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E 0173 CICADA
The word " cicada " is a
loanword from Latin .
H 1025 ה ד
ק
י
צ
Concept of root : cicada
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Hebrew word
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pronunciation
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English meanings
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ה ד ק י צ
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tsiqada
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cicada
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Related English words
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cicada,
from Latin
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Comparison between European words and
Hebrew
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Languages
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Words
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Pronunciation
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English meanings
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Similarity in roots
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Hebrew
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ה ד ק י צ
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tsiqada
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cicada
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ts (i) q . d .
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Greek
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τεττιξ,
gen. τεττιγος
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tettix
, tettigos
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cicada
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t (i) k
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New Greek
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τζιτζικας
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tzitzikas
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cicada
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ts (i) k
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Latin
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cicada
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kikada
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cicada
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k ()i) k . d .
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Hebrew *TSIQADA --- *CICADA Latin
Obviously the first idea one has upon seeing this Hebrew word, is that it is a loanword, from a foreign language. And that is quite probable. But from which language ? Scholars say from Latin, that had "cicada" and later "cicala" . But the pronunciation in Latin was "kikada", so why would Hebrew have made "tsiqada" out of this ? German has "Zikade", pronounced "tsikade".
Scholars of Latin retain that the word "cicada ", like Greek "tettix" , must have been loaned from another Mediterranean language, that seems unspecified. So we left it in our list, though perhaps we should not have done so.
This similarity shows a couple of things. We know that Classic Latin pronounced the C as K, independent from its position in a word. The famous orator Cicero was Kikero . This is no wonder, as also the symbol, the Latin letter " C " is " the same as in Hebrew is used for the K-sound, the letter Kaph:
"כ" , with the difference that one is read from left to right and the other from right to left. That implies that in the direction of reading the two letters are fully identical.
In linguistic history both have tended to abandon their explosiveness in pronunciation. From K, in a number of positions , the C has become S, TS, TSH, TH etcetera, while the Hebrew
"כ" has become in many cases KH.
It is possible that the name of this wonderful insect has been inspired by its "song" that fills and often dominates the warm days of the Mediterranean .
Note:
- Latin also has the alterated version "cicala", that has continued into modern Italian.
Note:
- Greek, following its taste, has doubled the initial T of "tix", to get "tettix". In declension the K has become a G. Greek teaches that the third consonant we see in Latin and Hebrew is a later addition to the original root.
New Greek "tzitzikas" has been born under outside influences during the Middle Ages.
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| Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 04/01/2013 at 16.56.38 |
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