But that's not the main problem. The main problem is a semantic-linguistic one, for in many languages « ShaTa » also means « what DRiPs », starting with Hebrew, where the word ShaTaT that we just saw also means « to drip », as in the tractate of the Tents, ʔoHaLowt, which deals with laws relating to SKiN DiSeaSes. But we'll come back to tents and skin diseases (SheʔeT, also, in Hebrew by the way 🙂).

In the meantime, this dripping meaning is also present in Latin, where a DRoP is STiLLa and STiRia, and in Greek, STaGôN or STiLè, from the verb STaZô, and STaLaSSô, to drip. Finally, drops are also present in MoiSTure and SWeaT. Drops drip from sweaty hands or a sweaty forehead.

Therefore, I was a little unsure about my explanation of « ShaTa » manifesting as STaNDing SToNes. How could I reconcile the immense semantic field of « ShaTa » with drops? At first, I thought of STaLaGMiTes. That's right, stalagmites and STaLaCTiTes (from STaLaSSô in Greek). I thought these mineral structures must have made an impression. But I couldn't reconcile « ShaTa »'s universality, and especially its presence in Egypt, with 20,000 years old ornate caves in Western Europe. This was too far geographically from East Africa, and far too recent.

I mulled over this for a while until, once again, éuRèKa, I realized that a DRoP always FLoWs from a SPiKe, the PoiNT of something, and that rather than mineral STaLaGMiTes and STaLaCTiTes, ice stalactites, universal in temperate latitudes, had been at the root of this semantic shift.

Indeed, believe it or not, this meaning of SPiKy point related to « ShaTa » is found in Egyptian, Hebrew, Greek and Latin. First in Greek, STiZô means to STinG, to TaTToo, STiGma means a sting, a tattoo, and in Latin, haSTa, the SPeaR. Do you remember ChRiST's STiGmata? And the spear with which the soldier, the STRaTiotès 🙂, PieRCes the body of Christ on the CRoSS? But hold on a little longer, we'll soon get to the Gospels.

In Latin again, « ShaTa » appears with the notion of stinging in STiLus (a spike, a STaKe, a STyLus, a pointy STiCk, a spear), STiMuLus, (the stinger, the point, the TiP) and also in STinGuo, (to eXTinGuiSh, but which initially also meant to sting, and which appears in eXTiNGuo, meaning both to BLuNT a point, a cutting eDGe and to eXTinGuiSh) or in iNSTiGuo (to iNSTiGate) and in DiSTinGuo (to DiSTinGuiSh, with a mark, a tattoo). FiRe stings and can be SToKed.

If you’re a medievalist - or a former Role-Playing Game enthusiast like me – you may be familiar with the term « arme d’eSToC et de TaiLLe » (ThRuST and CuT SWoRD). In Old French, eSToC is the tip of the SWoRD and TaiLLe is its cutting edge. Also in Old French, there's the verb eSTaChier, which means to FiX, to PLaNT, and which remained in « to aTTaCh ». Finally, please note that our STeRNum is not only eReCT, but also shaped like a stake.

In English, two animals are notably stingy: the STaG, with its ShaRP antlers, and the uPRiGhT SToRK with its ShaRP BeaK. But most of all, there's « to STiTCh », which means both to PieRCe, and to SeW; to STaB; to ShooT and to CaST (to ThRoW), as well as « stake » - with the double meaning of a SPeaR that you plant in the ground, and an iNTeReST, a ShaRe in something (here we find our connection with iNSTiTution, with the FoRMal). To cast a spear is also not far removed from SToQos, the TaRGet in Greek.

The beauty of « ShaTa », the uPRiGhT, completely STiLL STaKe, is that not only is it a very stable word, it also both oPPoSes and naturally ComBiNes with « Ra », which expresses the idea of GuShing we met at the beginning of this year. I call them the 3 buddies: « Sha Ta Ra ».

As for opposites, look at « ChaîNe » in French (the warp), « Sha », and « TRaMe » (the weft) « TaRa », for instance, or at English comparatives and superlatives like MoRe and MoST, which I already mentioned. Look also, coming back to French, at the verb « eSTer en JuSTiCe » (to appear before a CouRT) which can be opposed to « eRRer » (to eRR). Or lastly, in Egyptian mythology, at the conflict that opposed, on the one hand the goddess Isis, ASeT in Egyptian and the god Set, SeTeH̱ in Egyptian, and the gods Ra, RO, and Horus, ḤoRu, on the other.

« ShaTa » doesn't just oppose « Ra », it also forms combinations with it. In Hebrew, we've already seen ReSheT the NeTWoRK, the NeT, which combines the RaRe, the STReaKed, « Ra », with « ShaTa », the TiSSue. In French, for example, there's STRie (a STRiPe), and in English STReaK, STRiKe and STRoKe. A STReaK is a « Ra » made with a ShaRP object, « ShaTa », that makes a STRiDent noise. Just as STiRia was the DRoP that FLoWs, « Ra », along the PoiNT, « ShaTa », a meaning also found in the word STReaM.

As a matter of fact, the English language loves this « STR » form with, for instance, STRaiGhT, meaning both STRonG and honnest, to STRiVe, to STRiDe, the STaiRs RiSing upwards, to STeeR, or to STaRe. In each of these words, « ShaTa » expresses what is HaRD and straight, and « Ra » embodies PoWeR, MoVement, DiReCTion, and DyNaMics.

In Latin, this « ShaTa-Ra » combination mixing stillness with power, also appears in RoSTRum, the PieRCing SPuR of boats or insects, STRiX, the still oWL with a piercing GaZe, and aSTeR, the STaR, which is STaTioNary and BRiGhT.

This is what I call a phono-semantic fusion, which can also happen between « ShaTa » (the DRiPPing SPiKe or PoiNT), and « TaRa » (the ToRSion), for example in Greek, with STRaGGiZô, which means to WRinG out, to TWiST to make the DRoPs come out, and then resulted in to STRaNGLe. STRaGGiZô is to twist something, to TuRN it, « TaRa », in order to make it drip, « ShaTa ».

We also find this combination of torsion and something STRaiGhT with the WReSTed WRiST : the aRTiCuLation between the straight aRM, and the MoBiLe HaND, as well as in STRaP and STRiP, the leather BaNDs around the arm - like the TeFiLiYN, the PhyLaCTeRies I wore in my video about the Messiah. In the same vein, there's also the STRoPhe, from STRéFô in Greek, with a little less obvious phono-semantic fusion.

And above all there's « STiR », which I've chosen to start this video: remember Bob Marley's famous song, stir it up. « Stir » is very interesting. Because to stir, first of all, means to iNCiTe, to eXCiTe, with something pointy - where « ShaTa », the STaKe, gives way to « Ra », the sound, the PoWeR.

To stir also means to MiX, a SouP or BRoTh for instance, with a SPooN, or a VeRTical piece of wood. This meaning is present in SToRM. In other words, with « stir », we have not just one but two phono-semantic fusions: on the one hand, « ShaTa », the spike or point, and « Ra », the GuShing, and on the other, « ShaTa », that which is straight and « TaRa », that which turns.