The Hebrew verb abar = "to cross over," which was the source of Eber and Iberi names, suggests other possible cognates in the European languages, but some of the evidence is slim. For example, did Latin arbor = "tree" come from this word, something which crosses over head? A much stronger possibility is the Teutonic body of words which gave English over.
 

Old English ofer.
Old Saxon obar.
Old High German ubar.
Gothic ufar.

Compare with:

Greek uper and
Sanskrit upari from upara = "over," "higher," "more advanced."
 

The strength of the Hebrew abar suggests that the Indo-European cognates came from the older Semitic source. Since Sanskrit shows this form, we cannot say if the Teutonic over came through the Indo-European languages out of that older Semitic influence, or if it came through the Iberi migrations.
 

The many senses of the word suggest that its origins are not simple. OED uses five pages to list the various applications of the word, and more than fifty pages of the many compound forms. The main concepts are:

1. Above and related notions. Above and on high; above so as to cover the surface.


 

2. With sense of to or on the other side.

1. Indicating a motion that passes above or across something.

2. Crossing from one side to the other, as the sea.

3. From one person, side, party, etc. to another.

4. On the other side of something intervening.

3. With the notion of exceeding in quantity.


 

1. Remaining or left beyond what is taken.

2. Placed so as, or serving, to cover something else.

3. Higher in power, authority, or station.

4. That which is in excess or remaining above the normal amount, or that which is right or proper.


 

4. Being over in time.

These meanings compare with the many of the Hebrew abar. Refer Brown, Driver and Briggs. The main senses are "Pass over, through, by, pass on."
 

1. "Cross stream, sea, etc." Josh 3:14 l'abor = "pass over" the Jordan.
 

2. "Cross border or boundary." Num 20:17 esher-na'abor = "we have passed" thy borders.
 

3. "Cross over intervening space." I Sam 14:4 l'abor = Jonathan sought "to go over."
 

4. "Pass, or march over." Isa 51:23 na'aborah = "we may go over," and l'ebreem = "them that went over" captives prostrate on the ground.
 

5. "Overflow." Isa 8:8 abar = "he shall overflow" and go over.
 

6. "Pass or go over waves or one's head." Jonah 2:4 abaru = waves "passed over me."
 

7. "Passing over head." Num 6:5 ya'abor = no razor "come over" his head.
 

8. "Pass through and traverse." Num 21:23 abor = "pass through" his border.
 

9. "Be past, over, of time, etc." Gen 50:4 ya'abru = When the days "were past."

This is a strong Teutonic word that finds multiple applications in the respective languages.
 

Old English com.
Old High German chom.
Old Norse koma, kom.
Gothic qam.
 

It is also found in Sanskrit as gam. Again this throws the question into the domain of a more ancient Semitic influence, or does it come out of the migrating Iberi tribes? OED offers the following uses:
 

1. In its most literal sense it expresses hitherward motion.

1. To move towards, approach.

2. To reach by moving towards; hence, often "to arrive," present oneself.


 

2. Also said of the hitherward motion of involuntary agents.

1. Of things having (apparently) a motion of their own, as water, wind, etc.

2. Of things which are brought, or persons brought without their own will, e.g., "To come to bear," "to be brought to bear."


 

3. Come may be used with many different prepositions to express various nuances of meaning. The most common is to. Others are into, unto, towards, against, on, upon, about, around, beside, near, above, beneath, before, behind, over, and under.


 

The notion is not limited to spatial or temporal sense.  

1. To come in one's way, within one's reach, under one's notice, within the scope of a measure, and so on.

Brown, Driver and Briggs define the Hebrew verb qam as arise, stand up, stand. They offer the following cognates in other Semitic tongues.

Arabic stand, arise.
Ethiopic stand, stop.
Sabean place.

Assyrian kumu = place, dwelling,
                kum, kemu = in place of,
                Kaiamanu = enduring, constant.
 

B-D-B offer the following applications:

1. Arise --

1. after lying down,

2. out of a condition, state,

3. stand, figuratively of success,

4. For a purpose,

5. To formal speech,

6. To listen to God.


 

2. In a hostile sense, to become powerful.

3. To come on a scene, as a leader or prophet.

4. Arise for a purpose, as a witness.

5. Arise for action,

1. as from a throne,

2. Out of inaction,

3. To start, make a move

6. Stand,

1. Maintain oneself,

2. Be established, confirmed,

3. Endure,

4. Be fixed

5. Be valid

6. Be proven.

While it is clear that there is a different basic meaning from the Teutonic cam to the Hebrew qam there is also an overlapping in some of the senses. They are both fundamental verbs of action commonly employed in everyday life.
 

I shall now tabulate parallel forms among Hebrew, English, and German.
 

Root word: Hebrew qam -- English come -- German kam.

Past, third person, singular:
Hebrew qam -- German kam.

Past, second person, between Hebrew singular qamt and German plural kamt.

Present, between Hebrew second person qamah and German first person komme.

Present, third person, plural between Hebrew qameem and German kommen.

Imperative between Hebrew qumee and German komme.
 

We come now to one of the more interesting linguistic phenomenon. In the preceding chapter I tabulated Hebrew gerund forms for the world light. For the Hebrew verb qam these are:
 

b'koom = in arising or standing
k'koom = on arising or standing
lakoom = to arise or stand
mikoom = from arising or standing
 

The first is reflected in English become and German bekommen.
 

The second is reflected in German gekommen, with a phonetic shift from "k" to "g."
 

In all three languages they appear in gerund or participle forms, nouns and adjectives formed from verbs. The "be-" and "ge-" appear in both Old High German and Old English. Modern English has lost the "ge-" form.
 

The presence of the "ge-" form in Old English prevents linguists from looking for the "be-" prefix in the verbs for existence, is, was, and be. They accept become as a form with an independent origin, and with cognates in German.
 

The "be-" sense of "in" is retained in both Hebrew and Teutonic. A similar sense is found in the "ke-" or "ge-" prefix in both Hebrew and Teutonic.
 

This is an illustration of how Hebrew not only introduced vocabulary into the European languages, but also grammatical forms.
 

I shall go on to other cognates which are striking.
 

Two common everyday words which have their origin in Hebrew are sour and soup.
 

The first is found as sur in OE, OS, OHG, and ON. It is also in Lithuanian suras = saltish or bitter, and in Old Slavonic syru = moist, raw. (Note the "s" ending again in a eastern European language.) OED states the ultimate origins of sour are uncertain.
 

The word comes from Hebrew sur⁵⁴⁹³, "to turn aside," "to turn off," "to deteriorate." It is translated in the Bible as "decline," Deut 17:11 in KJV, "leave undone," "put down," "turn aside," "degenerate," Jer 2:21, and "be sour," Hos 4:18 in KJV.
 

English soap comes to us through OE sawp and Latin sawpo. It is found in the Keltic languages as Gailic siabunn, Cornish seban, Welsh sebon, and Manx sheabon.
 

The Hebrew zobe²¹⁰⁰ from the root zoob, is used to describe seminal or menstrual flux. Brown, Driver, and Briggs offer a meaning of "flow" or "gush" for zoob. In Arabic it means "to melt," "to dissolve," and "to flow." Urine was once used to make soap, as a convenient source of chemicals, and thus a direct connection to the Hebrew meaning.
 

The Teutonic cognates are ON supa, OHG sufan, OE sop, sup, and seap. The word was also in the Romance languages as French and Latin suppa and supe = "a piece of bread steeped in soup." They became the modern English sop, or a slice of bread dipped in gravy, as well as supper, sup, and sip.
 

This word is found in Teutonic as garda, Gothic gardo = "enclosure," and German garten = "enclosure" or "yard." With a slight metathesis it is from Hebrew gawdar¹⁴⁴³, = "to wall in or around," "close up," "fence in." From it we get guard, = "to fence around," "protect," and through sound shifts we also received warden = "a keeper of an enclosure."

Awsham or awshame⁸¹⁶ is a Hebrew root meaning "to be guilty," or "to offend," "a fault," or "a trespass." See Lev 5:19 and Num 5:7, awsham = "trespass," Jer 50:7, nesham = "we offend not," Hos 4:15, el-yesham, = "let not offend," and so on. According to Teutonic etymologies our words shame and ashamed came through OE scom, and OS, OHG, and Gothic skama. The "a" prefix is a common separate element widely attested in the Teutonic languages. Therefore, linguists believe ashame is a formulation of a + shame. However, this is an illustration once again how modern English has reverted to a more original sound pattern found in Hebrew.
 

The word sham, which appears to be derived from shame, first appeared in English literature in the 17th century as a slang term.

The Hebrew words ravah and raveh⁷³⁰¹, mean "to be saturated," and "drink one's fill." Proverbs 7:18 says "come let us take our fill (nirveh) of love." Isa 14:5 says "For my sword satiated (ki-rivtha) itself in heaven." Isa 6:9 shows God's sorrow when he says he shall "water (ehrayavek) thee with my tears." Other senses of the verb are "to be intoxicated," "drench," "water abundantly," and "satiated." Nouns and adjectives derived from this verb have the sense of "moisture," "sated with affliction," "saturation," "slake the thirst," "bathe," "fill," and "soak."
 

This word is found in Latin rivare = "to carry water," and in its derivative ripa= "river bank." It is found in Spanish rio, and English river. The French ravine is from an earlier ravin, which is from Latin rapina = "robber and rapine," a form of Latin rapere = "to seize," "to take away." These words gave French raviss and English ravish, as well as rape. French raviss became French ravir and English ravage.
 

These interrelated forms all have similar senses in the Hebrew ravah and raveh words.

The Hebrew root awface or awfes^656,657 means "cease," "fail," and "come to an end." In the noun form it is used to denote "end," or "extremity." It also expresses non-existence, as in Isa 34:12, where "all his princes shall become nought (ahfes)." Other passages are translated as "end," "less than nothing," "none," "uttermost part," and so on. In Ezek 47:3 it denotes an extremity of the body, "the waters were to the ankles (awfeseem)."
 

The English word face is thought to derive from the Latin facies, and a popular altered form facia. Similar forms are found in Spanish and Portuguese, and in French as face. OED says "the etymology of Latin facies is uncertain."
 

The English word efface is thought to derive from the Latin ex + facies, literally "from out of the face."
 

The Hebrew word probably was adopted into Latin in the sense of "extremity," or "front end of the head." Note once again that the English efface is virtually identical in phonetics and meaning to the Hebrew word.

English ruin comes to us through French from the Latin ruere = "to fall in pieces," "crumble away." Roar is through the Teutonic found in Old English as rawrian, and in Old German as raren. Etymologists believe this last word is ultimately echoic in origin.
 

One Hebrew root probably lies behind both of these words. Ruah⁷³²¹ means "to mar, especially by breaking," and figuratively, "to split the ears with sound," and "shout with alarm." It is translated as "blow (the horn)," "cry," "shout," "destroy," and so on.
 

Hebrew rawzaw⁷³²⁹ means "to emaciate," "make thin," and "wax lean." French raser is from the Low Latin rasorium = "a scraper." We use the expression today, "He is as thin as a razor." Etymologists find a similar form in Sanskrit radati = "he scratches, scrapes."

A parallel phonetic form is Hebrew lakh³⁸⁹² = "moisture," and "to be new or fresh." This word came over into Latin and the Teutonic languages where it took on the meaning of "basin," "tub," "tank," "lake," and "pond." The Latin lacus gave Old French lak. In the Teutonic languages lak was used in Old English as lacu, in Old High German as lahha, in modern German as lache, and is found in Scottish loch. Other Keltic forms are Welsh luch, Irish luach, now written as lough. The old Teutonic forms denoted moisture, exactly as the Hebrew.
 

In Hebrew log³⁸⁴⁹ meant "a liquid measure," and is derived from the verb log = "to deepen, or hollow." The modern English forms are log and lug, denoting a lumbered tree or branch of a tree, and something heavy, clumsy, or cumbersome, "to pull with force," or "tug heavily." The word leakh in Hebrew also means "natural force," "freshness," and is parallel with the modern English leak.

Brown, Driver and Briggs list the many meanings and nuances, together with illustration of Bible passages, for the Hebrew word labe³⁸²⁰ = "heart."
 

1. The inner man in contrast with the outer: Ps 84:2, "My heart (libbee) and my flesh sing for joy to the living God."

2. Of one's own mind: In Num 16:28 Moses saying, "...I have not done them of my own mind (or heart) (milibbee)."

3. Inclinations, resolutions, and determinations of the will: Job 11:13 says, "If thou prepare thine heart (libbecha).

4. Moral character: In Ps 17:3, "Thou has tried my heart (libbee).

5. And as the seat of the emotions and passions, numerous passages: In Ps 37:4, "And he shall give thee the desires of thine heart (libbecha).
 

As we all know, the heart is also the seat of love.
 

In German leib means "body," "belly," and "womb," with the sense centered on the inner anatomy. Certainly, a clear and close phonetic and semantic relationship to Hebrew labe.
 

More curiously, in German, with a reversal of the vowels, liebe means "love." As an adjective lieb means "dear, nice, and kind." There are numerous German inflectional variations, with additive words, for example liebchen = "sweetheart." Liebhaben = "have love," or "be fond of." A more curious form is liebhaber = "lover," or "beau," a "heart companion." The curiosity comes from Hebrew. Haber²²⁷⁰, known also in Assyrian as abaru = "friend," denotes a joining together. In Ps 94:20 haber is used as "to be allied with." It also means "company," "association," and "companion." It is translated as "companion" in Ps 119:63. Literally, in Hebrew labe haber means "heart companion."
 

The German leib and liebe derive from the same Teutonic source as English "live," "life," "love," and "liver" = "the inner part." OHG had lib = "life." OHG and Gothic also had luba and lubo = "love." These related forms all come out of that Hebrew labe, with inflectional shifts from "b" in lub, to "f" in lof, to "v" in love.

The Hebrew root ooth²²⁵ means "to come," and by implication, "to assent," or "to consent" with translations of "consent," Gen 34:15, "mark," Gen 4:15, "sign," Exod 4:8, and "token," Gen 9:12. The derived form oath²²⁶ is translated as "signal," "flag," "beacon," "omen," "prodigy," and "evidence."
 

The English oath finds historic predecessors in Old English ayth, Old Saxon eeth, Gothic aith, and Old Irish oeth, where it means literally, "a going," or "a going together in agreement."
 

Yet again, we see how modern English has reverted to a near identity to the Hebrew in both phonetics and meaning.

Hebrew kawfar³⁷²² means "a village, as protected by walls," or "covered," among other senses. Latin cooperire = "shut up," or "cover" is thought to derive from co = "together," or "jointly," added to operirer. It came into English through French covrir = "to cover," and French covert. We see it in our modern words of cover, covert, and cove.

Among many other curiosities is this English word. It comes from French milieu = "middle or medium." Etymologists derive it from Latin medius, in turn formed from mis = medium plus lieu = "place," hence "middle place." Hebrew miloo⁴³⁹⁴ means a "fulfilling," "a setting," or "a consecration." The English meaning of milieu is "environment, medium, or condition." Again the similarities are evident, with the possibility that the English word comes through a process which is not evident to linguists.