0984_tor page

E 0871 STEER

The word " steer " is of Germanic origin .

H 0984 ר ו ת

Concept of root : steer, bull

Aramaic word		pronunciation				English meanings
ר ו ת		tor				bull

Related English words				steer

Comparison between European words and Hebrew
Languages	Words		Pronunciation		English meanings		Similarity in roots
Aramaic	ר ו ת		tor		bull		t (o) r
Hebrew	ר ו ש		shor		bull		sh (o) r
Greek	ταυρος		tauros		bull		t (au) r
Latin	taurus		taurus		bull		t (au) r
Spanish	toro		toro		bull		t (o) r
Italian	toro		toro		bull		t (o) r
Swedish	tjur		shür		bull		sh (ü) r > t (jü) r
Norwegian	tyr		tìr		bull		t (i) r
Gothic	stiur		stiur		bull		s t (iu) r
Old Icelandic	tjörr, stjörr		tjör, stjör		bull		s t (jö) r > t (jö) r
Old High German	stior		stior		bull		s t (io) r
German	Stier		stìr		bull		s t . r
English	steer				steer		s t . r
Dutch	stier		stìr		bull		s t . r
Middle Irish	tarb		tarb		bull		d . r (b)
Gallic	tarvos		tarvos		bull		t . r(v)
Russian	тур		tur		aurochs, bison		t (u) r
Lithuanian	tauras		tauras		aurochs, bison		t (au) r

Proto-Semitic TOR --- TŌR- Indo-European

Man has always been fascinated by the male of bovines, a dangerous and unpredictable enemy that at the same time had a family that soon became very important for the human condition. Perhaps that is why the word for this impressive animal has been so stable in a large group of languages . Here we should like to understand the development of the different versions in all those tongues.

Point of departure is an original root " * T W R " with the meaning of "bull". Without vowels, this root is neither practical nor pleasant to pronounce. But the central consonant W is a very peculiar one through its exceptional flexibility. It can follow two principal roads of development. Either it remains a consonant and then it may stay a W or become a V or even Y. In any case, as a consonant it will require one or two vowels for pronunciation. The other main road of development is that the W becomes a vowel, most obviously an U, but also, directly or indirectly, an O or even an "I".

All the words of the above table fit into this very flexible system of linguistic development. Some examples are the following :

Hebrew singular	TWR > SHWR	>	SHOR	W > O
Hebrew plural	TWR > SH R	>	SHEWARIM	W > E W A
Greek	TWR > TAWR	>	TAUROS	W > A U
New Greek	TWR > TAUR	>	TAWROS	W > A W
Latin	TWR > TAWR	>	TAURUS	W > A U
Norwegian	TWR > TOR	>	TYR	W > Y
Russian	TWR > TUR	>	TUR	W > U
Gothic	TWR > STIUR	>	STIUR	W > I U
Old Icelandic	TWR > TJÖRR	>	TJÖRR	W > J Ö
	TWR > STJÖRR	>	STJÖRR	W > J Ö
German	TWR > STIUR	>	STIER	W > I E
Gallic	TWR > TRW	>	TARVOS	W > V

Note:

Hebrew and Aramaic. Sometimes Hebrew has SH where other languages have T. The roots can be of the same origin, but it seems Hebrew altered it, changing the T into SH. No clear rule about the circumstances in which such a development may take place or not has been established. The vast majority of T’s remain T’s.

Note:

Proto-Semitic. There are two basis versions, SH W R and T W R. The first one is seen in Hebrew, in Arabic shaur and in Akkadian shuru. The second one is present in Aramaic "ת ו ר א, torà", OS Arabic, and Ugaritic, with Phoenician showing "thor". The comparison with Indo European makes probable Proto-Semitic "*ת ו ר , tor T W R". Some scholars consider Greek "tauros" and even Lithuanian "tawras" as loanwords from Semitic, but that is highly improbable. These animals were present all over the place, first in the wild and then domesticated well over 6000 years ago. But already in the wild they were so important that they had to receive names. Generally domestication is believed to have taken place in the steppes of Eurasia, quite outside the territories were Semites lived. Besides this, Semitic and Indo European have various further names , partially in common, for animals of the genus "bos" .

Note:

Germanic loves to place an S in front of existing roots, without changing their meaning. With our bulls we see this has been done as well. Therefore we have English "steer". But not in all tongues we find that initial S. The Nordic languages did not do so , except Old Icelandic that had both versions. This may have been caused, if the legend of Thule is true, by an immigration of the last Goths after their defeat at Ravenna.

Note:

Proto-Germanic must have had the version without initial "S", as this is found in Northern Germanic. This may mean that the Northern branch split off early and that West Germanic (Old High German "stior) and East Germanic (Gothic "stiur") received or introduced this athroistic prefix "S" . An athroistic addition or affix does not change the meaning the root had before this addition. In Old Norse "thjórr" and Old Swedish "thiūr" the "TH" is pronounced as in English "thin". This should not lead to the conclusion that Proto-Germanic has such a pronunciation, that then would again have developed into "T". The "TH" is rather a local development that has had a temporary life.

Proto-Germanic presumably had the initial "T" and the final "R", but the vowel in between is less easy to define. We see that older languages give an indication of "O", as in Old English "stēor", Old High German "stior", Old Norse "stjori" and also still in Faroese "tjorur". In Gothic and in old and new Swedish the vowel is "IU", which may have developed out of "YO" or also simply "O". The same goes for a long "Ö" that may originate from a vowel "O" or "U". Presumably Proto-Germanic had "*T Ō R-".

Note:

Russian participated nicely in earlier times, when there were still aurochs and plenty European buffalos . But as to domestic cattle, the bull was given the name of "бык , bŭk", using the same root other groups of languages apply to a he-goat, like English "buck" for antelopes etcetera.

Note:

Celtic in Gallic and Middle Irish shows how a metathesis has taken place between the W and the R. The basic root, point of departure, was anyhow the same as in all the other groups.

Note:

Greek is particularly striking, as it has come back on its ways in its natural development towards the modern language that is called New Greek. The W that had become a U, once more was pronounced W. Really the sound is rather between English W and V. This is the case with all U’s in New Greek. Europe is called "Evropi".

Note:

Indo-European. In further important languages the indications are less clear.

Old Indian . There is no certainty about a word "sthūrrah = strong, heavy, large", that is considered to mean as well "bull, steer". This last supposition may be right, as there is also "sthûrikâ = barren cow", as well as a Gypsy "shturno = bull".

Avestan has a word "staora" that is used to say "(big) cattle". To this can be added Middle Persian "stōr" and new Persian "sutūr", to which can be added Ossetic "stur, stor".

Indo-European, on the basis of this information, probably had "*T W R-" , that may have been pronounced as "T Ū R-", "T Ō R" or "T AW R-. The adding of an initial "S" must have taken place in an early stage, but was not generalized for Indo-European.

Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 11/12/2012 at 18.21.06