Hebrew Meaning and Swedish Parallel, 2022-05-15
Editor:
In Hebrew the word "Brit" (also pronounceable as "Brith," or "Bris") means "Covenant." So in Hebrew vernacular we have "brit-milah" ("covenant of cutting"), or "brit" in short, meaning circumcision. We also find the term "Brit-Am" (covenant of people[s]) in connection with the Ten Tribes (Isaiah 42:6, 49:8) and that is the name our organization, "Brit-Am/Hebrew Awareness," has chosen for itself, see:
"A Brit-Am.
The Ten Tribes were to become a Confederation (Commonwealth) of Peoples."
https://hebrewnations.com/articles/biblical-proof/geo/geobrit-am.html
In the article below our friend and fellow researcher, Orjan Svensson, discusses more connotations of the word "brit" along with parallels to the meaning in Swedish.
The Ten Tribes were to become a Confederation (Commonwealth) of Peoples."
https://hebrewnations.com/articles/biblical-proof/geo/geobrit-am.html
In the article below our friend and fellow researcher, Orjan Svensson, discusses more connotations of the word "brit" along with parallels to the meaning in Swedish.
Although not in majority, there are opinions that the meaning of the Hebrew word BRIT may be "cutting" or "breaking" or "separation".
"Koret Brit" is a common expression, where Koret means "cutting". Koret brit, may therefore mean "cutting of a separation".
On the page https://jewishlink.news/features/22515-the-origin-of-the-word-brit-covenant we read:
"Another approach looks at the “brit bein ha-betarim” as a model for the meaning of brit. There, animals were cut in half and God (in some form) walked between them. Based on this, the suggestion can be made that perhaps "brit" means separation. Ibn Ezra (commentary to Gen. 6:18) mentions this as a possibility. Rav S. R. Hirsch (comm. to Gen. 6:18) adopts this approach, suggesting a relation between B-R-T and P-R-D (separate). S. D. Luzzatto (comm. to Gen. 15:10) adopts this approach, suggesting that B-R-T is merely a metathesis of B-T-R (separate, divide). The root B-T-R is used three times in Gen. 15. The idea of “separation” can also be implied in the root B-R-R, since things that are chosen are separated.
But a brit seems more likely to be a word of unity than a word of separation. So intuitively it is hard to accept “separation” as its original meaning. The commentators who adopt this approach are probably overly influenced by the brit bein ha-betarim story (and by something similar at Jer. 34:18-19). They are also likely influenced by the expression “koret brit.”
(R. Hirsch does make an interesting attempt to justify the “separation” idea. He writes: “Brit” is an arrangement that is to be carried out, quite independently of all external circumstances, even in opposition to them. It literally corresponds to the conception of the “absolute,” something separated, cut off…something absolutely unconditional.”)"
In Swedish we have the word BRYTA, meaning "to break". "BROTT" ("brudd" in Norwegian) means "breach" or "separation".
Official etymology: "From Old Swedish brȳta, from Old Norse brjóta, from Proto-Germanic *breutaną, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrewd-.", see https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bryta.
Interestingly there is also a Swedish word similar to Hebrew "KORET" with similar meaning. Thus the word KRETA in Swedish (appart from signifying the island of Crete) also means "to carve" or "to cut".