Re: THE CASE OF "SAP" (PIE FROM BASE *SAB- ) & C. ARABIC "SAB"

From: Patrick Ryan
Message: 53666
Date: 2008-02-18

Very nicely written, and quite interesting, Ishinan.

Patrick


----- Original Message -----
From: "The Egyptian Chronicles" <The_Egyptian_Chronicles@...>
To: <cybalist@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Monday, February 18, 2008 12:20 PM
Subject: [tied] THE CASE OF "SAP" (PIE FROM BASE *SAB- ) & C. ARABIC "SAB"


> 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
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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
>
>
>
> =-------------------------------------------------------=
> 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.
>