by John Hemingway (August 2024)
Part 2 - Etymology of Gothic athahan
In Biblical Hebrew (BH), verbs can express different meanings by different verb stem formations. In the basic stem Qal, the verb yaqa`means ‘to be dislocated.’ In the Hiph`il verb stem, the meaning is ‘to cause to hang.’ Pronounced as howqa`, this verb carries the prefix h-, which signifies the causative action of a verb and replaces initial yod (/y/). It is found in three instances [1]. There is also one instance in Hoph`al, a passive of Hiph`il [2]. BH howqa` contains the emphatic qoph (/q/) as well as the guttural ayin (/`/). These sounds are unique to Semitic languages and are often lost in non-Semitic speaking areas, so howqa`, in theory, would pass into Germanic with only the pronounceable consonant, that is, /h/.
This second part of a three-part series begins with Gothic hahan as the initial focus of attention. Also, it provides an introductory context for the Old English (OE) and Old Icelandic (Olc) cognates since they offer evidence of Semitic patterns of sound changes which give weight to the Semitic origin of hahan.
The Germanic Context: adaption of howqa`
Gothic employs reduplication of the syllable /ha/ to form hahan ‘to make hang’ [3] with /h/ as the only surviving consonant of BH howqa`. This technique effectually lengthened the word to compensate for the loss of the Semitic sounds qoph and ayin. Since the Hebrew etymon is causative in meaning, Gothic hahan is considered the primary (or base) form with an underlying causative meaning. This premise may be assumed of other Germanic cognates. In BH and Aramaic words, the vowel /a/ commonly comes after initial he /h/, and Gothic hahan follows suit.
The Gothic Bible has five instances of hahan, consisting of three verbs and two participles. Only two are in the base form, yet remarkably they are also idiomatic in meaning. In first example below, the Greek text hahis expresses the meaning of Greek aireis “hold in suspense,”equivalent to that of ‘‘make us hang in suspense.” In the second example, Gothic uses hahaida, a past participle, to translate Greek exekremato auto “were hanging on His [words].”
John 10:24: Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.
Luke 19:48: And could not find what they might do: for all the people were very attentive to hear him.
Two other instances are prefixed with at- and are literal in meaning. The first instance involves the active sense of hahan ‘to hang down, to let down,’ while the second instance expresses it in the passive voice. In the remaining instance, the prefix us- is obviously reflexive. The following passages show how the prefixed forms of hahan are used in Gothic.
Luke 5:4: Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down (athahid) your nets for a draught.
2 Corinthians 11:33: And through a window in a basket was I let down (athahans) by the wall, and escaped his hands.
Matthew 27:5: And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged (ushaihah) himself.
In comparison, OE has two synonym-like words, one of which preserves only the consonant /h/ (not counting the infinitive suffix -n or -an): hon ‘to hang, suspend, crucify’ and the second of which uses the guttural /ng/ in the place of ayin: hangian ‘to hang, to be hanged.’ According to Skeat, hōnis a contraction of hahan or hanhan [4]. However, hōn may be the original form without having ever resorted to reduplication. It is suggested that OE preserves the traces of final ayin /`/ in howqa`, shown as /ng/ in the preterite tense in the following OE verb conjugation of hōn:
Present Preterite
1st singular hō hēnge
2nd singular hō hēnge
3rd singular hō hēnge
1st singular hōn hēngen
2nd singular hōn hēngen
3rd singular hōn hēngen
In ancient Greek and Latin texts, ayin was transliterated as /g/ (e.g. Gomorrah for `Amorah)or elided altogether. However, in OE, this guttural sound is pronounced /ng/ as a velar nasal in the final position [5]. This pronunciation presents the OE substitution of ayin inthe preterite tense of hōn. On the other hand, the verb conjugation of hōn does not show evidence of the Semitic qoph, suggesting that it was selectively elided.
In the latter case, Olc follows suit: hanga ‘to hang, be suspended; to be hanged’ [6]. Also, Olc has an alternative form: hekk. Unlike its OE counterpart hangian, this wordretains the vestige of qoph since the sound was often transliterated to /k/ in Indo-European speech [7]. hekk, conjugated in the preterite indicative form, evinces the Olc selective substitution of qoph, whereas the present indicative hanga carries the substitution for ayin. Olc spring and sprakk and sting and stakk follow the identical verb paradigm. These Olc verbs epitomize the substitution of qoph and ayin making the words pronounceable in Germanic.
On an incidental note, Gothic ushahan appears only once in Matthew 27:5, where Greek apagchó ‘to strangle, hang oneself’ translates to ‘hanged himself’ in the Gothic text [8]. Whereas the Greek word itself is reflexive, the Gothic translator renders it to ushahan sik (the second word being a reflexive pronoun). In Gothic verbs, sometimes the prefix us- is reflexive in meaning [9]. It is not difficult to see why the translator would choose the prefix us- instead of at- in order to achieve the reflexive sense, although ushahan is causative in meaning, as well.
The Germanic Context: substitution of Semitic qoph and ayin
Gothic sigqan ‘to sink’ and its Germanic cognates present the closest possible phonological analogy that attests to the Germanic substitution of Semitic qoph and ayin. The origin of this word is BH shaqa` ‘sink, sink down,’ from which the vestige of Semitic qoph is peculiarly preserved as /q/ in the Gothic word.
The Germanic cognates of sigqan demonstrates how OE and Olc took different approaches adapting BH shaqa`.Compare OE sægan ‘to cause to sink, settle: cause to fall’ and Olc sîgan‘to sink, set (of the sun), decline.’ Both these verbs both have a long preceding vowel which prevents the medial g from doubling. They exhibit final /g/ as the result of rendering ayin as /g/ and ignore Semitic qoph altogether, though in theory, it could have been rendered /ng/.
Consider OE sencan, sincan ‘to sink, plunge (in water), submerge, drown’(cf.Old Saxon sinkan, be-senkian andOld High German sencan, sinchan). They betray the former presence of gemination which traces to the earlier rendition of qoph to /c/, before doubling to /cc/ and then dissimilating to /nc/ after the Aramaic manner. This pronunciation disregards ayin. Note that Semitic shin as in shaqa` was pronounced as /s/ or /sk/ in early Old English and only later did it begin to be generally uttered as /sh/ as we know it today [10].
Old Icelandic also employs doubling of consonants, probably a late development, since it involves the Germanic sound shift of /g/ to /k/. For example, søkkva‘to sink, make to sink’reflects the geminated forms through its full verb conjugation paradigm. Compare its counterpart siga ‘to sink gently down, to let oneself sink’ which follows the pattern of final /g/ in the presumed place of ayin.
Discussion
The etymological basis of Gothic hahan is BH howqa`, the Hiph`il form of yaqa` ‘to hang’ [11].The Gothic, Old English, and Old Icelandic paradigms of verb conjugation show how howqa`underwent different change processes in the Germanic languages. The Gothic form is a reduplication of the only the surviving pronounceable Semitic consonant /h/, becoming hahan as the result of reduplication (hence ha + ha + the Gothic infinitive ending -an). In comparison, OE hon is the simpler form of OE hangian, an intransitive, which reflects the former ayin as /ng/, and Olc hekk preserves the former qoph as /k/.
OE sægan, sîgan, and sencan, sincan and other Germanic cognates demonstrate a remarkable lexical affinity, despite the conspicuous differences in form. They establish a tenable pattern of evidence that Semitic ayin and qoph were adapted into pronounceable forms in Germanic. Importantly, they give credence to BH howqa` as the ultimate source of hang on the basis that it bears the phonologically identical sounds (qoph and ayin) that BH shaqa` shares. As a comparative lexical template, these words offer a venue to gain new and potential insights into Germanic selective adaption of Semitic gutturals and emphatics into Germanic words.
Most strikingly, the fact that Aramaic does not have the BH form yq` entails that the origin of hahan could only trace to Hebrew-speaking people or their descendants, in spite of the predominant Aramaic influence. As the lingua franca of the region and linguistically akin to Hebrew, Aramaic provided the most favourable environment to extend the preservation of the Hebrew language. The Ancient Near East was not the consummate melting pot of languages and cultures as presumed. The evidence of hahan and its apparent BH origin is another example that militates against the cultural assimilation argument.
Endnotes
[1] 2 Samuel 21:6, 9; Numbers 25:4. Though it is Gibeonites who performed the direct action against the male offspring of Saul in 2 Samuel 21:9, Hiph`il denotes the resultative action ‘to hang.’
[2] 2 Samuel 21:13.
[3] Rajki, András. “Gothic Dictionary with etymologies,” 2004. Online: https://www.academia.edu/12787999/Gothic_Etymological_Dictionary.
[4] Skeat, Walter. An Etymological Dictionary of the English language. Oxford: Clarendon, 1888, 254. Note that hon is the infinitive form.
[5a] Alternatively, ayin was first pronounced /g/ before phonological conditions resulted in its gemination (the doubling of the medial consonant). Subsequently, it dissimilated as /ng/ after the Aramaic manner. This phenomenon would explain why /ng/ is never found in the initial position in English words, as gemination occurs medially in the Semitic words.
[5b] Blodgett notes, “het [x] seems to compare with ng in the forms brenga Old Frisian, brengan Anglo-Saxon, and brengjan Old Saxon.” Blodgett, Terry M. “Phonological Similarities in Germanic and Hebrew.” PhD diss., The University of Utah, 1981, 75-76.
[5c] In Hebrew, heth is an unvoiced pharyngeal fricative and ayin a voiced pharyngeal fricative. Gesenius states that het is the harshest of the gutturals (refer to the Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon on page 256). It is possible that het shifted to ayin before it was substituted for /ng/ in the Germanic forms.
[6] A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, 1910, 184.
[7] Speiser, Ephraim. “The Pronunciation of Hebrew Based Chiefly on the Transliterations in the Hexapla.” The Jewish Quarterly Review. 23 (1933), 252-53; Krasovec, Joze. “Phonetic Factors in Transliteration of Biblical Proper Names into Greek and Latin.” Textus 24 (2009) 22.
[8] Wulfila Project, University of Antwerp. Online: http://www.wulfila.be/gothic/browse/text/?book=1&chapter=27.
[9] The examples are usalþan ‘to grow old,’ usdaudjan ‘to strive, endeavour, try hard,’ usfullnan ‘to be filled, fulfilled,’ uskeinan ‘to sprout up, grow,’ and usþroþjan ‘to exercise, train.’
[10] Online Etymology Dictionary. Online: https://www.etymonline.com/word/sh-.
[11a] It is worth commenting on the Semitic root NQ as the origin of ‘neck,’ as Aramaic ḥnq ‘to strangle, drown someone’ is closely related to this root in the sense of ‘to hang.' While the primary meaning of ḥnq is obviously disparate from Germanic ‘to hang,’ it does denote ‘to hang oneself’in Pe`al, when a reflexive pronoun is involved, or ‘to be hanged’ in Pe`il (refer to Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon under the entry ḥnq).
[11b] The Semitic root NQ, from which ḥnq derives, divulges the apparent provenance of ‘neck.’Several Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic words are formed from this consonant root such as BH ˀanaq‘necklace;’and Aramaicˁwnq’ ‘noose,’ and ˁnoq‘neck.’ Moreover, Blodgett points out that glottal aleph sometimes appears as /h/ in Germanic words of an apparent Semitic origin (Blodgett, “PSIGAH,” 83). OE hnecca ‘neck’ and Olc hnakki ‘the back of the head, nape of the neck’ corroborate this sound change. In later Aramaic, ayin ˀfrequently shifted to aleph ˁ. Besides, goph changes to /c/ or /k/ in Indo-European speech.
[11c] Aramaic grdnyq ‘neck’ is notable. It is a synonymous compound consisting of Middle Persian grdn ‘neck’ (derived from grd- ‘to revolve, turn’) and Aramaic nyq ‘neck.’ Refer to the entry grdnyq in the CAL;Durkin-Meisteremst, Desmond. Dictionary of Manichaean Middle Persian and Parthian. Turnhout, Belgiu