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E 0801 SHE

The word " she " is of Germanic origin .

H 0953 א י ש *

Concept of root : she

Hebrew word		pronunciation				English meanings
א י ש *		shi’à				she

Related English words				she

Comparison between European words and Hebrew
Languages	Words		Pronunciation		English meanings		Similarity in roots
Hebrew	א י ש *		shi’à		she		sh . (‘)
English	she				she		sh .
Old English	seo				she		s . (‘)

Proto-Semitic SHI'A --- SHE English < SĪ Proto-Germanic < *SĪ Indo-European

This is a rather amazing similarity for various reasons we will mention in the following notes.

Note:

Hebrew already in the Bible used the words " ה ו א , hu" and " ה י א , hi" for "he" and "she". But scholars have established that the word "hi" was an alteration under the influence of "hu" of the original "shi’à" that meant "she". This means the following :

Note:

Hebrew and English had the same distinction between the male and female pronomen , with an H for the male version and an S ( or SH) for the female one. We find this same distinction not in all modern Germanic languages. Dutch has "hij" and "zij", which is near enough. But German has "er" and "sie" . And in Scandinavia we hear "han" and "hun (hon)".

Especially interesting is that Old English used four different words for "she" : "seo, sio" and "heo, hio". Probably "heo" that has disappeared again, was created under the influence of male "he", in a development also seen in Hebrew. The difference is that in Old English this was a temporary phenomenon, while in Hebrew it has become definite.

Note:

Proto-Semitic . The word of this entry, "shi'a = she" as a predecessor of "hi' = she" is also found in Akkadian "shi = she". It was probably already in use as such in Proto-Semitic : "*ש י א, SH Y Aleph".

Note:

Proto-Germanic . The older Germanic languages offer this picture. Old High German has a nominative "siu", later "si" and an accusative "sia". Gothic has a nominative "si", just like Middle Dutch and Old Saxon still had "siu" like earlier Old High German. Old English used "sīo" and "sēo". The basic part of root in Proto-Germanic probably was "*S Ī-".

Note:

Indo European. There is a hypothesis of "*S Ī " that seems right.

The supposed original root for "he" is "*ko", to which we do not agree. There is no real basis in Greek "κεινος , keinos = that one" for this idea, because that word really says "the there he", as "κει , kei" meant "there". Interesting in itself is that Greek added an initial vowel to these words , making them " ekei" and "ekeinos", using an E whereas they usually have an A in this function. Function is a relative thing, as this "suffix" has no influence on the meaning of the word. It is just a creation of the activity or even pleasure of speaking.

In the case of English "he", that in Greek could be compared with "ός , hos", the similarity with Hebrew makes clear that the initial H for a number of pronomina is very ancient and must have been present also in Indo European. It can have had two versions for male singular : "*hu or *ho" and " *hi". " Hi " can be a development of " ho". Consonants like S , M and R have been added, also in order to satisfy the need of expressing different cases . In Latin the H has usually disappeared soon .

Later some mix-up between various cases as well as singular and plural have occurred in this field.

Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 06/12/2012 at 17.38.52