E 0321          (TO)  FARE

The verb " to fare " is of Germanic origin .

H 1063           ד ר י                      

Concept of root : navigation

 Hebrew word

pronunciation

English meanings

ד ר י

yarad

to navigate

Related English words

to fare

Comparison between European words and Hebrew

Languages

Words

Pronunciation

English meanings

Similarity in roots

Hebrew

ד ר י

yarad

to navigate

y . r . d <

*w . r . d

Old English

faran

to travel, go

f . r

English

to fare

to fare

f . r

German

fahren

faren

to ride, navigate

f . r

Swedish

fara

fara

to travel, go

f . r

Middle Dutch

varen

varen

to travel, navigate

v . r

Dutch

varen

varen

to navigate

v . r

 

 

Proto-Semitic *YARAD < WARAD --- *FĀR- Proto-Germanic

 

 

In analysing this root in English and German, the idea has been that it stands for "to move on". Reason for this is that in German the word "fahren" is use for "riding " in or of cars , trains etcetera, on land, besides that of navigating on or of ships. This is confirmed in the Nordic tongues, like Swedish "fara" that covers many ways of "moving forward, - on".

 

The odd thing is that Biblical Hebrew and Modern Dutch use this root specifically for the travelling or going by ship . Hebrew does so in Psalm 107:23.

 

There remains the fact that, on account of the great number of different meanings served by roots beginning with " W + R", diversification was useful if not rightaway necessary. This was commonly done by the adding of one or more consonants. Hebrew added a D at the end, as third consonant.

 

Note:
  • Hebrew. One must compare this entry with number E 0979 (Hebrew 1062), that has an identical root : " Y . R . D " > " *W . R . D ", used thus to express both "to go down" and "to navigate". This last meaning is found in Psalm 107:23 , but it is not generally referred to as such in dictionaries.

     

    Modern Hebrew language uses quite different roots to express the ideas of travelling and navigation as well as air-travel. Those also find their kinships in Indo European.

 

Note:
  • Proto-Semitic. We refer to our Note in entry E 0979 (Hebrew 1062):, referring to the meaning "to go down, descend". It is quite possible that the meaning "to navigate" is served by the same root, not just an identical one. Proto-Semitic is seen as having had the root "* ו ר ד , W R D ", from which Hebrew " י ר ד , Y R D " was developed. This is obvious , as the " W R D " has continued into Ethiopian and Arabic "warada = he descended, went down" . Ugaritic had the same "Y R D" we see in Hebrew . This meaqns that the newer root may have begun to appear already in Proto-Semitic: "* י ר ד , Y R D"." The Note continues with : "A special case is , as is seen more times but not always, in Akkadian, that has neither " W " nor " Y " , but just "arādu". Does this mean that an older root without the neutral prefix "W" has existed ? Or that Akkadian in some way abolished an existing prefix? Riddles never end it seems." This may not apply to the meaning of "to navigate".
.

 

Note:
  • English has specialized the meanings of the verb " to fare", starting already in Middle English with adding meanings more like those actually expressed today. This was probably made possible by the introduction of Latin roots for the original meanings of moving overland and the growing importance of the verb "to sail" for traveling by ship.

 

Note:
  • Proto-Germanic. Older languages give a clear picture: Gothic, Old Saxon, Old North Franconian, Old English and Old High German "faran", Old Norse "fara". Proto-Germanic probably had "*F Ā R-".

 

Note:
  • Indo-European. There are words outside Germanic that have been proposed as cognates: Latin "portus = port", Greek "peran = on the other side" and "poros = ford", Old Church Slavonic "pariti = to fly", Armenian "hordan = to go away" and Old Indian "pārayati = he conveys". The test of semantics excludes them all. Some of the concepts are found in our entries E 0331 ferry (Hebrew 0105), E 0345 ford (Hebrew 0106) and E 0629 ofer OE (Hebrew 0108).

     

    The comparison remains between Semitic and Germanic.

 

 

 

 

 
Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 17/12/2012 at 17.43.29