The Hebrew Language Origins of English
English Words "Shake" and Shock" from Hebrew "Shakak."
3. English Words "Shake" and Shock" from Hebrew "Shakak."
In Hebrew we have the word Shokaik connoting movement, trembling, and by association desire.
The root word is "SheKaK".
In the Bible the word "Shokaik" is translated as "rush about".
Isaiah 34:
4 Your spoil is gathered as the caterpillar gathers;
As locusts rushing about men rush about on it.
or as "rushing".
Proverbs 28:
15 Like a roaring lion and a rushing bear
Is a wicked ruler over a poor people.
or as "rush".
Joel 2:
9 They rush on the city,
They run on the wall;
They climb into the houses,
They enter through the windows like a thief.
A related word "teshukah" meaning "desire" is probably from the same root:
Genesis 3:16
Yet your desire will be for your husband,
And he will rule over you.Â
Song of Solomon 7:
11 I am my beloved's,
And his desire is for me.
This gives us the English word "shake".
Online Etymological Dictionary
Extracts:
shake (v.)
Old English sceacan "move (something) quickly to and fro, brandish; move the body or a part of it rapidly back and forth;" ... "to tremble" especially from fever, cold, fear" ...
late 14c., "charge, onrush," from shake (v.). Meaning "a hard shock" is from 1560s. From 1580s as "act of shaking;" 1660s as "irregular vibration."
The English word "shock" is also probably from the same root:
Online Etymological Dictionary
Extracts:
shock (n.1)
1560s, "violent encounter of armed forces or a pair of warriors," a military term, from Middle French choc "violent attack," from Old French choquer "strike against," probably from Frankish, from a Proto-Germanic imitative base (compare Middle Dutch schokken "to push, jolt," Old High German scoc "jolt, swing").
Meaning "a sudden blow" is from 1610s; meaning "a sudden and disturbing impression on the mind" is from 1705. Sense of "feeling of being (mentally) shocked" is from 1876. Medical sense is attested from 1804 (it also once meant "seizure, stroke," 1794).Â