The Roots of TERROR

TERROR      RaTahT    Resh-Taph-Taph

Rah-TUT                רתת               [RT àTR]

ROOTS: The Indo-European “root” of TERROR is tres (to tremble). The AHD recognizes a “hypothetical base” *ter, and a “metathesized form” *ters.

רתת RaTahT is “terror” in Hosea 13:1;  Aramaic  רתיתא  RiTTeeYTah is terror.

 רעד  RaGHahD or Ra’[A]hD, trembling from fear, is a liquid-guttural-dental in Exodus 15:15 .  

 Also reversing the TR of TERROR, with Resh-Tsadi perhaps closer to the TR of TERRORISM, is  ערץ [A]RahTS (to dread – Deuteronomy 1:29).  חרד  [K]HaRaiD is to tremble or to fear (Genesis 27:33); חרדה  [K]HaRaDaH is terror. See “HORRID.”

Akkadian “fear” words include  idirtu and galātu [SW] 

There is also a רטט  Resh-Tet-Tet spelling;  it appears in Jeremiah 49:24, and Modern Hebrew uses it to mean “vibrating.” More fear and trembling at “PALSY” and “SCARE.”

See “RATTLE.”

BRANCHES:   Another dental-guttural-liquid word meaning “terror ,” stronger once we shift the Lamed/L to R, is  דחל   Da[K]HaL.  This is Biblical Aramaic.  The  ח Het, like the   עAyin above, are “weak letters” that can be ignored.  Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic term has an active form,  דחל  Da[K]HeL, to  terrify (Harkavy).  See entries like “CARDIO,” “DREAD,” “HORRID, ”“RATTLE,”  and “SCARED”  for much more on the dental-liquid sound and sense of shaking in fear. For a zoological fright, see “DINOSAUR.”

Modern Hebrew  somehow had to borrow טרור DTeRoaR (terror).

Hindi dara  डर  , fear, to fear <  <-- span=""> רעד  Ra’[A]hD, to tremble in fear, and  חרדה [K]HaRaDaH, a terror.

Scots-Gaelic deirach (quiver, tremble) < M312 רעד  RaGHahD.

The dental-liquid TEETER is traced by the AHD to Old Norse titra, to tremble. Reversing to a Semitic liquid-dental root might bring on a TERRORIZING fit of quaking, fear and loathing. If a Turkish car is vibrating, though not in fear, it is titriyor.

TERRIFIC and even TERRIBLE don’t sound so TERRIFYING, but they are cognates.   See “SCARE.”

Of the Edenic words for “fear” and “fright,”  the Slavic languages favored

ערץ GHaRaTS or [A]RaTS     (reversed)         [ Wiesława Ferlacka]

STRaCH (strax … fright, fear) -- Belarusian, Czech, Polish, Slovak <-- span="">

STRaH (fear) -- Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian, Slovene <-- span="">

STRaKH страх (fear)  -- Bulgarian, Russian, Ukrainian <-- span="">

STRAv (fear) -- Macedonian <-- span="">

Seven Slavic languages spell TERROR teror, with the exception of Polish, Russian and Slovenian. So, it should be borrowed from the West. The Israeli guardians of Modern Hebrew might be TERRIFIED by the overly-deistic concept that Ancient Hebrew may be the Language of Eden, and they lacked the will to fight the war on borrowing the popular word  asטרור  DTeROAR (terror).

Some Slavic “tremble” words confirm that   רעד Rah’[A]hD  and חרד  [K]HaReD are more likely behind “terror” than a TRS “root:”

drhtanje “ -- Serbian

drhtav   (trembling, quaking) -- Bosnian, Croatian

Albanian trembling,  dridhje, recalls  DREAD. The absurd etymology attributes DREAD to an Old English word meaning “to advise against.”   Trembling in Estonian is lõdin. In German it’s Zittern and Yiddish is  ציטערנ tsiterin. Kazahk is dirildegen. Korean tteollineun  떨리는 is not Indo-European.  Punjabi trembling is dara. Titrek is the Turkish; titroq is the Uzbek. Both resemble a reversed חרד  [K]HaReD. Welsh gryndod could be a nasalized חרד  [K]HaReD .

Fernando Aedo adds the following; only Dravidian (Southern India) being Indo-European:
Ancient Egyptian:
Hryt terror, dread, respect <   רעד RaGHahD, trembling from fear
Dravidian:
adura_t. a shaking, trembling (Tulu)
adaru  to tremble, shake, quake, shiver; n. trembling, afraid (Telugu)
a_thar trembling (with age), decrepit (Assamese)

dar,  fear < <-- span="">    רעד Ra’[A]D, trembling (Punjabi)
hedaru, hediri, edru to fear (Kannada)
tirg- to tremble (Kond.a) < M312 רעד RaGHahD
lokoe lokoe to shake, tremble (Santali)   -   dental drop
ruku to shake (Santali) -   dental drop
arat.t.i fear, terror (Tamil)  -   dental drop  <-- span="">

Maya: t'eleleel, to tremble (Huastec)

Mon-Khmer (Cambodia region): from  חרד [K]HaRaiD, to tremble; ערץ GHaRaTS or [A]RaTS;  רעד  RaGHahD; or Ra’[A]hD, trembling from fear .  

Gri  to fear, to be afraid (Semai: Aslian Branch) < hlad to fear (Wa [Kawa]: Palaungic Branch

hlat to fear (Lawa [Ban Phae]: Palaungic Branch)

kạ-rặt paralysed (with fear) (Palaung: Palaungic Branch)

kir frightening, fear (Mnong [Rölöm]: Bahnaric Branch)
krê to be very frightened (Bahnar [Golar]: Bahnaric Branch)
ksar tremble, shake (from fear) (Laven [Jru']: Bahnaric Branch) < M132 ערץ GHaRaTS   
kərət kạ-rặt paralysed (with fear) (Palaung: Palaungic Branch)
lat to fear (Samtau [Kien Ka]: Palaungic Branch) – S-L

nglāt to frighten (Wa: Palungic Branch) N

rəːk rəːk trembling (Bahnar: Bahnaric Branch)

taː² leː³ tremble, shake (Mang) --  <-- span="">S-L
tɑtron to be trembling, shivering, shaking (adj) (Khmer: Khmeric Branch)  <-- span="">
tᵊrtjɤs² to shiver, tremble (Riang [Sak]: Palaungic Branch)
tərəə tơrơ to be afraid, shake from fear (Bahnar [Pleiku] ) <-- span="">
tréh-tréh (trembling) all over (when frightened (Nyah Kur [Central]: Monic Branch)<-- span="">