E 0931         TOOTH

The word " tooth " is of Germanic origin .

H 0919                ן ש

Concept of root : tooth

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ן ש

shen

tooth, point

Related English words

tooth

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

  ן ש

shen

tooth, point

sh . n

Old Norse

thonn

thon

tooth

th . n

Norwegian

tann

tan

tooth

t . n

German

Zahn

tsaan

tooth

z . n

Old High German

zan, zand

tsan, tsand

tooth

z . n (d)

Greek

οδους, gen. οδοντος

odus ;

odontos

tooth

(o) d . n t

Ionian

οδον

odon

tooth

(o) d . n

Latin

dens , gen. dentis

dens, dentis

tooth

d . n t

Swedish

tand

tand

tooth

t . n d

Dutch

tand ;

tinne, tenne

tant;

tinne, tenne

tooth ;

pinnacle,

t . n d ;

t . n

 

 

Proto-Semitic *SHIN --- *DĂNT- Indo-European

 

 

The basic meaning of this root is that of "tooth". Subsequently words for "tooth" in many languages have been and are used to indicate toothlike objects, and later also pointed objects that are not even really toothlike.

 

German "Zahn" is an exception among European languages , that have "D N T" of "T N D" as root in their words for "tooth". Another exception is English that does not have the N, as already Old English says "toth". Old Norse again, does not have the final dental (T or D), just like Hebrew and German .

 

As to the origin of the word, we agree with those who say that a tooth bites and does not eat, so that the root is not related to that of "to eat". This is important to explain the initial vowel in Greek " odus ".

 

The difference we see , between SH in Hebrew and T in other languages, can be found sometimes. A clear example is Hebrew "shor" versus European and Aramaic (!)= "tor-" for "steer". See the note on Indo-European below.

 

 

Note:
  • English. Old Saxon still had "tand". It is not clear how the change into Old English "toth" came about. In between lies Anglo Saxon toš or teš , in which the symbol š is pronounced more or less like English " TH " in " this ".

 

Note:
  • Hebrew uses the same root for a verb " ש נ ן , shanan" that says "to sharpen".

     

    A not unsimilar root, we see in the word " צ ן , tsen" that indicates other pointed things, in particular "thorn" and "hook".

     

    And " ס נ ה , sené" is the famous thorn-bush of Moshé. We see an alternative use of "SH N", TS N" and "S N" to specify points and sharpness, with teeth as the probable basis of the concept.

     

    The plural of "shen" is "shinaim", a dual form, possibly because the word "shen" originally indicated not only a single tooth, but ( as well) the row of teeth in the upper or lower jaw. We may consider that the teeth are a grouplike functioning entity.

     

    For Proto-Semitic the hypothesis is that the pronunciation was " *shinn " instead of later Hebrew " shen ". Similar hypothesis exists for the above mentioned word " tsen ", that may have been " *tsin " in Proto Semitic .

 

Note:
  • Greek features an initial vowel "O". This is best seen as an added prefix, that has just a confirming function. This is frequent in Greek, though the O is not the most frequently used vowel as such. This choice may have been influenced by the existing vowel O in the main syllable. Some Greek scholars believe that the root of "οδους" was *(ε) δον , edon ". The thought is based on the idea that the word for " tooth " may be linked to " to eat ", which is also "εδω , edo", a verb in fact related to English " to eat " .

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic is supposed to have the root "*ש ן , shinn SH N" for "tooth", near Aramaic "ש ן , shen", also "ש נ א, shinną" and near Hebrew. The root is also present in Syriac" ש נ א, shenną". There are cognates with S instead of SH in Arabic "sinn" and Ethiopian "senn".

 

Note:
  • Germanic and Hebrew. Particularly interesting is that we find the concept of "point", one of the meanings of Hebrew " shin ", expressed in older Germanic words that are near the words for tooth. We quote Middle High German "zint", Old English "tind" and Old Norse "tindr". Modern Norwegian still has the word "tind" for "point". In Dutch a " tinne " is a pinnacle .

 

Note:
  • Proto-Germanic . In Germanic languages the initial consonant is "T", besides in High German, and already in its predecessors, where the "T" was changed into "Z". The consonant after the vowel is "N", except mainly in Old English "tōth pl. tēth" and English "tooth, teeth", from which the "N" had disappeared. Besides this Old Frisian had both "tōth" and "tond". As in this last instance, in many cases the "N" is followed by a dental, that must be seen as a Germanic development. A strong indication for this is seen in Middle Dutch, where the noun "tant, pl.tanden" is accompanied by a verb "tanen, taenen = to put one's teeth into (something)". East Germanic in Gothic probably had "*tundh-".

     

    This second and final dental is usually a "D", also still in Old High German, but in some cases we find a "T" that in Middle Dutch "tant" is due to the typical pronunciation ( the plural was "tanden"), but in Middle High German where it alternated with the "D", was a real "T". In some cases the final dental later disappeared again, as in German "Zahn" and in Old Norse "tonn" with its two plurals, "tethr" and "tennr". Norwegian remained "tann" with dialectal "tonn" as in Faroese, but Danish and Swedish remained "tand", with that "D" they had added to Old Danish and Old Swedish "tan". Proto-Germanic presumably had "*T Ă NT-", though there may have been T Ŭ/Ŏ NT-" as well.

 

Note:
  • Indo European and Hebrew. With the initial dentals ( T, D) we find in Indo-European languages and not in Hebrew, it is hard to define when and where the split in development took place.

     

    We tend to say that the change has taken place in Hebrew and that the Latin version "dens, dentis" is most near the common origin.

     

    First, we see in Hebrew more examples in which a T has become SH. The clearest is that of the European word "Tauros" or "Toro", that in Aramaic still "tor", but in Hebrew "shor". One should be careful not to make a rule out of this. But it happens now and then.

     

    The second one is that the concept of "point" in Hebrew can be found also in an old root that begins with a dental, " ט ע ן, tha‛an ", that says " to pierce". In modern language this root or an identical one , that already in the Bible was as well used to say "charging, pressuring" is out of use for "to pierce".

 

Note:
  • Indo-European. The idea that the words for "tooth" may be related to verbs for "to chew" and "to bite", is attractive, but in the case of Indo-European and Semitic finds no support in reality. This is understandable if the words for "tooth" have roots that also express the concept of "point" or "thorn", as is the case. Instead we see a common root for words that indicate "molar-tooth" and "to chew", as well as "to bite". See entry GD 1056 (Hebrew 0516), and also the related entry GD 1055 (Hebrew 0397).

     

     

    Latin "dens, dentis = tooth, point".

     

    Greek "odon, odous , odontos" indicates "D Ŏ NT.This is seen as related to the verb "ε δω, edo = to eat", with sisters all over Indo-European languages, among which indeed "to eat". But that remains improbable, as the basic meanings in for example Latin and Germanic comprehend that of "point", besides "tooth".

     

    Celtic has Old Irish "dét" with an absorbed "N" and Welsh, Cymric and Breton dant, resulting in "D Ă NT-".

     

    Baltic shows a Lituanian as well as Old Prussian "dantis", indicating "D Ă NT-

     

    Old Indian has "dá", with accusative "dántam", suggesting "D Á NT-"

     

    Avestan shows "dantan-", again with "D Ă NT-".

     

    Indo-European in all probability had "D Ă NT".

 

 

 

 
"...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 15.09.39