Friday, February 19, 2016

M I G H T ... M A D E... R I G H T



MIGHT          M’OaD          Mem-Aleph-Dalet
MIH-O(D)TE_____אמץ_____[MOD à  MOT]
ROOTS:   Anglo-Saxon miht (power) may or may not derive from Indo-European (IE) “root” magh (to be able, to have power). If it doesn't, one possibility is MIGHT (the GH being silent) might be an M-T word, but Ben Johnson, etc. who made up spelling conventions couldn’t find an M-T source, and did not want this word confused with “mite.” 

1.  אמץ OaMeTS is “might, strength” -- B-Y, courageous (Deuteronomy 3:28) or firm, obstinate (Deuteronomy 15:7). The Slavic derivatives below bear these out. 
2.    מאד M’OaD (force, strength or "might" in Deuteronomy 6:5).
3. One may also consider an M231 metathesis of עצם GHoTSeM,  might (Deuteronomy 8:17)
There are  two more nasal-dental words of strength:  אמת EMeT  (firmness -- Psalms 19:10 -- see “ETMOLOGY”), and  מתן MeTeN, firmness, with   מתן MoaTaiN (“loins,” hips, waist … the seat of strength -- Genesis 37:34

BRANCHES: MIGHT is allegedly a cognate of MAY and MAIN. See alternative Hebrew etymons at "MACHINE" and "MAGIC" - two other terms listed as cognates at IE “root” magh.
German “might” is Macht. 

מאד   M’OaD can mean “very” and “exceedingly” (Ben-Yehuda), or with much quantity (Genesis 27:33). "A lot" in Portuguese is muito. Perhaps the L in MULTI- is non-historic. The reconstructed IE “root” of words like MULTITUDE means “strong, great” fitting Mem-Aleph-Dalet.  Mottomo means “most” and “extremely” in Japanese.

See “METER.”