E 0328          FEGON

The Old Saxon verb " fegon " is of Germanic origin .

H 1034             ה ע י                    

Concept of root : sweeping

 Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ה ע י

ya‛à

to sweep, brush

Related English words

Old Saxon : fegon

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ה ע י

ya‛à

to sweep, brush

y . (‛) . <

w . (‛) .

Old Saxon

fegon

fégon

to sweep, brush

f . g

German

fegen

fégen

to sweep, brush

f . g

Dutch

vegen

véghen

to sweep, brush

f . gh

Middle Dutch

vagen, vegen

vaghen, véghen

to brush, sweep

v . g

 

 

Proto-Semitic *YA‛À < WA‛À --- *FĒG- Proto-Germanic

 

 

The intention one has with this action is that of cleaning, and some scholars give this as a specific meaning for the German words. Thus they say that "to make beautiful" is the basic idea of the root. They then further link them to Old English "fæger = beautiful" and "fagenian = to be glad ". The semantic link between sweeping a floor and happiness and beauty is too far and loose though .

 

As to the similarity we see the common fact of Hebrew Yod, that originally was a W, corresponding with a Germanic V or F. The second consonant of these two-consonant roots are both gutturals. The Hebrew Ayin, that European ears hear as an interruption in the pronunciation, is a guttural stop. Often it corresponds with an H in Indo European tongues. And an H may well develop into G or GH. There lies the basis of the hypothesis that these two roots, Hebrew and Germanic, with exactly the same message, also are of common origin.

 

Note:
  • Hebrew. Already in the Bible we find a related word : " י ע י ם, ya‛im ", that says "shoveling".

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic . The older version of this root is found in Arabic "wa‘a(y)". It presumably was present in Proto-Semitic with this original initial "Waw" : "* ו ע ה , W Ayin Hé (accentuated vowel)". It is uncertain if the version with initial "Yod" may have begun to develop in Proto-Semitic.

 

Note:
  • Middle Dutch "vagen" is also used to say "to purify". This is seen in the noun "vagevuur" that is " purgatory ". It may be at a junction of two words, as the part of " to purify, clean" without that of " to sweep" is seen in Old Icelandic "fāga" , whereas in Middle High German "vegen" both messages are present again. High German originates from the Southern part of Germany, and still today in the South the verb "fegen" of this entry is used more to say " to clean " than "to sweep" as in the North. This is a rare example of official German having come the Northern way in its choice.

 

Note:
  • Proto-Germanic . In the various languages of the Germanic group we find an initial consonant "F" with the usual exceptions where an initial "V" is seen: Middle Low German, Middle High German, Middle Dutch and Dutch. The vowel is "E" in these tongues as in Old Frisian, Old Saxon and also in Nordic. The root closes with a "G", that in Swedish "feja" and Norwegian and Danish "feie" has become a "Y"-sound. This is a very common development. In some languages we find also the vowel "A" used : Middle Dutch and south-western dialects of Dutch have "vaghen" as a verb besides "veghen". Proto-Germanic in all probability had an "E": "*F Ē G-".

     

    As has already been mentioned , there are also words in which the vowel is an "A" instead of "E", and that carry messages of beauty . Examples are Nordic "fager", Old English "fægr" and English "fair". These words may be related in origin, but probably the specific meaning "beauty" already in Proto-Germanic used a separate root with the vowel "A" : "*F Ā G-".

 

Note:
  • Indo-European. The available information does not point at possible cognates in other branches of Indo-European. The comparison remains between Semitic and Germanic.

 

 

 

 

 
Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 15/12/2012 at 12.37.58