December theme: Pre-Classical Mediterranean 🏝

Teaser

Europe, Maghreb, Arabia, Erebus

Full Text

• Semitic *ʿrb *ġrb to depart, to set ^[1]

  • Central Semitic

    • Arabic غ ر ب ġ r b

      • Arabic غرب ġaraba to depart, to withdraw, to set
      • Arabic غرب ġaruba to be a stranger, to be strange, to be difficult to understand
      • Arabic غرب ġarb west

        • Maltese għarb west
        • Azerbaijani qərb west
        • Persian غرب ġarb west
        • Ottoman Turkish غرب ġarb

          • Turkish garp west
    • Northwest Semitic

      • Aramaic ערב / ܥܪܒ / 𐡏𐡓𐡁 ʿ-r-b

        • Aramaic 𐡏𐡓𐡅𐡁𐡄 ʿrōbā sunset, evening, (Sabbath) eve
        • Aramaic ערבא ʿərāḇā sunset

          • Classical Syriac ܥܪܒܐ ʿrāḇā sunset, eve
      • Canaanite

        • Hebrew ע־ר־ב ʿ-r-b

          • Hebrew ערב érev evening, night

            • Yiddish ערבֿ erev eve
        • Phoenician 𐤏𐤓𐤁 ʿereb sunset, evening

          • Archaic Greek *Eurōpā ^[2]

            • Homeric Greek Ευρώπη Eurṓpē Western shore of the Aegean, mainland Greece (as opposed to Pelopennese or the islands)

              • Classical Greek Εὐρώπη Eurṓpē Land north of the Mediterranean Sea and west of the Aegean and Black Seas, Europe, Europa

                • Greek Ευρώπη Evrópi Europe, Europa
            • Doric Greek Ευρώπα Eurṓpa

              • Latin Europa

                • French Europe

                  • English Europe

                    • Hindi यूरोप yūrop
                    • Korean 유럽 Yureop
                    • English Proto-Indo-European
                • Italian Europa
                • Portuguese Europa

                  • Japanese ヨーロッパ Yōroppa
                • Spanish Europa
                • Arabic أوروبا ʾūrubbā Europe
                • Literary Chinese 歐羅巴 Europa, Europe (archaic)

                  • Mandarin 歐羅巴 Ōuluóbā

                    • Mandarin 歐洲 Ōuzhōu Europe ^[3]
                • English Europa
                • German Europa
              • Russian Европа Jevropa Europe
              • Ukrainian Європа Jevropa Europe

                • Ukrainian Євромайдан Jevromajdán Euromaidan

                  • English Euromaidan
                • French europium

                  • English europium
                  • Translingual Eu
    • Central Semitic *ma-ʿrb *ma-ġrb place of sunset, western place, the west locative

      • Arabic مَغْرِب maḡrib place or time of sunset, west, evening

        • Arabic الْمَغْرِب al-maḡrib The Maghreb, Morocco

          • English Maghreb
    • Northwest Semitic

      • Aramaic מערבא ma-ʿrba west

        • Classical Syriac ܡܰܥܪܒܐ ma‑ʿrḇā west, occident, sunset, western sky, west wind
      • Canaanite

        • Hebrew מערב ma‑ārov the west, occident
    • Central Semitic *ʿrb? surety, pledge (money before you leave)?

      • Arabic عراب ʿarrāb
      • Aramaic ערב / ܥܪܒ / 𐡏𐡓𐡁 ʿăraḇ to vouch for

        • Classical Syriac ܥܪܒܐ ʿarrāḇā sponsor, guarantor, godfather, groomsman
      • Northwest Semitic

        • Canaanite

          • Hebrew ערבון erabon guarantee
          • Phoenician

            • Punic *ʿarb

              • Latin arbiter

                • Western Romance

                  • French arbitre mediator, arbitrator, referee

                    • English arbiter
                    • Italian arbitro referee, umpire, arbitrator
                    • Spanish árbitro referee
            • Classical Greek ἀρραβών arrabōn pledge, surety, deposit, down payment

              • Greek αρραβώνας arravónas engagement, betrothal, deposit, earnest money
              • Latin arrhabō

                • Latin arrha

                  • Western Romance

                    • French arrhes down payment, deposit

                      • English earnest ^[4]
  • East Semitic

    • Akkadian 𒌅 erēbu to go down, to set, to enter

      • Akkadian Ereb night, sunset, the west in contrast to sunrise/east: Asu (Asia?

        • Arabic عرب ʿarab Arab ^[5]

          • Aramaic

            • Old Persian 𐎠𐎼𐎲𐎠𐎹 Arabāya Arabia
            • Classical Greek Ἄραψ Áraps Arab, Arabian

              • Greek Άραβας Áravas Arab
              • Classical Greek Ἀραβία Arabíā Arabia

                • Greek Αραβία Aravía Arabia
                • Latin Arabia Arabia

                  • English Arabia
                  • French Arabie
                  • Italian Arabia
                  • Spanish Arabia
                  • Yiddish אַראַביע arabye
              • Classical Greek Ἀραβικός Arabikós Arabic, Arab

                • Latin arabicus Arabic

                  • English Arabic
          • Chinese 阿拉伯 Ālābó Arabia
          • Hebrew עֲרָב aráv Arabia
          • Persian عرب 'arab Arab, Arabian

            • Persian عربستان 'arabestân Arabia

              • Turkish Arabistan Arabia
          • Somali Carabiya Arabia
          • Swahili Uarabuni Arabia
          • Arabic عربية / العربية ʾarabiyya al-ʾarabiyya Arab (f.), Arabic

            • Translingual ara ISO 639 code for Arabic
  • Proto-Indo-European *h₁régʷos darkness ^[6]

    • Old Armenian երեկ erek evening, west, evening star (Venus)

      • Old Armenian երեկոյ erekoy evening

        • Armenian երեկո ereko evening
      • Old Armenian ցերեկ cʿerek by day, day, daytime lit. "up until evening"

        • Armenian ցերեկ cʿerek day, daytime ^[7]
      • Old Armenian երէկ erēk yesterday

        • Armenian երեկ erek yesterday
    • Germanic *rekwaz darkness

      • East Germanic

        • Gothic 𐍂𐌹𐌵𐌹𐍃 riqis darkness
      • North Germanic

        • Old Norse røkkr / røkr twilight

          • Old West Norse

            • Icelandic rökkur twilight
    • Hellenic

      • Classical Greek Ἔρεβος Érebos primordial divinity of darkness

        • Latin Erebus

          • English Erebus
    • Indo-Iranian *Hráǰas

      • Indo-Aryan *Hráȷ́as

        • Sanskrit 𑀭𑀚𑀂 रजः rájaḥ darkness, dust, space between heaven and earth
    • Proto-Indo-European *h₁regʷesyéti to be getting dark

      • Germanic *rikwizjaną to get dark

        • East Germanic

          • Gothic 𐍂𐌹𐌵𐌹𐌶𐌾𐌰𐌽 riqizjan to become dark, to darken
      • Indo-Iranian *Hraǰasyáti

        • Indo-Aryan *Hraȷ́asyáti

          • Sanskrit 𑀭𑀚𑀲𑁆𑀬𑀢𑀺 rajasyáti to become dust, to be scattered
    • Proto-Indo-European *h₁rgʷsnos

      • Hellenic *erkʷʰnos

        • Hellenic *orkʷʰnā secondary o-grade

          • Classical Greek ὄρφνη órphnē night, darkness
    • Proto-Indo-European *h₁régʷenih₂

      • Indo-Iranian

        • Indo-Aryan

          • Sanskrit 𑀭𑀚𑀦𑀻 रजनी rájanī night

Visual

Collected English words

Europe, Proto-Indo-European, Europa, europium, Eu, Maghreb, arbiter, earnest, Arabia, Arabic, ara, Erebus, Euromaidan

Footnotes

1. ^

   The first consonant of the Semitic root is ambiguous. The Arabic form points to *ġ (/ɣ/), but in that case Akkadian should have ḫ (/χ/); instead the Akkadian has e-coloring and no consonant, which should come from Semitic *ʕ. Aramaic, Hebrew, and Phoenician forms can't help answer the question, because *ġ and *ʕ merged in Northwest Semitic.

   If the Proto-Indo-European *h₁régʷos is related, IE *h₁ usually corresponds to Semitic *ʔ, h₂ is the usual correspondence to Semitic *ʕ.

2. ^

   Εὐρώπη`=grc-Grek Eurṓpē (Archaic and Doric Eurōpā) is traditionally derived in Greek as "broad-face", the name of a mythological Phoenician princess abducted by Zeus and brought to Crete. This is almost certainly a folk-etymology of a non-Greek borrowing.

   Phoenician ʿereb is a very likely candidate for what the Greeks folk-etymologized as Eurōpā, given that (1) the mythological Europa is described as a Phoenician princess, (2) phoentically similar to Eurōpā is Phoenician 𐤏𐤓𐤁 ʿereb: "sunset, evening" probably either also meant "west" or had a related word *m-ʿrb that did, and (3) Greece is to the west of Phoenicia.

3. ^

   Modern Mandarian 歐洲 Ōuzhōu is formed by abbreviation of 歐羅巴 Ōuluóbā to 歐 and then suffixing 洲 zhōu: "continent". The same process is used to create the modern forms of the other continent names, such as Yàzhōu: "Asia" from Yàxìyà; or Fēizhōu: "Africa" from Āfēilìjiā.

4. ^

   English earnest as in "down payment, surety", of uncertain etymology, but probably a mixture of French arrhes: "down payment, surety" and Old English eornost: "sincerity, earnestness".

5. ^

   Arabian self-designation is of uncertain origin. It is the same triconsonantal root in some but not all Semitic languages, but does not follow the normal rules for which languages merge [ɣ] and [ʕ]. The most likely explanation is that it is a doublet borrowing of the root for "west" from Eastern Semitic.

   Prof. Ahmad Al-Jallad (@Safaitic) once said:

   "Where does the term ‘Arab‘ come from? It is impossible to know for sure, but there are many theories. A popular one relates it to the root ‘-b-r, which gives the name of the Hebrew language. The best explanation IMO is a derivation from the root ġ-r-b ‘west’ > ‘westerners’.

   "This makes sense geographically. The name wouldn’t have originated in Arabic; it was a term used by outsiders to refer to the land/people/language, comparable to the term Amorite Mar.tu ‘westerner’. But it must have been adopted by the people it referred to early on."

6. ^

   Since we know there are some borrowings from Semitic into Indo-European, the similarity between Semitic *ʿrb: "sunset" and Proto-Indo-European *h₁régʷos bears a second look. There are no attested words coming from any morphological form other than *h₁régʷos (and secondary derivations from there), which could point to a borrowed word that never had a root form, that was secondarily fit to an adjective morphology.

   On the other hand, the forms don't match up quite well enough to prove a connection. PIE *h₁ usually corresponds to Semitic *ʔ. Similarly Semitic *b and PIE *gʷ are close neighbors—both voiced stops with a labial component—but not an expected correspondence. *gʷ to *b would be a normal and expected distortion in borrowing, but *b to *gʷ is much less expected.

7. ^

   Armenian cʿerek : "day" replaced Old Armenian տիւ tiw: "day" from Proto-Indo-European *diwoh₁: "bright" (the same root as many other IE words for "day" Latin dies, Welsh dydd, Sanskrit दिन diná)