|
E 0846 SOME
The word " some " is of
Germanic origin .
H 0948 ם ו
ש
Concept of root : some
|
Hebrew word
|
pronunciation
|
English meanings
|
|
ם ו ש
|
shum
|
something
|
|
|
|
Related English words
|
some
|
|
|
Comparison between European words and
Hebrew
|
Languages
|
Words
|
Pronunciation
|
English meanings
|
Similarity in roots
|
|
Hebrew
|
ם ו ש
|
shum
|
something
|
sh (u) m
|
|
English
|
some
|
|
some
|
s (o) m
|
|
Old English
|
sum
|
|
some, one
|
|
|
Dutch
|
sommig
|
sommegh
|
some
|
s (o) m
|
|
Middle Dutch
|
som, somich
|
som,
somigh
|
some
|
s (o) m
|
|
Gothic
|
sums
|
|
some
|
s (u) m
|
|
Greek
|
άμος
|
hamos
|
some
|
h . m <
s . m
|
|
Old Indian
|
sama
|
sama
|
some
|
s . m
|
Proto-Semitic *SHUM --- *SŎM- Indo-European
English "some", via the meaning of Old English "sum", is seen as related to Latin "semel" that says " at the same time". Also related would be the English words "single, similar, seem, same, simple " as well as many others.
The word "some" in many texts can be translated as well with "one", without forcing the sentence out of its sense. But that does absolutely not mean that it comes from the concept "one", on the contrary. "Some" stands not for a definite quantity but for an undefined one. This may be one or more, according to the circumstances: Some ants may be a big number. Some elephants will be a few only. Some also can say "any". "Some" can be linked to singular or plural forms, as we see in "sometime" versus "sometimes".
In these English and Dutch words we see a vowel O, well comparable with Hebrew and Gothic U. In Greek and Old Indian we see an A. The Greek H at the beginning is an alteration from initial S.
Note:
- Hebrew . The word "shum" also has the meaning of "name" and is as such seen as a secondary version of the word "shem" which is the normal word for "name" . But this is far from certain. Instead, we would see "shem = name" newer than " shum = name". See our note on Proto-Semitic.
Note:
- Proto-Semitic . As to the words "shum" and "shem" for " name", Aramaic like Hebrew, has both forms, but Akkadian has "shumu", in which the final U is a suffix. Arabic "sim", though alternating with "usm" and "ism" indicates a development out of "sum" or "shum". Probably Proto-Semitic had "*ש ו ם , SH W M".
The word "shum = some(thing)" may be independent from the identical "shum = name". Identical words are used for "assessment, evaluation", as well as for " garlic". But in the sense of "something" we lack evidence from other Semitic languages to make more solid our hypothesis for Proto-Semitic.
Note:
- Proto-Germanic . The picture given by the Germanic words in the table is clear. The probable form for Proto-Germanic is "*S Ŏ M-".
Note:
- Indo-European . The similarity between Old Indian, Greek and Germanic makes us presume that Indo-European may have used the two consonant combination "S . M" to express the concept of "some". The vowel " A " in Old Indian may come from an older " O " and so is the case in Greek where the " A " distinguished "hamos" from "homos". Further the initial " H " is based on an older " S ". The probable form for Indo-European is thus "*S Ŏ M-".
|
|
|
| Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 05/12/2012 at 17.50.01 |
|