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E 0097 BIZARRE
The word " bizarre " is a
loanword from French .
H 1080 ר ז ו מ ; ר ז
Concept of root : strange
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Hebrew word
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pronunciation
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English meanings
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ר ז ו מ
; ר ז
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zar
; muzar
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strange
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Related English words
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bizarre
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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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ר ז ו מ
; ר ז
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zar;
muzar
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strange ;
bizarre
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z . r
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Italian
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bizzarro
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bizzarro
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bizarre
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b . z . r
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English
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bizarre
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bizarre
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b . z . r
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Hebrew ZAR < Proto-Semitic *ZOR --- *BIZARRE Italian, Spanish
The English word "bizarre" has been loaned from French, maintaining its meaning. But there ends all certainty about its etymology. Nothing clear or convincing has been found. Perhaps the most well-known effort goes as follows :
The French upon coming in contact with the Spaniards, found these to have odd and strange ways of behaviour. One of their aspects was that of the long beards they used to wear. Therefore the French called the Spaniards "beards". And naturally they did not use the French word "Barbes" or the Spanish one "Barbas", but instead chose the Basque word for beard, that is " bizarra ". Later this noun became an adjective. The story does not say how this came about, nor why this so important nickname for "Spaniard" was lost. Anyhow, when should all this have taken place ? It is a bit too improbable. Moreover the word "bizarro", that is Italian as well, was already used by Dante.
Another fact is that also Spanish uses this word, but with quite a different meaning. Bizarro south of the Pyrenees says " courageous, brave, noble ". Again this would be from Basque, the same word " bizarra " but here with a quite different message of valorousness . Well, the Hebrew root for "beard", "Z Q N", also is used to say "old". Old men have or had anyway more often beards and wore them longer than young men. But that bearded Basques were more valorous than others ?
The British, French and Italian meanings of the word form a solid old line and one better leaves out the different road Spanish followed or came from. And then we find this form of similarity with Hebrew.
With our hypothesis of possible common origin with Hebrew we do not either have a very solid basis. But the possibility is too good to leave it out of this list.
Note:
- Hebrew. The root "Z . R" and the word "zar" mean "strange, foreign " and are consequently used to say "unusual, amazing, unallowed ", all this already in Biblical times . The other word, "muzar" is a participle verb "huzar ", that has nothing to do with a "hussar", but would have meant " to be made strange". This fits the message of "bizarre". This verb is based on the root and verb " ז ו ר , Z W R, zur = to become) a stranger", mentioned in the following note on Proto-Semitic.
Note:
- Proto-Semitic . The root of this entry is related to older " ז ו ר , Z W R", that has two meanings " to be(come) a stranger " and " to turn aside". This root is also found in Aramaic, be it for the second meaning. But in Arabic "zara" we find the meanings of " he visited" and " he was inclined toward". Perhaps there were two identical roots with different meanings. Anyhow probably Proto-Semitic used the root " * ז ו ר , Z W R " to express the concept of " to be a stranger, visitor".
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| Created: Tuesday 6 November 2007 at 22.30.54 Updated: 20/12/2012 at 11.55.50 |
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