluit, *soluisse", is a composed verb : "se" + "luo". There are two verbs "luo". One is known only in "abluo,abluere" that is identical in meaning to the well known verb "lavo, lavare = to wash". The other is "luo, lui, luriturus, luere", used to say "to mend, atone, pay, undergo one's punishment".

     

    None of these meanings, combined with "oneself ( Latin se- )", leads to the group of meanings of "solvo", that again can be divided in two. One is "to loosen ( a horse, an anchor), open (a letter>), to pay a debt, to free, to release from an obligation". The "oneself" part does not fit very well into this pattern. Moreover there is the need for a " se solvere" and for a "me solvet vitulus" (a sacrifice "solvet" me).

     

    The second group of meanings comprises "to demolish, to dissolve, to weaken, to terminate etcetera.

     

    Then it is important to see that "solvo" was not very much felt as a composed verb, as the Romans made new composed verbs on the basis of solvo : "absolvo, exsolvo, persolvo, resolvo".

 

Note:
  • Latin and Dutch. It is useful to know that the concepts of "untie, loosen, unleash" are clearly seen in the Dutch expression "boeien slaken" that stands for "loosen chains, fetters".

 

Note:
  • English and Dutch. . English "to slake" is certainly related to Dutch "slaken" , with which it has several meanings in common. It is also related to Hebrew "shalagh" , but has travelled off from the original basic messages of the root. Also modern Dutch has travelled sideways , losing the meanings that in Middle Dutch proved the similarity with Hebrew.

 

Note:
  • Proto-Germanic. The verb" to slake " is seen as related to Old English " släc" or "sleac" that says "lax, indolent ", but the distance in message is considerable. It is important to distinguish between two verbs in Old English, that are "aslæccan = to loosen, slacken" and "slacian, sleacian = to relax efforts, slacken". The adjective "sleac" then has many meanings : "lax, sluggish, indolent", concepts that are hardly related semantically to the mentioned verbs.

     

    The Germanic words with the meaning of "to slake" , nearly all have the form we see as the probable Proto-Germanic one : "*SL Ā K-", in which the "K" may be spelled "C". Exceptions are Old High German "slah" and Middle High German "slach", but these are just developments from the original form with final "K".

 

Note:
  • Indo-European. Information about further possible cognates in other Indo-European branches seems not available. If Latin "solvere" is not a composed verb but a basic one, we have no answer to the question if Indo-European may have had a vowel " O " or, like the Germanic words a vowel " A ". The Germanic third consonant " K " seems to correspond with the Semitic third consonant "GH", but that may be fortuitous. Indo-European may have had a form with " S L U/V", with a version "*S Ă L V-" = "to save" and to version "*S Ŏ L U-" = "to free, loosen".

 

 

 

 
"...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: 02/01/2013 at 14.38.31