--- title: While several theories for the origin of the river's name have been… — Jordan · tree and pragmatics description: While several theories for the origin of the river's name have been proposed (such as relation to the Egyptian loanword 'yǝʾor'; 'big river', the Nile), it is most plausible that it derives from the Semitic word 'Yarad' (ירד; 'flow down' or 'descend"), referring to the river's declivity and with cog --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/wikipedia/en/Jordan/28/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [wikipedia](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/wikipedia/) / [en](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/wikipedia/en/) / [Jordan](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/wikipedia/en/Jordan/) / 28 # Jordan, sentence 28 From Wikipedia, [«Jordan»](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan), revision of the 2026-09-01 dump, [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). The trees and pragmatics of these pages, Mova's parse of that text, are CC BY-SA 4.0 too. While several theories for the origin of the river's name have been proposed (such as relation to the Egyptian loanword 'yǝʾor'; 'big river', the Nile), it is most plausible that it derives from the Semitic word 'Yarad' (ירד; 'flow down' or 'descend"), referring to the river's declivity and with cognates found in Arabic, Aramaic, Hebrew, Mandaic, etc. **Who acts:** name, river · **What happens:** propose, be, derive, flow down, refer, find · **To what, where:** several theories, Semitic word, cognates, Arabic, etc. This is a sentence of the English Wikipedia article «Jordan». The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (name, river), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. The article's note marks are left out of the parse. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = wikipedia:Jordan:28 # text = While several theories for the origin of the river's name have been proposed (such as relation to the Egyptian loanword 'yǝʾor'; 'big river', the Nile), it is most plausible that it derives from the Semitic word 'Yarad' (ירד; 'flow down' or 'descend"), referring to the river's declivity and with cognates found in Arabic, Aramaic, Hebrew, Mandaic, etc. 1 While while SCONJ IN _ 14 mark _ _ 2 several several ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 3 amod _ _ 3 theories theory NOUN NNS Number=Plur 14 nsubj:pass _ _ 4 for for ADP IN _ 6 case _ _ 5 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 6 origin origin NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 nmod _ _ 7 of of ADP IN _ 11 case _ _ 8 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 9 det _ _ 9 river river NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 10 's 's PART POS _ 9 case _ _ 11 name name NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 nmod _ _ 12 have have AUX VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 14 aux _ _ 13 been be AUX VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 14 aux:pass _ _ 14 proposed propose VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 81 advcl _ _ 15 ( ( PUNCT -LRB- _ 18 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 16 such such ADJ JJ Degree=Pos|ExtPos=ADP 18 case _ _ 17 as as ADP IN _ 16 fixed _ _ 18 relation relation NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 obl _ _ 19 to to ADP IN _ 22 case _ _ 20 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 22 det _ _ 21 Egyptian Egyptian ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 22 amod _ _ 22 loanword loanword NOUN NN Number=Sing 18 nmod _ _ 23 ' ' PUNCT `` _ 24 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 24 yǝʾor yǝʾor NOUN NN Number=Sing 22 appos _ SpaceAfter=No 25 ' ' PUNCT '' _ 24 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 26 ; ; PUNCT , _ 29 punct _ _ 27 ' ' PUNCT `` _ 29 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 28 big big ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 29 amod _ _ 29 river river NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 30 ', ', PUNCT '' _ 29 punct _ _ 31 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 32 det _ _ 32 Nile Nile PROPN NNP Number=Sing 29 appos _ SpaceAfter=No 33 ) ) PUNCT -RRB- _ 32 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 34 , , PUNCT , _ 38 punct _ _ 35 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 38 nsubj _ _ 36 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 38 cop _ _ 37 most most ADV RBS Degree=Sup 38 advmod _ _ 38 plausible plausible ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 14 conj _ _ 39 that that SCONJ IN _ 41 mark _ _ 40 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 41 nsubj _ _ 41 derives derive VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 38 advcl _ _ 42 from from ADP IN _ 45 case _ _ 43 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 45 det _ _ 44 Semitic Semitic PROPN NNP Number=Sing 45 compound _ _ 45 word word NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 obl _ _ 46 ' ' PUNCT `` _ 47 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 47 Yarad Yarad PROPN NNP Number=Sing 45 appos _ SpaceAfter=No 48 ' ' PUNCT '' _ 47 punct _ _ 49 ( ( PUNCT -LRB- _ 50 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 50 ירד ירד NOUN NN Number=Sing 47 appos _ SpaceAfter=No 51 ; ; PUNCT : _ 53 punct _ _ 52 ' ' PUNCT `` _ 53 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 53 flow flow VERB VB Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 14 parataxis _ _ 54 down down ADP RP _ 53 compound:prt _ SpaceAfter=No 55 ' ' PUNCT '' _ 53 punct _ _ 56 or or CCONJ CC _ 58 cc _ _ 57 ' ' PUNCT `` _ 58 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 58 descend descend NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 59 " " PUNCT '' _ 58 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 60 ) ) PUNCT -RRB- _ 58 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 61 , , PUNCT , _ 62 punct _ _ 62 referring refer VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 14 advcl _ _ 63 to to ADP IN _ 67 case _ _ 64 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 65 det _ _ 65 river river NOUN NN Number=Sing 67 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 66 's 's PART POS _ 65 case _ _ 67 declivity declivity NOUN NN Number=Sing 62 obl _ _ 68 and and CCONJ CC _ 70 cc _ _ 69 with with ADP IN _ 70 case _ _ 70 cognates cognate NOUN NNS Number=Plur 67 conj _ _ 71 found find VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 70 acl _ _ 72 in in ADP IN _ 73 case _ _ 73 Arabic Arabic PROPN NNP Number=Sing 71 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 74 , , PUNCT , _ 75 punct _ _ 75 Aramaic Aramaic PROPN NNP Number=Sing 73 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 76 , , PUNCT , _ 77 punct _ _ 77 Hebrew Hebrew PROPN NNP Number=Sing 73 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 78 , , PUNCT , _ 79 punct _ _ 79 Mandaic Mandaic PROPN NNP Number=Sing 73 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 80 , , PUNCT , _ 14 punct _ _ 81 etc. etc. NOUN FW Abbr=Yes|Number=Plur 0 root _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **propose** | present · perfect · passive | | several theories for the origin of the river's name | | | | such relation to the Egyptian loanword; big river *obl*; descend *conj* | vn reflexive\_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | | 2 | **is** | present | name | | | | | plausible *property* | tree rules | | 3 | **derive** | present | name | | | the Semitic word | | | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP PP.material»: agent=Agent from word=Material | | 4 | **flow down** | infinitive | | | | | | | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 5 | **refer** *in a quote* | gerund | | | | | | to the river's declivity and cognates | vn relate-86.2-2 «NP V PP.co-theme»: agent=Theme to declivity=Co-Theme | | 6 | **find** *in a quote* | participle | | cognates *not said here* | | Arabic and Aramaic and Hebrew and Mandaic | | | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent | | 8 | **name** | | the river | | | | | | nom name «communication transitive»: poss=agent | One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree. **Text:** the English Wikipedia, «Jordan», revision of the 2026-09-01 dump, CC BY-SA 4.0. **Tree:** Mova's own parse, CC BY-SA 4.0 as the text is. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the article read in order, CC BY-SA 4.0. - ← previous: [sentence 27](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/wikipedia/en/Jordan/27/) - next →: [sentence 29](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/wikipedia/en/Jordan/29/) - ↑ back to [Jordan](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/wikipedia/en/Jordan/)