Like all other languages, English did not pop into existence one day, it developed from older languages and dialects. Meanings of words changed over time and those meanings are wrapped up in the historical context of when they were first used and how they were used after.
The languages most of us are familiar with today, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, German, etc., share many similarities.
This is because they, along with many others, stem from a long dead language known as Proto-Indo-European or P.I.E., which changed and evolved to other languages that would become the languages we speak today.
An interesting story lies behind the English word for bear. Looking at some European languages, we see that while they all have a similar word for bears, English is the odd one out.
French has ours, Italian orso, Spanish oso, Portuguese urso, and Latin Ursus, while English bear.
Upon further investigation, the English word for bear is quite similar to the Germanic languages.
The first set of languages (except Greek) are known as Romance Languages, named for the fact that they developed from what was spoken in Rome (i.e. Latin).
The second set are called Germanic languages, and developed among the Germanic peoples that inhabited what is now Germany. Just as the romance languages were all Latin at one point, the Germanic languages were all once Proto-Germanic.
The Romance Languages take their word for bear directly from the Proto-Indo-European word, *h₂ŕ̥tḱos. Greek also takes this word in the forms arktos and arkouda. The former being where the Arctic gets its name, named because the area is in the direction of the Ursa Major constellation.
Proto-Germanic, like Greek and Latin, is also a descendant of P.I.E., so why do the Germanic Languages have such different names for bears?
The explanation lies in an old Germanic superstition. The belief went that bears can understand their true name, and upon hearing it, they would come to try and harm you. If you were hunting it, upon hearing your voice, it would know you were around and flee, evading capture.
Because of this, the Germanic tribes began referring to it as “The Brown One”, what became Old English bera or brun and modern English bear.
This superstition appears to have been widespread, not only did it influence the Germanic tribes, but also the Slavs. The Slavic Languages are another branch of the Indo-European tree, and indeed their words for bear are unlike the original P.I.E. word.
The names for bear in Russian медведь (medved’), Slovenian medveda, and Polish niedźwiedź are all more similar to each other than to both the Romance or Germanic Languages. The Slavic Languages’ solution to the bear-utterance problem, was to call it “Honey-Eater” or medú jed.
This small difference in modern languages’ names for the same animal hides a history full of meaning. A simple superstition over the animal-who-must-not-be-named thousands of years ago affects how we and millions of other speak.
Anni says
The Slovenian word is “medved” not “medveda”.
A German says
The german article ( “Die” ) for book is wrong. It is “Das” . Book in german is of neutral genus, not female.