E 0898          TAME

The word  " tame "  is of Germanic origin .

H 0968              ם ת                   

Concept of root : quiet behaviour

Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ם ת

tam

peaceful, quiet

Related English words

tame

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ם ת

tam

peaceful, quiet

t . m

English

tame

tame

t . m

Dutch

tam

tam

tame, quiet

t . m

 

 

Proto-Semitic *TAM --- *TĀM Proto-Germanic < *DĀM, * TĂM Indo-European

 

 

Different from his brother Esau, Ya‛akov was a not aggresive, peaceful and quiet man, as the Bible tells : he was "tam", Genesis 25 - 27. This does not mean that Yaakov was not a strong man. He met Rachel at the well, that was covered with a very heavy stone, usually taken off by more men. But Yaakov upon seeing Rachel took off the stone all by himself, unafraid of the men that had told him one should wait till all the flocks were there, just as they were doing. He wanted Rachel to water her flock without waiting for the others. He himself watered her flock. It was love at first sight.

 

In English and other modern languages the word "tame" is also, principally but not exclusively, used to indicate the character and behaviour of domestic animals, or of animals that have been "tamed". Dutch "tam" is a bit more generally used than English "tame" and is as often nearer to Hebrew.

 

This means simply that Dutch has remained closer to the Germanic origin.

 

 

Note:
  • Hebrew uses the same couple of consonants "T + M" to express also various other concepts, like "complete, perfect, integrity, innocence". For several of these in Hebrew also the well known root "SH L M" of "shalom" is used. Examples are "peace, quiet, completeness".

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic. With "T M" as a root various concepts are expressed. For those of this entry, peacefulness, harmlessness and quietness , this is seen in Aramaic and Syriac with a lengthened root with twice " M ": "ת מ י מ א, tamimà = quiet, harmless, innocent". This root with comparable meaning was probably in use in Proto-Semitic in two consonant version : "* ת ם , T M".

 

Note:
  • Proto-Germanic. Older and newer Germanic languages nearly all have the initial consonant "T" and a final consonant "M" for this concept of "tame". An exception is naturally High German , that has as its natural development an initial consonant "Z", from Old High German "zemmen" and "zamon" to modern German "zähmen", with the related adjective "zam". The vowel between the consonants usually is an "A" in the adjective, as seen in Old Saxon "tam", Old Norse "tamr" , Middle Dutch "tam", Middle Low German "tam" as well as Swedish, Norwegian and Danish "tam".

     

    Old English also had "tam", but as well the form "tom", for which there is no clear explanation, though it may have been influenced by a noun "*tōm" that already in Old English in a natural development became "tēam", an English word that as "team" has become successful all over the world. Originally it indicated the means with which a "team" of for example oxen were kept quiet and under control. This word "tōm" was also used in Middle Low German and ONFranconian , with Middle Dutch using "tome" and "toom" as in Modern Dutch. Also here OHGerman "zoum" and Modern German "Zaum" had changed to "Z". A complication is that Old English tēam" , as its sisters in Middle Dutch, Middle Low German and Old Frisian , also meant "progeny", a semantically quite different concept.

     

    The verbs of this group mostly use an "È"-sound, that in Old and modern Swedish (tæmia, tämja) and Danish ( tæmmæ, tæmme) is spelled respectively as "Ä" and "Æ". Old Norse, Icelandic and Faroese have "temja" and Norwegian "temme". Also Dutch, Middle Dutch and Middle Low German have "È" in "temmen". Old English had "temman, temian". East Germanic in Gothic used an "A" also in the verb : "gatamjan", in which "ga" is a prefix. This may be seen as a specific development out of an original "E". The vowel "A" in English "to tame" is seen as having been defined on the basis of the use of the adjective "tame". In Germanic languages a "È"-sound in verbs not seldom is used to express a causative action. This may have influenced the choice of speakers also in this case. Proto-Germanic presumably had "*T Ă M-" for the adjectives and "*T È M-" in verbs.

 

Note:
  • Indo-European . The existing hypothesis is "*doma-" for the concept of "to tame". The meaning often is extended to more general concepts of submission.

     

     

    Old Indian in "dāmyáti covers both the active "tames" and the passive "is tame". The indication is "D Ā M-

     

    Celtic uses a root "D (A) M-" besides a root "D (Ō) F-" for "tame, to tame". In Cymbric "dofi = to tame" and "dometic = tamed". Old Irish "daimid = (he) concedes, gives in". Various figurative or transferred meanings are expressed, but a basic "D A M- was present for "to tame", with long or short "A".

     

    Greek with a root "D A M"-, carrying the specific message of "to tame" also used to say "to submit" and even extended to "to kill" , lets loose its talent in "δαμαω, damao, δαμαζω, damazo, δαμνηαι, damnèmi and δαμναω , damnao: . Greek has also words with "-dm-" or "-dmn-" in them, without vowel in between, but these are rather related to the root of "demo = to bind".

     

    Latin has "domo, domui, domitum, domare = to tame", with a vowel "Ō". There is also the intensive form "domitare".

     

    Indo-European probably had a first consonant "D" and a second consonant M" with between them a vowel Ā . The Latin vowel "Ō" may have been created under the influence of the words of the group "domus". Thus there was "*D Ā M-" for Indo-European. Yet it must be noted that a second form with vowel "Ō" can not be fully excluded as also Ossetian has "domun = to tame". Yet there may also have been an original "*T Ă M-", as found in Germanic. The problem is that we find here, as so often, a greater similarity between Semitic and Germanic than between Semitic and other branches of Indo-European.

     

    Proto-Germanic, one might think, with the above mentioned "*T Ă M-, *T È M-" , as an alternative may have had a specific development from "D" into "T", especially as High German then made "Z = TS" out of it. But that again does not explain the development in comparison with Semitic, that is not only similar but identical to Germanic. Thus the initial " D " may have been an Indo-European parallel development with the initial " T ".

 

 

 

 

 
Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 10/12/2012 at 17.25.16