Part of a series of investigations reexamining aspects of the relationship
between IE and Semitic, by considering in detail derivations of areas where
inferences were made about words which were common to the homeland of the
Indo-European-speaking people before the period of migrations took them to
the different localities.
Best viewed (including the various dictionary entries) by clicking the
following URL:
or copying and pasting the URL in your browser.
http://www.theegyptianchronicles.com/ANEW/SAB.html
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THE CASE OF "SAP" (PIE FROM BASE *SAB- ) & CLASSICAL ARABIC "SAB"
In this segment the focus is on the term "sap", a generic word which means:
"The watery fluid that circulates through a plant, carrying food and other
substances to the various tissues. A watery solution of sugars, salts, and
minerals that circulates through the vascular system of a plant. The fluid
contents of a plant cell vacuole."
IE etymologists have conjectured a connection with Latin sapere to taste,
sapor.
SAP (n.1) "liquid in a plant," O.E. sæp c. 900 AD., from P.Gmc. *sapom
(cf. M.L.G., M.Du., Du. sap, O.H.G. saf, Ger. Saft "juice" Fr.: sève ,
Norw.: sevje, Port.: seiva, Sp.: saba, Sw.: sav, Icel.: safi , from PIE
*sapon- (cf. L. sapere "to taste"), from base *sab- "juice, fluid" (cf.
Sanskrit: SABAR (milk , nectar, only in comp. and prob. connected with
Germ. {saf} , {Saft} Angl.Sax. {soep} ; Eng. {sap} ; perhaps also with Lat.
{sapio} , {sapor}).
While French dictionaries like "Centre National de Ressources Textualles et
Lexicales" quoting Pliny have explicitly stated that the term "sap" is from
the Latin sapa ( Du lat. class. sapa « vin cuit (jusqu'à réduction de la
moitié, selon Varron, ou des deux tiers, selon Pline) »; devait signifier
propr. « suc, sève ».)
In this respect, the classical sources describes sapa as new wine boiled
down to a proportion of its original volume" (vin cuit). However, the Latin
term refers to the defrutum, a reduction of must used by cooks and others in
ancient Rome. It was made by boiling down grape juice or must (freshly
squeezed grapes) in large kettles until it had been reduced by at least
half, which then was used to provide the necessary sugar for the
fermentation of weaker wines or to make others sweeter still. The sweetest
defrutum was further boiled down into an even stronger concentrate called
sapa.
This explanation hardly translates to "sap" (the watery fluid that
circulates through a plant). The OED concurs with the objection to this
suggestion:
"the hypothesis that the W. Ger. word was adopted from Latin sapa is
improbable in view of its relation to the Scandinavian synonym; besides ,
the assumed development of meaning in popular Latin ( of which the Rom.
words afford the only evidence) appears unlikely unless as a result of
extraneous influence)"
In my opinion, it would not be a surprise that the Latin sapa was a loan
word from the Ancient Egyptian "sf" which also means to boil, to cook,
macerate i.e. in short a term describing the same process of the reduction
of must used by cooks in ancient Rome.
Instead of the Latin sapa, a more suitable cognate term for "sap" would be
the following examples in Sanskrit which have never been advanced:
SAVA: pressing out the juice of the Soma plant pouring it out, the juice or
honey of flowers savalat : the plant yielding Soma-juice. savana: 1 n. )
the act of pressing out the Soma-juice (performed at the three periods of
the day) the pressed out Soma-juice and its libation, a Soma festival, any
oblation or sacrificial rite.
Moreover, the Skrt. SAVA would appear to be compatible with Old French:
SÈVE, subst. fém.: Étymol. et Hist. 1. 1er quart xiiie s. [ms.] « suc
nourricier des plantes » , O.E séaw sap, juice, moisture, humor. and Sw:
sav. sap.
Finally, it would be instructive to find out that the term "sap" is not
exclusively an IE word since it is equally found in Classical Arabic, where
sab (sad+'Alif+ba') refers to the expressed juice (sap) of a kind of a
bitter tree and/or the sap of the Sabir (the much coveted aloe plant, which
is native of the Socotra island). Compare with PIE from base *sab-
The base meaning of the root of the Arabic sab is pouring out, forth or
down. (1) Hence, in addition to sap, it refers to what was poured forth, of
sweat, and of blood. The expressed juice of dragon's blood mentioned in the
Eldest Lady's tale of the Arabian nights (2). The sap of the leaves of
sesame or some other plant. Finally a certain red dye which is a match for
the term sapo, a red dye (3).
The first occurrence of the word "sap" is found in OE. in Cynewulf Crist c.
900 A.D.
As for the Sanskrit "sabar", the word is found in Ancient Egyptian. The
well-known oldest description of aloe "Sabar " is found in the Egyptian
papyrus of Ebers in 1,500 BC. The papyrus detailed more than 12 remedies
with "Sabar". These Egyptian documents declare that the curative values of
the Sabar were known many centuries ago extensively. In fact the AE Sabar
(aloe) is said to relieve headaches, soothes chest pains, burns, ulcers and
for skin disease and allergies. While the Assyrian Herbal prescribes
"sibaru" for the stomach and difficult breathing .
See JPEG of the entry of the Ancient Egyptian word.
http://www.theegyptianchronicles.com/ANEW/SAB.html
The Egyptian queens, and the well known beauties Nefertiti and Cleopatra,
used it as part of their regular beauty regimes.
History tells that Aristotle advised Alexander (356-323 BC) before
initiating the Eastern campaign, to conquer the island of Socotra to provide
itself with Aloe with which to cure the wounds of its troops in combat.
In century I AD, the Greek physician Dioscórides, while accompanying Nero´s
army, extensively described Aloe's medicinal and cosmetic uses and its
qualities. In Chapter 23 of his book III, it makes reference to the aloe and
defines the main characteristics.
The Arabs, enthusiastic propagators of the medicinal use of the Sabbar
/sabir (aloe) and great consumers of it, took it to their campaigns in
Europe in early medieval times where they grew it on extensive plantations
in Malaga, Andalusia and Sicily. Today Sabar or aloes are frequently planted
in Muslim cemeteries (4) . In Hebrew, the word Sabra is a slang term used to
describe a native-born Israeli Jew. (5)
CONCLUSION:
History teaches us that past civilizations emerged separately. At times,
through interaction, these civilizations converged, effectively leading to
an amalgamation forming a new hybrid civilization, and then eventually
diverged again. This process, which is continuing in a perpetual sequence
of convergence and divergence, is reflected in languages. Case in point is
the recurrent similarities of the term "sap" and its derivatives in
different languages. These similarities not only attest to the antiquity of
the term, but also points to its wide distribution across IE and AA
(including Semitic) languages. The only dissimilarity is how linguists of
each language group view it as its own proto word.
Ishinan
February 17th , 2008
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FOOTNOTES:
(1) & (2) see below:
http://www.theegyptianchronicles.com/ANEW/SAB.html
(3) saponem, acc. de sapo, saponis, saponarius « mélange de suif et de
cendre utilisé par les Gaulois pour rougir les cheveux » (cf. Pline,
Naturalis historia, 28, 191 ds OLD). see JEPG attached
http://www.theegyptianchronicles.com/ANEW/SAB.html
(4) "un cimetière arabe offre l'aspect presque riant de ses tombes blanches;
entre elles, quantité d'une sorte de petits aloès que je ne connaissais pas
encore, chacun dresse une ou plusieurs hampes de fines fleurs tubulaires
jaune pâle, qui semblent des hampes de tritomes. A. Gide, Carnets d'Égypte,
1939, p. 1075."
(5) The word is derived from the Hebrew word tzabar (cf. Arabic Sabbar), the
name of the "prickly pear" cactus allusion is to a tenacious, thorny desert
plant.