E 1024          (TO)  YELL

The verb " to yell " is of Germanic origin .

H 1051           ל ל י                      

Concept of root : to yell

 Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ל ל י

yillèl

to yell

Related English words

to yell

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ל ל י

yillèl

to yell

y . l . l <

* y . l

Greek

ολολυζω

ololüzo

to yell

(o) l (o) l .

Latin

ululare

ululare

to yell

(u) l (u) l

English

to yell; to wail

to yell;

to wail

y . l ;

w . l

 

 

Proto-Semitic *YALAL < *WAL --- *WĀL- Proto-Germanic < *WĀL- Indo-European

 

 

Straightforward and easy this similarity between English and Hebrew. It would be difficult to exclude a common origin.

 

 

Note:
  • Hebrew. Looking back at entry E 1023 (Hebrew 0388), one sees another root with a well comparable meaning. That root is "G Y L" and is related with "Y L L" of this entry. "Y L L" has the L doubled, but the exact relationsship with "G Y L" is hard to define. Both have cognates in Germanic. "Y L L" very probably came from "* Y . L". And this may have had origin in a root "*W . L", that would perhaps recall rightaway English "to wail".

     

    Then both have very clear similarities with Germanic words: "Y L L" with English "YELL" and "G Y L " with Dutch "G I L-LEN". But it is difficult to reconstruct a common origin for both Hebrew or Semitic roots.

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic . We see a doubled older form in Arabic "alwala = he wailed" and cognates in Egyptian Aramaic " ה י ל ל, hilèl and Syriac " א י ל ל, ayelèl" that both have the same meaning. The probable original Proto-Semitic root may have been with a not yet doubled "L": "* ו ל , W . L", already partially substituted by "* י ל , Y L". But the doubling of the "L" may also have begun in Proto-Semitic.

 

Note:
  • Old English and Hebrew. The striking thing is that in entry E 1023 (Hebrew 0388) there are Old English and Middle Dutch words with roots that correspond with that other Hebrew one: G Y L . This provokes questions about how and when the two groups of languages split . Questions that have no easy answer.

 

Note:
  • Greek and Latin are considered related and onomatopoeic. One should always be careful with the statement of "onomatopoeic". Different languages can give quite different so-called sound-imitating words for one and the same sound. Here both words have doubled their root.

     

    Anyhow their meaning is the same as that of Hebrew "yillèl". And "yillèl" presumably is a derivation of an older form with initial W, like "*W L L" or "*W . L". This explains the initial O and U in Greek and Latin, as a W often can develop into such a vowel. But there is no other clear indication for that.

 

Note:
  • Greek besides "ololüzo" also has "alalazo" and "elelezo". One wonders if they are all fully onomatopeic, then with a fine distinction, as "alalazo" is linked to the voicing in battle, "elelizo" mostly refers to a loud use of the voice in sadness , but also to the slightly melancholy singing of a nightingale , while "ololüzo " is the nearest to "to yell" , about yelling with high or sharp sounds.

 

Note:
  • English "to wail" comes into the picture because there has been an initial " W " a long time ago also for Greek, Latin and Hebrew. And the overall picture of all this voicing would become still more complicated, and push nearer to our times the separation between Hebrew and Indo-European or , perhaps in a revolutionary hypothesis, some groups of Indo European.

 

Note:
  • Proto-Germanic We refer to E 1023 (Hebrew 0388) as to the word "YELL": Most Germanic languages have abandoned this root that is still seen in English and Dutch. The table shows some older words that have gone out of use. Proto-Germanic probably had a form "*G I L-, though it also may have been "*G E L-.

     

    For "WAIL we see in older Germanic words the following. Old Norse had "væla". Old English "wālic = lamentable". Middle English "weile = wail". Possibly Proto-Germanic had a form "*W Ā L-.

 

Note:
  • Indo-European The Greek and Latin words are explained simply by calling them sound-imitating. But there is more to it. Their doubled first parts, "OLOL < OL" and "ULUL < UL" correspond with an older "waw", a sound from the group "V _ W _ U _ O", that exchanges its components according to the position in a word, both in Semitic and in Indo-European languages. This means that they may have a common origin with Proto-Germanic "*WĀL-" in an Indo-European form similar to the Germanic one : "*W Ā L-.

 

 

 

 

 
Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 16/12/2012 at 12.21.50