|
To prove how the primary general sense of a word may ramify into different senses, by special appropriation of the word among separate families of men proceeding from the same stock, let us observe the different senses in which leap is used by the English, and by the nations on the continent. In English, to leap is simply to spring; as, to leap a yard; to leap over a fence. But on the continent it signifies to run. Now it will be seen that this word as used by the Germans, can not always be translated by itself, that is, by the same word, into English. Take for illustration the following passage from Luther’s Version of the Scriptures: 1 Sam. xvii. 17. “Nimm für deine brüder diese epha sangen, und diese zehen brod, und lauf ins heer zu deinen brüdern;” “Take now for thy brethren an ephah of this parched corn, and these ten loaves, and leap to the camp of thy brethren.” Leap, instead of run, is good German, but bad English.13 There are two other words in this passage, of which a like remark may be made. The German brod, loaves, is our bread, which admits of no plural; and sangen is our singed, which we can not apply to parched corn.
So in some of the Teutonic languages, to warp kittens or puppies, to warp eggs, is correct language, though to our ears very odd; but this is only a particular application of the primary sense, to throw. We say to lay eggs, but to lay is to throw down.
By this comparison of the different uses and applications of a word, we are able, in most cases, to detect its original signification. And it is by this means, I apprehend, that we may arrive at a satisfactory explanation of the manner in which the same word came to have different and even opposite significations.
It is well known, for example, that the Hebrew word ברך borak, is rendered, in our version of the Scriptures, both to bless and to curse. The propriety of the latter rendering is controverted by Parkhurst, who labors to prove, that in Kings and in Job, where it is rendered to curse, it ought to be rendered to bless; and he cites, as authorities, the ancient versions. It is true that in 1 Kings xxi. 10, 13; and in Job i. 11, and ii. 5, the Seventy have rendered the word by ευλογεω, to bless; and other ancient versions agree with the Septuagint. But let the word be rendered by bless in the following passages : “Put forth thy hand now, and touch his bone, and his flesh, and he will bless thee to thy face.” “Bless God and die.” How very absurd does such a translation appear! It shows the immense importance of understanding the true theory of language, and the primary sense of radical words. Let us then endeavor to discover, if possible, the source of the difficulty in the case here mentioned. To be enabled to arrive at the primary sense, let us examine the word in the several languages, first of the Shemitic, and then of the Japhetic stock.
Heb. ברך, to bless; to salute, or wish a blessing to.
2. To curse; to blaspheme.
3. To couch or bend the knee, to kneel.
Deriv. A blessing, and the knee.
Chaldee, ברך, to bless; to salute at meeting, and to bid farewell at parting.
2. To bend the knee.
3. To dig; to plow; to set slips of a vine or plant for propagation. — Talm. and Rabbin.
Deriv. The knee; a blessing; a cursing; a cion; the young of fowls.
Syriac, ܒܪܒ to fall on the knees; to fall or bow down. Judg. v. 27.
2. To issue or proceed from. Math. xv. 19.
3. To bless.
Samaritan, krb, to bless.
Ethiopic, በረከ, to bless. Deriv. the knee.
Arabic, بَرَكَ baraka, to bend the knee; to fall on the breast, as a camel.
2. To be firm, or fixed.
3. To rain violently; to pour forth rain, as the clouds. Gr. βρεχω.
4. To detract from; to traduce; to reproach or pursue with reproaches; to revile.
5. To bless; to pray for a blessing on, to prosper; to be blessed.
6. To hasten; to rush, as on an enemy; to assail.
Deriv. The breast; the basin of a fountain: a fish-pond, or receptacle of water, as in Heb. and Ch.; also increase; abundance; constancy; splendor; a flash of light.
In the latter sense, usually from بَرَقَ, Heb. and Ch. ברק baraka.
The Arabic word supplies us with the certain means of determining the radical sense; for among other significations, it has the sense of pouring forth rain; and this is precisely the Greek βρεχω. The primary sense then is to send, throw, or drive, in a transitive sense; or in an intransitive sense, to rush, to break forth.
To bless and to curse have the same radical sense, which is, to send or pour out words, to drive or to strain out the voice, precisely as in the Latin appello, from pello, whence peal, as of thunder or of a bell. The two senses spring from the appropriation of loud words to express particular acts. This depends on usage, like all other particular applications of one general signification. The sense in Scripture is to utter words either in a good or bad sense; to bless, to salute; or to rail, to scold, to reproach; and this very word is probably the root of reproach, as it certainly is of the Latin precor, used, like the Shemitic word, in both senses, praying and cursing, or deprecating.14 It is also the same word as the English pray, It. pregare, L. precor, the same as preach, D. preeken, W. pregethu. To the same family belong the Gr. βραχω, βρυχω, βρυχαομαι, to bray, to roar, to low, Lat. rugio. Here we see that bray is the same word, applied to the voice of the ass and to breaking in a mortar, and both are radically the same word as break.
The sense of kneeling, if radical, is to throw, and if from the noun, the sense of the noun is a throwing, a bending.
The Chaldee sense of digging, if radical, is from thrusting in an instrument, or breaking the ground; but perhaps it is a sense derived from the name of a shoot or cion, and in reality, to set a shoot, to plant.
The Syriac use of this word in Matth. xv. 19, is intransitive, to issue, to shoot, or break forth. So in Arabic, to rush on, to assault. The sense of firmness in Arabic is from setting, throwing down, as in kneeling; and hence the sense of breast, the fixed, firm part.
That this word has the sense both of blessing and of cursing, or reproaching, we have demonstrative evidence in the Welsh language. Rhêg, in Welsh, is ברך, without the prefix. It signifies a sending out; utterance; a gift or present; a consigning; a ban, a curse or imprecation. Rhegu, to give; to consign; to curse. From rhêg is formed preg, a greeting, or salutation, [the very Hebrew and Chaldee word,] pregeth, a sermon, and pregethu, to preach. Here we have not only the origin of preach, but another important fact, that preg, and of course ברך, is a compound word, composed of a prefix, p or b, and rhêg. But this is not all; the Welsh greg, a cackling, gregar, to cackle, is formed with the prefix g on this same rhêg. [Dan. krage, a crow.]
In Welsh, bregu signifies to break; brêg, a breach, a rupture. This Owen deduces from bar, but no doubt erroneously. It is from rhegu, and there is some reason to think that break is from ברך, rather than from פרק. but probably both are from one radix, with different prefixes.
We observe one prominent sense of the Arabic بَرَكَ baraka, is to rain violently; to pour forth water, as clouds. This is precisely the Greek βρεχω; a word found in all the Teutonic and Gothic languages, but written either with or without its prefix.
Saxon, rægn or regn, rain; regnan, to rain.
Dutch, regen, rain; regenen, beregenen, to rain upon.
German, regen, rain; regnen, to rain; beregnen, to rain on.
Swedish, regna, to rain.
Danish, regn, rain; regner, to rain.
Saxon, racu, rain; Cimbric, rækia, id.
Here we find that the English rain, is from the same root as the Welsh rhêg, rhegu, and the Shemitic ברך.
Pursuing the inquiry further, we find that the Saxon recan, or reccan, [W. rhegu,] signifies to speak, to tell, to relate, to reckon, the primary sense of which last is to speak or tell; also to rule, which shows this to be the Latin rego; also to care, which is the English reck. That this is the same word as rain, we know from the Danish, in which language regner signifies both to rain and to reckon, to tell, to count or compute. In the German, the words are written a little differently; rechnen, to reckon, and regnen, to rain. So in Dutch, reckenen and regenen; but this is a fact by no means uncommon.
Here we find that the English reckon and reck, and the Latin rego, are the same word. The primary sense is to strain, to reach, to stretch. Care, is a stretching of the mind; like attention, from the Latin tendo, and restraint is the radical sense of governing. Hence rectus, right, that is, straight, stretched.
Hence we find that rain and the Latin regnum, reign, are radically the same word.
Now in Saxon racan, or ræcan, is the English reach, to stretch or extend, from the same root, and probably reek, Saxon recan, reocan, to fume or smoke; for this to send off.
I might have mentioned before, that the Chaldee בריכה, a cion or branch, is precisely the Celtic word for arm; Irish braic, or raigh; Welsh braiç; whence the Greek , the Latin brachium, whence the Spanish brazo, whence the French bras, whence the English brace. The arm is a shoot, a branch, and branch is from this root or one of the family, n being casual; branch for brach.
On this word let it be further observed, or on פרקor ברק, if radically different, are formed, with the prefix s, the German sprechen, to speak, sprache, speech; Dutch
sprecken, spraak; Swedish språka, språk; Danish sprog, speech; and Swedish spricka, to break; Danish sprekker. The same word with n casual is seen in spring, the breaking or opening of the winter; and here we see the origin of the marine phrase, to spring a mast, Danish springer, to burst, crack or spring. This to Swedish is written without n, spricka, to break, burst, split; but a noun of this family has h, springa, a crack, and spring, a spring, a running.
Now let us attend to other Shemitic words consisting of cognate elements.
Chaldee, פרך frak, to rub or scrape; to rub out or tread out, as grain from the ear or sheaf; Latin frico, frio.
2. To collect and bind, as sheaves; perhaps English, to rake.
3. To break or break down.
4. To question; to doubt. In Saxon and Gothic frægnan, fragan, signifies to ask.
Deriv. Froward; perverse. Prov. ii. 12. So in English refractory.
This verb is not in the Hebrew; but there are two derivatives, one signifying the inner vail of the temple; so called probably from its use in breaking, that is, interrupting access, or separation, like diaphragm in English. The other derivative is rendered rigor, or cruelty; that which strains, oppresses, breaks down, or rakes, harasses.
With this verb coincides the Irish bracaim, to break, to harrow, that is, to rake.
Syr. ܦܪܒ, to rub, so rendered, Luke vi. 1. Lat. frico. A derivative signifies to comminute.
Deriv. Distortion; winding; twisting. Let this be noted.
Ar. فَرَكَ fraka, to rub, Lat. frico.
2. To hate, as a husband or wife; to be languid, or relaxed.
Deriv. Laxity; frangibility; friability.
Heb. פרק, to break, burst, or rend; to break off; to separate.
Deriv. A breaking or parting of a road.
Ch. פרק, to break.
2. To redeem, that is to free, separate or deliver.
3. To explain, as a doubtful question.
Deriv. One who ransoms or delivers; a rupture; the neck or its juncture; a joint of the fingers, &c.; the ankle; the joint of a reed; a chapter or section of a book; explanation; exposition. פרוק, a rupture, coinciding with the English broke.
Syr. ܦܪܒ, to redeem.
2. To depart; to remove; to separate.
Deriv. A recess, or withdrawing; separation; liberation; redemption; safety; vertebra.
Sam. The same as the Syriac verb.
Ar. فَرَقَ faraka, to separate; to divide; to withdraw; to disperse; [qu. Lat. spargo,] to lay open; to disclose; to cast out; to immerse.
Deriv. Separation; distinction; distance; interval; dispersion; aurora, as we say, the break of day; also, a garment reaching to the middle of the thigh, qu. frock; also breech.
I have placed these two words together, because I am convinced they are both of one family, or formed on the same radical word. The latter coincides exactly with the Latin frango, fregi, fractum, for n in frango is undoubtedly casual. Now in Welsh bregu, to break, would seem to be directly connected with ברך, yet doubtless bregu is the. English break, the German brechen, the Dutch breeken, &c.; In truth, the three words ברך, פרך and פרק, are probably all from one primitive root, formed with different prefixes, or rather with the same prefix differently written; the different words bearing appropriate senses, among different tribes of men.
We observe in the Chaldee word the sense of questioning. Perhaps this may be the Gothic fragan, to ask, and if so, it coincides with the Latin rago, the latter without the prefix. In the sense of break, we find, in the Greek, ρηγνυω, without a prefix.
Most of the significations of these verbs are too obvious to need illustration. But we find in the Syriac the sense of distortion, a sense which at first appears to be remote from that of breaking or bursting asunder. But this is probably the primary sense, to strain, to stretch, a sense we retain in the phrase, to break upon the wheel; and by dropping the prefix, we have the precise word in the verb, to rack.
Now if this is the genuine sense, we find it gives the English wreck and wrack, the Danish vrag, Sw. vrak, a wreck. In Saxon, wræcan, wrecan, is the English wreak, that is, to drive, or throw on; wrace, is an exile, a wretch. In Dan. vrager signifies to reject; Sw. vråka, to throw away; all implying a driving force, and that wreck is connected with break, is probable for another reason, that the Latin fractus, frango, forms a constituent part of naufragium, the English shipwreck, which in Danish is simply vrag.
Now if straining, distortion, is one of the senses of this root, the English wring, wrong, Danish vrang, Sw. vrång, may be deduced from it, for undoubtedly n is not radical in these words. The Dutch has wringen, but the German drops the first letter and has ringen, both to twist or wind, and to ring or sound; the latter sense from straining or throwing, as in other cases. Without n, wring would be wrig, and wrong, wrog; wrang, wrag, Dan. vrag.
In Greek, ρηγος is a blanket or coverlet, and connected with ρηγνυμι; that is, a spread, from stretching, or throwing over.
We find also among the Chaldee derivatives the sense of a neck, and a joint. Now we find this word in Irish, braigh, the neck; in Greek, without the prefix, ραχις, the spine of the back; Saxon, hracca; English, the rack and, from the Greek, the rickets, from distortion.
Coinciding with the Greek ρηγνυω, to break, we find in Welsh rhwgaw, to rend; and coinciding with ραχια, a rock, a crag, Welsh craig, and connected with these, the Saxon hracod, English ragged, that is, broken; evidently the participle of a verb of this family.
Hence we find the senses of distortion and breaking connected in this root, in a great variety of instances.
The Shemitic ברק, to lighten, to shine or flash, is one of this family. The sense is, to shoot or dart, to throw, as in all like cases. And under this root, the Arabic has the sense, to adorn, as a female; to make bright or shining; which gives the English prank and prink, D. pragt, G. pracht. Prance is of the same family, from leaping, starting, darting up.
In Greek βραχυς, short, stands in the Lexicons as a primary word or root. But this is from the root of break, which is lost in Greek, unless in ρηγνυμι, without the prefix. From βραχυς, or the root of this word, the French language has abreger, to abridge; and what is less obvious, but equally certain, is, that from the same root the Latin has brevis, by sinking the palatal letter, as we do in bow, from bugan, and in lay, from lecgan; so that abridge and abbreviate, brief, are from one root.
It should have been before mentioned that the Latin refragor signifies to resist, to strive against, to deny, whence refractory; a sense that demonstrates the primary sense to be, to strain, urge, press; and refraction, in optics, is a breaking of the direct course of rays of light by turning them; a sense coinciding with that of distortion.
We see then that one predominant sense of break, is, to strain, to distort. Let us now examine some of the biliteral roots in rg and rk, which, if b is a prefix, must be the primary elements of all the words above mentioned.
Ch. רגג rag, ragag, to desire, to long for. This is the Greek ορεγω, and English to reach; for desire is expressed by reaching forward, stretching the mind toward the object.
So in Latin appeto and expeto, from peto, to move toward. This coincides nearly with the Latin rogo, to ask, and the Goth. fragnan, Sax. frægnan.
Syr. ܪܔ, to desire; and with olaph prefixed, ܐܪܔ, to desire, or long; also to wet, or moisten; also ܪܔܐ, to moisten — Latin rigo, irrigo, to irrigate.
Deriv. Tender, soft, fresh, from moisture or greenness. Qu. Lat. recens, a derivative.
Here desire and irrigation are both from one root; desire is a reaching forward, and irrigation is a spreading of water.
This root, in Hebrew ארג, signifies to weave, or connect as in texture and net-work; but the primary sense is to stretch or strain.
In Arabic, the same verb أَرِجَ signifies to emit an agreeable smell; to breathe fragrance; radically, to throw or send out; to eject; a mere modification of the same sense. This is the Latin fragro, whence fragrant, with a prefix; but according exactly with the English reek.
ארך in Ch. Heb. Syr. and Sam., signifies to prolong, to extend. In Ar. as in Heb. in Hiph. to delay, or retard; that is, to draw out in time.
רגע in Heb. has been differently interpreted; indeed, it has been rendered by words of directly contrary signification. The more modern interpreters, says Castle, render it, to split, divide, separate, or break; the ancient interpreters rendered it, to stiffen, to make rigid or rough, to wrinkle or corrugate. Castle and Parkhurst, however, agree in rendering it, in some passages, to quiet, still, allay. Jer. xlvii. 6, l. 34. In Job vii. 5, our translators have rendered it broken, “My skin is broken,” [rough, or rigid.] In Job xxvi. 12, it is rendered by divide, “He divideth the sea by his power.” In Venderhooght’s Bible it is in this place rendered by commovet, he agitates the sea. The Seventy render it by κατεπαυσε, he stilled; and this is the sense which Parkhurst gives it.
In Isaiah li. 15, and Jer. xxxi. 35, it is rendered in our version by divide. “But I am the Lord thy God, that divided the sea, whose waves roared.”
In Vanderhooght’s Bible it is rendered in Isaiah li. 15, “I am Jehovah thy God, qui commovens mare, ut perstrepant fluctus ejus.” In Jer. xxxi. 35, “commovens mare, ut tumultuentur fluctus” — agitating or moving the sea, that the waves roar, or may roar. The passage in Isaiah is rendered by the Seventy, οτι ο Θεος σου, ο ταρασσων την θαλασσαν, και ηχων τα χθματα αθτης, “agitating the sea, and causing its waves to roar and resound.” In the French translation, the passage in Isaiah is, “qui fend la mer, et ses flots bruient:” [I] who divide the sea, and the waves roar. In Jeremiah the passage is, “qui agite la mer, et les flots en bruient:” who agitates the sea, and therefore the waves roar. In Italian, the passage in Isaiah is rendered,” che muovo il mare, e le sue onde romoreggiano.” In Jeremiah, “che commuove il mare, onde le sue onde romoreggiano:” who moveth the sea, wherefore its waves roar, or become tumultuous.
These different renderings show the importance of understanding the literal or primary sense of words; for whatever may be the real sense in the passages above mentioned, it can not be to divide. If we are to give to vau in the following word, its usual sense of and, it is
difficult to make sense of the word רגע, by translating it, he stilleth: He stilleth the sea and its waves are tumultuous, or He stilleth the sea that the waves may roar or be agitated! This will not answer. The more rational version would be, He roughens the sea, and its waters roar; or he drives, impels it into agitation. In Ethiopic, the same word signifies to coagulate, to freeze, to become rigid; and this is undoubtedly the Latin rigeo, and with a prefix frigeo, and this signification is perhaps allied to the Lat. rugo, to wrinkle; for as a general rule, the radical sense of wrinkle is to draw, as in contract, contraho, and this seems to be the sense of rigeo. Both these words are allied to rough, which is from breaking or wrinkling. This sense would perhaps well suit the context in these two passages, as it would also that in Job vii. 5: My skin is rough. |