Hebrew-Aramaic Origins of a Common English-Gothic Word
Evidence of the Semitic Verb Conjugation: THAGKJAN
by
John Hemingway
Thesis
Evidence of a Semitic pattern of verb conjugation in the Gothic language lies in thagkjan 'to think, consider, ponder, reason.' This word reflects the Semitic prefixation of the Aramaic word root hgy 'to think, meditate' in the Ithpeel stem, which renders verbs reflexive. In the Gothic translation of several New Testament passages, Gothic reflexive pronouns are observed in the immediate context of thagkjan. Closely related to thagkjan are Gothic hugjan 'to think, be minded' and thugkjan ''to think, suppose, intend, seem.' In the translation of Galatians 3:1, the Gothic word that translates Greek baskaino 'to charm, bewitch one' is afhugida, which derives from hugjan. This word choice appears to be at odds with the main meaning of hugjan but, in fact, it stems from another sense of Aramaic hgy that denotes magical or paranormal activity. This preciseness in translation suggests a familiarity with the Aramaic language, which would underscore the Semitic origin of thagkjan.
Discussion
The earliest resemblance of Aramaic hgy 'to think, to meditate on' is Hebrew hagah which dates to the Biblical Hebrew era. This word first appears in Joshua 1:8, meaning 'to meditate, muse.' By the sixth century BCE, it had developed secondary meanings, including 'to imagine, devise' [1]. In Aramaic, a sister language of Hebrew, hgy evolved separately and by the first-century CE, it came to denote 'to think, to meditate, to teach to read or speak' in several distinct senses [2]. In terms of linguistic evolution, hgy bears a closer resemblance to Gothic hugjan 'to think, be minded' than to the Biblical era hagah.
In the dissertation "Phonological Similarities in Germanic and Hebrew," Blodgett points out that Germanic has many forms similar to hagah, for example, Old English hogian, hycgan, hygian, ''to think, consider, meditate, study,' Old Norse hyggja 'to think, mean,' and Old Saxon huggian, Old High Germanic huggen 'to meditate, to hope' [3]. Blodgett's work presents many irrefutable similarities between Hebrew and Germanic. While his study uses Hebrew as the Semitic language for the purposes of comparing it to Germanic forms, the Germanic words cited in the case of Hebrew hagah also appear compatible with Aramaic hgy in both form and meaning. Since Aramaic and Hebrew are very closely related, it is probable that Gothic hugjan is a direct cognate of Aramaic hgy, the predecessor of thagkjan.
The relationship of hgy to Gothic thagkjan becomes apparent when the Aramaic Ithpeel verb conjugation is taken into account. This verb conjugation involves the prefixation of eth (representing Aramaic ??) to a verb, which makes verbs reflexive. Gothic thagkjan is such the product of this verb conjugation. However, it is essential to recognize that this word also experienced several phonological changes which affected the original lexical structure of its etymon.
First, hugjan is the origin of thagkjan. Its medial g shifted to k under the influence of the Germanic sound shift [4]. Old Icelandic pthekkja (transliterated thekkja) 'to perceive, espy, notice, to comprehend, to know, recognize' attests to this historical change [5]. Second, thagkjan exhibits evidence of past gemination (doubling of medial consonants), in which case k became kk (before it dissimilated to gk (nk)). Old Norse hyggja, Old Saxon huggian, and Old Hight German huggen are examples of gemination that did not yield to the Germanic sound shift of g > k. Third, thagkjan saw its medial kk change to nk as the result of dissimilation, which is widely observed in many other Germanic words [6]. Gothic used the Greek writing convention of rendering nk as gk, even though it is actually pronounced nk [7]. Last, the Aramaic Ithpeel prefix superseded the initial h in Gothic hugjan, as it did in the case of thugkjan. As well, it lost its initial ?, a Semitic guttural not pronounced in Indo-European languages [8]. Hence rendering 'Th + HG > ThG > ThK > ThKK > ThNK in consonant root terms without the typical Gothic infinitive -jan.
Inherent to thagkjan is its reflexive meaning. In the surviving texts of the Gothic translation of the Greek Bible, the reflexive pronoun sis "self" appears in seven out of thirteen instances where the Greek verbs logizomai ('to reckon, to consider'), dialogizomai ('to consider'), and sullogizomai ('to reason') translate to thagkjan [9]. Generally, the Gothic translation follows the original Greek text, word for word [10]. Yet, the Gothic texts show sis in two instances where no reflexive pronoun appears in Greek [11]. The translator apparently inserted this pronoun to reinforce the reflexive intent of the Gothic thagkjan in these passages.
At first glance, thugkjan appears to be related to thagkjan, but its usage in the Gothic Bible suggests that it developed a differentiated meaning without necessarily a reflexive denotation. In the fifteen of eighteen instances, thugkjan is translated from Greek dokeo 'to be of opinion, think, suppose.' In one occurrence hugjan is rendered from this same Greek word [12], but it is not known why the translator opted for hugjan in this instance. This single occurrence does not afford sufficient confidence to regard hugjan and thugkjan as synonymous.
Galatians 3:1 "You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you?" presents us with a most curious case of the Gothic translation. For the Greek word baskaino 'to charm, bewitch one,' afhugida is used [13]. It is derived from the Gothic base word hugjan [14]. Yet, the meaning 'to bewitch' seems quite a departure in meaning from the main sense of hugjan 'to think, to meditate on.' However, A Compendious Syriac Dictionary gives a credible explanation for why this word was chosen to translate Greek baskaino. This dictionary defines several senses of hgy in various forms as follows [15]:
'to dream, see visions in sleep'
'to fancy, imagine, conceive mentally, devise'
'an imagination, illusion, idea; this world of illusions and dreams'
'delirium, illusion'
'phantom, apparition, appearance, illusion'
Significantly, these senses allude to a certain magical or paranormal quality, corroborated by Jastrow who defines hgy 'to murmur charms' as one of its lexical senses [16]. Regarding Greek baskaino, Thayer cites Aristotle among others when he describes the meaning of baskaino 'to bring evil on one by feigned praise or an evil eye, to charm, bewitch one' [17]. In light of the definitions in the Syriac dictionary, afhugida appears to be a deliberate word appropriation. This evidence serves to confirm the Aramaic provenance of hugjan from which springs thaghkjan.
thagkjan is not an isolated occurrence of the Aramaic Ithpeel conjugation in the Gothic Bible. Another instance is noted in the Gothic word throthjan 'to exercise, train,' which evinces the Ithpeel prefixation of Aramaic rdy 'too chastise, to train.' This Aramaic etymon also underwent the Germanic sound shift (i.e. d > t > th), finding its way into several Germanic cognates while essentially retaining its meaning [18]. This case in point suggests further evidence of the Aramaic influence on the Gothic vocabulary beyond thagjkan and hugjan.
Conclusion
Gothic thagkjan is a lexical product of an Aramaic verb conjugation pattern, in spite of the historical phonological changes that effectually obfuscated its Semitic origin. Its original word stem is hug, which compares well with Aramaic hgy in form and meaning. While the Gothic Bible is by and large a linear translation of the Greek scriptures, it is significant that reflexive pronouns appear twice in the context of thagkjan where none is present in the Greek passages. While this divergence from the Greek text bears witness to the reflexive nature of the verb thagkjan, it also echoes the Aramaic origin of this verb, the lthpeel form of hgy.
The apparent evidence of the Aramaic origin of hugjan, thugkjan, and thagkjan implies the need for a historical scenario to explain how the Gothic language could have acquired Semitic linguistic features. Ideally, such a scenario would be able to account for the Semitisms, especially a literary manipulation of meaning that involves verb conjugation, in the Gothic Bible.
Endnotes
[1] Blodgett, Terry M. "Phonological Similarities in Germanic and Hebrew." PhD diss., The University of Utah, 1981, 87-88.
[2] Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon. The definition is found under the entry hgy.
[3] Cited from An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary; A Comparative Glossary of the Gothic Language.
[4] Regarding the Germanic sound shift, consult the Encyclop�dia Britannica., which addresses the subject under its entry "Grimm's Law."
[5] The definition of ON �ekkja is drawn from A Concise Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, 510.
[6] a. An early attested instance of dissimilation in Germanic is found in the runes: godda, gionda 'to give.' Refer to the list of Germanic verbs provided by the Kiel Rune Project under the auspices of the Christian-Albrechts University at Kiel. Online: http://www.runenprojekt.uni-kiel.de/abfragen/default_eng.htm.
[6] b. Old Norse preserves many words in a geminated form whereas the Germanic cognates underwent dissimilation. Old Icelandic, a western dialect of Old Norse, has an interesting case of klubba and klumba 'club' that exhibits two opposite processes of phonological change, side by side (A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, 243). Dissimilation involves nasalization of the first of the double consonants, which is, incidentally, a common phenomenon in Aramaic.
[7] Lambdin, Thomas. An Introduction to the Gothic Language. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2006, xiii.
[8] Sperber, Alexander. "Hebrew Based Upon Greek and Latin Transliteration." Hebrew Union College Annual. 12 (1937) 128; Krasovec, Joze. "Phonetic Factors in Transliteration of Biblical Proper Names into Greek and Latin." Textus 24 (2009) 23.
[9] Based on a count of the reflexive pronouns in the Gothic passages translated from the Greek texts where logizomai, dialogizomai, and sullogizomai appear. The source is Wulfila Project database. Under the auspices of the University of Antwerp, this database provides the interlinear translations in Greek, Gothic, and English languages.
[10] Ratkus, Arturas. "Patterns of Linear Correspondence in the Gothic Bible Translation: The Case of Adjective." Vertigo Studijos. 9 (2016), 49.
[11] The Gothic texts in question are Mark 2:6 and Luke 1:29.
[12] The instance of hugjan is found in John 11:13 in the Gothic Bible.
[13] Moo, Douglas. Galatians. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013, 181.
[14] Balg, Gerhard. A Comparative Glossary of the Gothic Language. Milwaukee: Jacob Mueller, 1887, 181.
[15] Payne Smith, Robert. A Compendious Syriac Dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon, 1903, 99.
[16] Jastrow, Marcus. A Dictionary of the Targumim, The Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature. London: Luzac, 1903, 331.
[17] Thayer, Joseph. Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, New York: American Book,1889, 98.
[18] The apparent connection of throthjan to Aramaic is discussed by the author in the form of a slide show on Youtube, entitled "Evidence of Semitic Verb Conjugation, Gothic THROTHJAN". Online: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlOESQwfk861BQIBq3yF9dwzyMK2fAkxl.