E 0835          SLAVE

The word " slave " is of uncertain Indo European origin .

H 0930               ל פ ש , ח פ ש

Concept of root : placed in humbleness

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ח פ ש * ;

ל פ ש

shaphagh ;

 shaphal

to join in family ;

to be humble

Related English words

slave, from German  

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ח פ ש * ;

-

ל פ ש

shaphagh ;

-

shaphal

to join in family ;

to be humble

sh . p . gh

-

sh . p . l

German

Sklave

sklave

slave

sk l . v

Russian

слуга

sluga

servant

s l . g

English

slave

slave

s l . v

 

 

Proto-Semitic *SHAP(H)AGH, *SHAP(H)AL --- *SLĀV- Proto-Germanic

 

 

We speak in English of "slaves" and "Slavs" and somehow somebody has had the brillant idea to link them together, saying : the word "slave" comes from the name of the Slavs . It does not matter that the Slavs were not slaves at all, at least not more frequently than others. The word "sclavus" is defined as a medieval Latin word, found in German texts of the ninth century common era. And there it meant "slave". But it is hard to say if this word " sclavus " was really Latin or just a latinized Germanic word.

 

Otto the Great, German Emperor, in the mid tenth century conquered much of the lands east of the Elbe river, that were inhabited by the Slavs. The story goes that this caused the name of the Slavs to become the word for "slave". How come the K-sound was introduced to change "slavus" into "sclavus" is not explained. Otto the Great lived from 912 - 973 and became king in 936. He made many wars, also and succesfully against the Slavs, establishing the Oder-Neisse boundary to which the Germans had to withdraw a 1000 years later after the lost Second World War. How come that the Latin word "sklavus" was recorded ( or invented ) a century earlier than Otto's conquests ?

 

But then one finds also other tentative explanations. There is the Greek word "σκλαβος , sklabos = slave". And now it is said that there were so many Slavs working as slaves in the Byzantin Empire that their name became again the word for "slave". Some add that also the Germans had Slavs as slaves, but again nobody knows why then also here that K was introduced. Some say the word earlier was "stlabos" that then changed into "sklabos". We just cite this, without giving it real credit.

 

An Indo European word that begins with SK, sometimes corresponds to a Hebrew word that begins with SH. Naturally the common origin then lies very far back in history, or rather prehistory. But if we want to link the European words for "slave, servant" to the Hebrew root "SH P GH" we have a final GH that is extra, while we lack the L of "slave". Let us therefore look into some further aspects.

 

Note:
  • Russian offers us a couple of words that may give some help in solving the problems. The word for "servant" is "слуга , sluga" and "to serve" is "служить , sluzyětj". The sound "ZY" or "ZJ" in Russian is often found to replace "G".

     

    A slave is Russian is a "раб , rab", a word clearly linked to the verb for "to work", that is "работать , rabotatj". But then "слава , slawa" means "glory, rather far from the idea of serfdom. The Slavs are "The Glorious People" : "славянство , slawyanstwo".

     

    The existence of these two Slavic roots makes the running story very improbable.

 

Note:
  • Hebrew has the words " מ ש פ ח ה , mishepaghŕ = family " and " ש פ ח ה , shipheghŕ = servant (slave ?) (female)". The first word, "mishepaghŕ" or in modern pronunciation "mishpaghŕ", has a prefix and a suffix, with the root being " SH P GH ". The second word is the female form of a word "*shiphagh = servant, slave", with the same root " SH P GH". The meaning of that root cannot be else than that of "forming a family, joining to form a family".

     

    From this the conclusion is obvious, a servant or slave in the Bible was a "person joining the family". The word "shipheghŕ is also translated as "bondmaid", which may be the best definition.

     

    Hebrew also has a verb "saphagh" for "to join" in general, not especially in a family. It is spelled with either the letter Samekh or the letter Sin for the S-sound.

 

Note:
  • English and Hebrew. If the two are related here, we must find other Hebrew roots that sustain that thesis. They should contain " SH P " or something like it, not have the final " GH " and instead have an " L ". And we find " ש פ ל , shaphal", a root that stands for "humbleness " and "lowness". These are two of the most characteristic elements of slavery. We find a metathesis though. English "slave" has " S L V " , while Hebrew "shaphal" has "SH PH L ". We see as possible this metathesis and the kinship between European "sklave" and "slave" on one side and Hebrew "shaphal" on the other side.

     

    The other root, the family one in Hebrew, is only indirectly related, as another way of placing or locating, not in lowness, but in the family .

 

Note:
  • Hebrew uses the two-consonant combination "SH P" for a message of collocation or placement also in the
    verb " ש פ ת , shaphat" that means exactly " to place, collocate".

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic . The root "SH P GH" is found in Phoenician and Ugaritic with the meaning of " family, clan". This root was probably present in Proto-Semitic ש פ ח , SH P GH".

     

    The abovementioned root "SH P L" is present in Aramaic ש פ ל , shephal" , Syriac ש פ ל , sheppčl", as well as in Ugaritic and inAkkadian shapālu = to be lowered". It has a cognate in Arabic "safal, safila = was low, below something".

     

    One notes the difference between Aramaic "PH = F " and Syriac " P ". and between Arabic " F " and Akkadian " P " . A development from an original pronunciation " P " to " PH = F " of the second consonant may have begun in Proto-Semitic.

     

    It must be noted that specifically in Hebrew a different version with an initial consonant " S " instead of " SH " has developed, with the meaning " to join, add, attach (oneself)".

 

Note:
  • Middle Dutch gives interesting information. It has the nouns, "slave, slaef" for "slave" and "slaverie" for "tough, hard work". But there is more. Two verbs "sloven" each with its own noun. One has the noun "sloop. slope = pillow-slip" and this verb "sloven" says "to slip or slide over" as well as "to slip or slide off". This has no relation with either hard work or slavery. There are more cognates and English "sleeve" may be related.

     

    The other noun is "sloof" that says "person who works hard", linked to the identical verb "sloven = to work hard, toil, drudge". This exists and is still frequently used in Modern Dutch. It is nearly obvious that this is strictly related to "slave, slaverie".

 

Note:
  • Proto-Germanic . If the thesis that the word "slave" has not as origin that of the cognates of the word "Slav", we must look into Germanic languages. Middle Dutch had "slave, slaef; slaverie; slavernie" for "slave ( male or female); tough labour; slavery". Norwegian distinguishes between a "slave = slave" and a "slaver, *slavar = Slav ". Swedish distinguishes the plurals: "slavar = slaves", but "slaver = Slavs". Danish has "slave = slave" and "slaver = Slav".

     

    In German we find "Sklave = slave", but "Slawe = Slav". The letter " K " is new, and its origin is not clear. Around the year 850 common era in German documents a new Neo-Latin word is born or first seen: "sclavus = slave. This word is then considered a loanword from Greek "σκλαβος, sklawos = slave" that indeed exists today, but it is not clear since when. It was not known in Classic Greek. The Greek word for "slave was "doulos = worker", with the same development seen in Hebrew and Russian and perhaps in Dutch. But in reality Greek distinguishes between "σκλαβος, sklawos = slave" and "σλαβος, Slawos = Slav" .

     

    This leaves us with the explanation scholars give for the introduction of the " K " in Greek "sklawos": "slabos = Slav" > "stlabos" > "sklavos". We must remain sceptical. Why change the word, in two (deliberate ? ) steps only in one if its two meanings ? One rather supposes there were two distinct words/meanings, as seen all over the place up till today.

     

    For Proto-Germanic this means a form "*S L Ā V-". This has found its way into very Late Medieval Latin, with a Greek influence. The impression is that some German writer in the ninth century invented his own new Latin word, sounding like existing Germanic and with some Greek inspiration perhaps. Then his new "sclavus" went on in Neo-Latin languages, of which some added a vowel " E " as in French "esclave and others did not, as in Italian "schiavo". For Proto-Germanic also a version with vowel "Ō" may have existed, seen the similar Middle Dutch words : "*S L Ō V-"

 

Note:
  • Indo-European. Besides Germanic the information remains limited to that very late Greek word without any clear or convincing etymology: "sklabos", later pronounced "sklawos". This is not sufficient for a specific hypothesis for Indo-European different from Proto-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: 07/02/2013 at 11.39.05