Root Transformations in Proto-Indo-European

I. Introduction

Attempts to demonstrate genetic links between Indo-European and outside language families have, so far, achieved only limited success, generally failing to convince a majority of scholars. The reasons for this cannot always be justly ascribed to the obstinacy of established academia, since all too often the evidence presented has been weak.

In a recent and well-reasoned article, Starostin, Zhivlov, and Kassian² assess the current state of the Nostratic Hypothesis, observing that, "Nostratic linguistics has remained in a state of permanent crisis." They recommend that further work in the field should focus on the quality of the putative correspondences rather than simply adding to their quantity. The article ends with the statement:

Ultimately, it is our firm belief that Nostratic linguistics, while currently in a state of mild stagnation, may overcome this state by means of important methodological reforms—even if many of these reforms might not be for the liking of conservative supporters of the hypothesis... We also believe that these reforms, in the long run, will be useful not only for all the other promising hypotheses of long-distance relationship…, but also for further research on uncontroversial families of small time depth, including Indo-European itself.

Part of the problem may be that PIE, as currently reconstructed, reflects a time depth that is out of sync with the other languages to which it can be meaningfully compared. This problem was noted by Winfred Lehmann almost twenty-five years ago. He wrote,

Proto-Indo-European is reconstructed on the basis of languages attested in the second millennium B.C. It may then be dated in the third millennium, with possible extension to the fifth. No one assumes that date for Proto-Afroasiatic, since we have Egyptian and Akkadian texts from the third millennium. The two languages differ from one another considerably so that Proto-Afroasiatic must be dated from a much earlier time. For reconstructing Nostratic, a far earlier form of Indo-European must then be reconstructed than that in the well-known handbooks.³

What follows is a presentation of evidence suggesting the presence of grammatical or dialectical variants within the reconstructed roots of the PIE lexicon. By recognizing such variants and reconstructing their common source it may be possible to recover an earlier stage of the proto-language, one that is more amenable to longer-range comparisons.

This investigation is entirely focused on roots and root structure. It starts by noting three well-established phonetic variations that can occur in PIE roots that do not affect their semantic value: the s-mobile, vowel ablaut, and the nasal infix. It continues by suggesting three additional types of root modification that likewise do not change semantic values.

The examples cited involve roots that appear to reflect the deepest strata of the language. Their meanings involve primal human activities: breathing, hunting, social structure, conception and birth, preparing and sharing out food, seeing and knowing, fighting, and building with earth. This observation suggests that the phonetic mutations involved must have originated at a time-depth significantly older than the so-called "period of PIE unity" around 4,500 BC.

Another indication that these mutations are ancient is the degree of fluidity exhibited in the root structure. What we see is not mere tinkering around the edges of roots with prefixes and suffixes, but rather significant transformations in the very structure of the root itself. It would be surprising if such transformations were to occur in a later period when, by comparison, root structure in PIE had already become much more stabilized.

The argument for the existence of these fundamental root transformations is that they are consistent and widespread. The semantic values of roots, despite phonetic transformations, generally cluster in tight fields of meaning, typically not more divergent than that seen within individual roots widely accepted as part of the PIE lexicon. Occurrences of the universally recognized s-mobile, can, for example, be shown in sufficient quantity to establish its unquestioned place in the proto-language.⁴ Like the s-mobile, the following three types of root-variation occur widely in the PIE lexicon.

1. Resonant Variation

Two earlier papers by the present author⁵ suggested that resonant-variation within a fixed consonant structure can occur with little or no semantic effect on PIE roots. This is an archaic feature of the language that must have occurred during the pre-Proto-Indo-European period. Despite the passage of time, the core semantic field of the roots remains narrow, intact and identifiable. The following briefly summarizes the conclusions of those earlier papers about the structure of the archaic Proto-Indo-European root:

• The root structure can be generalized as *(s)-C [+/- R (R)] -C-, where (s) is the s-mobile, C is any consonant, and R is any resonant or laryngeal (or a zero-grade of the same). Any additional element that follows the final consonant is a root-extension, a derivational ending, a suffix, or the remnant of some ancient compound that will not have been a part of the original root.
• The initial and final consonants together carry the semantic core of the root. Medial resonants may provide nuance but do not significantly change the underlying semantic value.
• Inside the stable consonant-structure are combinations of the neutral PIE vowel and either zero, one, or two resonants that act as vowel modifiers. These are represented in generalized form as (R) in the descriptions that follow.⁶
• The resonants may include any of the following: r, l, n, m, u̯, i̯, h₁, h₂, h₃, or ∅ = zero-grade. Inside the root, laryngeals function as do the other resonants.⁷ The resonant *m- most typically reflects an *n- that has been assimilated to a following labial.
• All of these resonants functioned as semivowels. That is, in addition to their ability to modify the vowel, they could at times act as an unchanging consonantal element. Resonants do not vary when they function as consonants in the root-initial or root-final positions of closed roots (CRC-) nor do they vary when they stand in the initial position of open roots (CR-).
• Regarding the source of these resonant variants, two possible explanations readily present themselves: (1) Pre-Proto-Indo-European employed resonant infixes grammatically in order to form derivatives, or (2) The observed resonant variation is the result of a fusion of closely related dialects.⁸
• Over time, the genetic affiliations of the root-variants were forgotten. These are the PIE roots as we know them today.⁹

2. Radical Metathesis (Inversion)

A root in the form C₁RC₂- can change to the form C₂RC₁- without semantic alteration. This is not an unfamiliar concept since several widely accepted PIE roots are noted for exhibiting this feature. The following are a few examples:

• *d^héĝ^h-om-, the PIE term for earth was for many years analyzed as *ĝ^hđem, with the dental element in final position as reflected in Grk χθών 'earth.' With the 20th century discoveries of Hittite and Tocharian (Hit tēkan 'earth,' TochA tkaṃ 'earth') this root became re-analyzed with the dental as the initial element. Consequently, those attestations of the root with the dental in the final position are considered to be instances of metathesis.¹⁰
• *dn̥ĝ^hu̯h₂-, the PIE term for tongue, is attested in Old Irish as tengae, Old Latin as dingua, and in Modern English as tongue. But Tocharian A shows an inverted form käntu, Tocharian B kantwo, both from Proto-Tocharian *käntwo, where the dental element appears in final position.¹¹
• *pek^u̯-, a PIE term for 'cook, boil, bake' is widely attested: Av pačaiti 'cooks,' OCS pekǫ 'bake, roast,' Alb pjek 'bake,' Skt pácati 'cooks,' TochAB päk 'become ready for eating,' and many others. But also included within that root are Lith kepù 'bake,' and Latv cepu 'bake,' with the initial and final consonants in inverted position.¹² As with the previous examples, these are semantically identical with the non-inverted forms.
• *kannabis, the generalized term for hemp among the Indo-European languages, although somewhat irregular in its various formulations, shows a fairly consistent phonetic pattern: OIr cnāip 'hemp,' Lat cannabis 'hemp,' ON hampr 'hemp,' OE hænep 'hemp,' OPrus knapios 'hemp,' Grk κάνναβις 'hemp,' Arm kanap' 'hemp.' But the Sanskrit attestation bhanga 'hemp' shows inversion, with the labial first and the velar last.¹³ This would also be an instance of Phonetic Reduction as described below in Section 3.
• *(s)peḱ- is a common PIE term for see. It is attested in Ved páśyati 'behold, see, look, consider,' Lat speciō 'see, look at,' OHG spehōn 'spy, watch, be on the lookout for,' Av spasyeiti 'spies,' and TochAB päk 'intend.' But Greek cognates show the root in inverted form: σκέπτομαι 'look at,' σκοπέω 'look at, spy.'¹⁴
• *ḱeu̯d^h- 'to hide' shows reflexes in Germanic, Greek, and Armenian: OE hȳdan 'to hide,' Grk κεύθω, κευθάνω 'to hide,' Arm suzanem 'hide.' But inverted (metathesis) forms exist alongside these and are considered attestations of the same root: OE dēog 'he concealed himself,' dēagol 'secret, hidden, mysterious,' OHG tougan 'hidden,' tougali 'secret,' TochB tuk- 'be hidden,' all from *d^heu̯ḱ-.¹⁵
• Lat forma 'form,' Grk μορφή 'form.'¹⁶
• *h₂éḱ-mōn 'stone' is represented by Lith akmuō 'stone,' Grk ἄκμον 'anvil,' Hit aku 'stone,' Skt āśman 'stone,' but also OCS kamy 'stone,' and Serbo-Croatian kamēn 'stone.' These last two "are isolated and point to *keh₂mōn which would seem to represent a metathesis of *h₂ék-…".¹⁷
• *b^hag- 'beech/oak/elm/a tree with edible acorns' as attested in Grk φηγός 'a sort of oak with edible acorns,' Lat fāgus 'beech,' Germanic bōkō 'beech, oak,' but Lith guoba 'elm' with the initial and final consonants in metathesis position.¹⁸
• *pn̥k^u̯st- 'fist,' as attested in OCS pęstĭ 'fist,' and NE fist, but Lith kùmstė 'fist.'¹⁹
• *d^hei̯ĝ^h- 'form, build, mold mud or clay, knead, smear, plaster; wall of mud bricks' as attested in: Skt dḗhmi 'spread, fill,' dḗhī 'wall, rampart, dam,' Goth digan 'form, fashion, knead, make pottery,' ON deig 'dough', digr 'thick,' NE dough, TochB tsikale 'to form,' Lat fingō, finxī 'form, shape,' figūra 'form, shape, figure,' fictilis 'fashion out of clay, made of earth or clay,' figulus 'potter,' Av pairi-daēza- 'enclosure' (> NE paradise); Grk τεῖχος, τοῖχος 'wall, embankment,' OIr digen 'build, firm, solid, hard, strong, fixed.' But metathesis forms (from *ĝ^heid^h-) include: Lith žiedžiù 'form from mud,' žiēsti 'make clay pots, form, shape,' Latv zìežu 'smear,' OCS ziždǫ, zьdati 'build.'²⁰

In all of these examples the attested metathesis-variants are recognized alongside the non-inverted forms as genetically related descendants of the PIE roots cited. But in addition to these cases, there are numerous instances where distinct synonymous roots in the lexicon differ only in the inverse order of the initial and final consonant. In some cases this structure is obscured by variations in the medial resonants as described above, but once these obscurities are resolved the parallelism becomes evident. More such examples will be cited below.

Although regular metathesis is not uncommon in world languages, this type of radical metathesis with inversion in the ordering of non-contiguous root consonants is considered rare. One significant exception can be found in the Salish language family spoken by indigenous people in the Pacific Northwest. This language group shares many features with PIE and is more fully described in the Appendix.

3. Phonetic Reduction

Another type of root mutation could be called reduction. This concept is also familiar, since something very close to it is seen in Tocharian (and to some extent in Hittite) where the rich PIE obstruent inventory has been reduced to include only the simple, unvoiced, unaspirated (lenis) forms.²¹ It has been suggested that this change may have been due to the influence of a substrate language with a similarly limited range of obstruents.²² This same dynamic can be seen in distinct synonymous PIE roots. Obvious examples are often remarked upon in the standard handbooks such as, for example:

• *gol(H)u̯os 'bare, bald' ~ *kl̥Hu̯os 'bald'²³
• *-d^hro-, *d^hlo- = instr. suffix ~ *-tro-, *-tlo- = instr. suffix²⁴
• *h₂eng- 'bend' ~ *h₂enk- 'bend'²⁵
• *peh₂ĝ- 'fasten securely' ~ *peh₂ḱ- 'fasten securely'²⁶
• *pei̯ĝ- 'draw, color' ~ *pei̯ḱ- 'draw, color'²⁷
• *sred^h- 'boil, be agitated, move' ~ *sret- 'boil, be agitated, move noisily'²⁸
• *b^hend^h-r̥ros 'relation' ~ *pent-h₂r̥ros 'father-in-law'²⁹
• *h₂eu̯g- 'increase, become strong' ~ *h₂eu̯k-s- 'grow, become large'³⁰
• *greh₂b^h- 'hornbeam' ~ *karp- 'hornbeam'³¹
• *g^hab^h- 'take, seize' ~ *kap- 'have, hold, seize'³²
• *pleh₂g- 'strike, beat' ~ *pleh₂k- 'strike, beat'³³
• *ḱu̯oi̯dis 'white' ~ *ḱu̯oi̯tós 'white'³⁴
• *sab- 'sap' ~ *sap- 'sap'³⁵
• *stei̯b- 'make stiff' ~ *stei̯p- 'make stiff'³⁶
• *dei̯ĝ- 'teach, show, indicate' ~ *deiḱ- 'preach, say, index'³⁷
• *u̯ei̯b^h- 'vibrate, be agitated' ~ *u̯ei̯p- 'move back and forth, vibrate'³⁸
• *g^heb^hōl 'head' ~ *kapolo- 'head'³⁹
• *ĝ^hr̥d- 'heart' ~ *ḱḗrd- 'heart'⁴⁰

Many more examples of this dynamic can be observed once the variation of medial resonants in PIE roots is allowed for. The evidence suggests that an ancient dialectical subset of PIE speakers experienced a phonetic influence similar to that which occurred in Tocharian, and then, during a later period of reunification with a group that had not experienced this linguistic change, the dialects became merged. The result is that, after this merger, synonymous pairs (doublets) coexisted within the basic vocabulary of PIE and these have persisted down into the various daughter languages. These synonyms are now considered separate roots, but they should, it will be argued, be seen as variants of an ancient original.

In their most strict formulation, these phonetic reductions can be summarized as follows:

• d, d^h became t
• b, b^h became p
• ĝ, ĝ^h became ḱ
• g, g^h became k
• g^u̯, g^u̯h became k or k^u̯

This is the system of correspondences that has been followed in the present paper even though there is evidence for crossover between /g/ and /ĝ/ in some cases, and /k/ and /ḱ/ in others. Such exceptions are often acknowledged in the standard handbooks, for example, in the root *pei̯k/pei̯ḱ.⁴¹ In this paper, the intention is to argue a fortiori, adhering to the sound-relationships described above in all but the rarest of cases (and then only when on good authority), but once these root-dynamics are conclusively demonstrated, it may be possible to allow more latitude going forward. Note that the reduced forms of the root could also undergo radical metathesis and resonant variation as described in the proceeding sections.

II. Examples of PIE Root Variants

None of these observations alter the inventory of PIE roots as they have been identified and catalogued by historical linguists over the last two hundred years. They merely assist in forming a meaningful grouping of those roots into more or less distantly related families. One benefit of this analysis would be to help facilitate longer-range comparisons with more distant language families, as these can meaningfully be compared only by using the earliest form of the proto-language.

The following examples will illustrate the three types of root variations as described above.

Root Variants for *ḱ(R)ei̯-

1. *ḱei̯- 'lie (down), rest, lie dead, bed, sleeping room'

Cluv zīyar(i) 'lie (down),' Hit kitta(ri) 'lie (down),' Grk κεῖμαι 'lie (down), lie dead, rest, remain, lie sick or wounded, have a fall (wrestlers),' κείω 'I will lie (myself) down,' κοῖτος 'layer, bed, sleep,' κοῖτη 'matrimonial bed, nest,' κοῖτών 'sleeping room.'⁴²

2. *ḱei̯-u̯-os- 'belonging to the household (hence > friendly, intimate, dear), wife, citizen, auspicious'

Lat cīvis 'citizen,' Osc ceus 'citizen,' OE hīwan 'household,' Latv sieve 'wife,' Skt śéva- 'trusty, friendly, kind, auspicious, dear.'⁴³

Mallory and Adams write: "Some derive this word from *ḱei̯- 'lie,' i.e. either 'those who lie together (in sleep)' or 'those who depend on one another'." See below for a metathesis version of this root (*u̯i̯ḱ-s-, *u̯oi̯ḱ-os-).

3. *ḱói̯-mos- 'household, village, home, cohabit with, marry, dear, family, sleep, farm'

OIr cāem 'dear,' MWels cu/cuf 'dear,' ON heimr 'abode, world,' heima 'home,' OE hām 'home,' hǣman 'have intercourse with, cohabit with, marry,' Goth haims 'village, country,' NE home, OPrus seimīns 'household servants,' Lith šiemà 'family,' Latv sàime 'family,' OCS sěmija 'household servants,' sěmĭja 'family,' Grk κώμη 'village,' κοιμάομαι 'sleep.'⁴⁴

4. 2.*ḱei̯- 'fall'

Ved áva-śīyate 'fall out or away,' śad 'fall, fell, throw down, slay, kill, destroy,' Cymr cwydd 'fall.'⁴⁵

Falling typically results in a horizontal (lying) position; hence the semantic connection to 1.*ḱei̯-. Some parallel English expressions are: "He fell into bed," or "She fell asleep." LIV suggests that this root may well be part of 1.*ḱei̯- 'lie (down)' since semantically lie can be seen to be the result of having fallen.

5. *ḱlei̯- 'bend, incline, lean on, recline, rest, lie down, fall, bed, sink, hut, nuptial bed'

Lat clīvus 'hill, slope, declivity,' NE lean, Lith šliẽti 'lean against,' Rus sloj 'layer, level,' Grk κλίνω 'cause to lean, incline, lean on, sink, bend, make one thing lean against another, lean it, rest it, recline, lie down, fall, fallen (leaves), fall (on knees), lie near, (med.) decline or wane,' κλισία 'place for lying down or reclining, sitting down to meals, hut, shed, booth, cot, cabin, couch, nuptial bed,' κλίσις 'bending, lying down, place for lying on, region,' κλινικός 'of or for a bed, a physician who visits his patients in their beds, bed ridden,' Ved śráyate 'lean oneself on,' śrāyá 'refuge, reliance, shelter, protection, house, dwelling, abode,' OHG hlinēn 'lean,' Alb fle 'sleeps.'⁴⁶

6. *ḱlei̯-s- 'cling to, embrace, attach to, unite, join, be connected'

Ved ā-ślíṣyet 'remain attached to,' -ślíṣya 'adhere, attach, cling to, clasp, embrace, unite, join.'⁴⁷

7. *u̯i̯ḱ-s-, *u̯oi̯ḱ-os- 'household, village, tribe, hamlet' (Metathesis variant of *ḱei̯-u̯-os-)

Grk οἶκος 'house, home, dwelling, room, chamber, household, servant, housemate,' οἰκέω 'live, dwell, inhabit, be situated,' Lat vīcus 'group of dwellings, village, hamlet,' Ved véśa 'house, dwelling, brothel,' veśya 'neighborhood,' Skt viśáti 'sit down, settle, enter,' vaiśya 'a man of the third caste,' OCS vьsь 'village, field,' Rus ves' 'village.'⁴⁸

This and the following root conform closely to the semantic field as seen in the foregoing roots. They are metathesis formations of *ḱei̯-u̯-os- (no. 2, above). The /u̯/ of the root extension in *ḱei̯-u̯-os- was apparently taken at one point as the final consonantal element of the original root and then subjected to metathesis.

8. *u̯rei̯ḱ- 'cover, protect, construct, conceal'

OE wreón 'protect, conceal, clothe, cover,' Lith rišù 'bind, unite, combine, a band, compingō ('fix, attach, fix together, bind, together, build, construct, put together,'), introligō (fasten, bind, unite in harmony or kinship),' YAv uruuaēsaiieiti 'turn, twist.'⁴⁹

The semantic field encompassed by this root seems to refer to the communal process of constructing the shelters that comprise the οἶκος or vīcus. Notions of turning and twisting could refer to the techniques of building with wattle and daub, where withies are twisted and woven to create a lattice which can then be filled by a mixture of clay and straw.⁵⁰

Semantic Commonality in this Series

Table 2 illustrates the large degree of semantic overlap that each root shares with the other roots in this resonant series. These can be summarized as follows:

1. 1.*ḱei̯- shares some semantic values with 7 other roots in the series.
2. *ḱei̯-u̯-os- shares some semantic values with 6 other roots in the series.
3. *ḱói̯-mos- shares some semantic values with 7 other roots in the series.
4. 2.*ḱei̯- shares some semantic values with 4 other roots in the series.
5. *ḱlei̯- shares some semantic values with 6 other roots in the series.
6. *ḱlei̯-s- shares some semantic values with 4 other roots in the series.
7. *u̯i̯ḱ-s- shares some semantic values with 6 other roots in the series.
8. *u̯rei̯ḱ- shares some semantic values with 6 other roots in the series.

Estimate of Statistical Validity

Disregarding medial resonants, the entire PIE lexicon contains eight roots with the consonantal form *ḱ—i̯.⁵¹ As shown in the table above, six of those roots share a semantic field that includes the concepts:

• lie down, fall down, recline, rest
• persons to lie down with (wife, family, friends, tribe, community), or terms that relate to such people (dear, friendly, kind; embrace, cling to, unite)
• place to lie down (bed, home, room, village)

These six roots then represent 75% of all roots with this consonantal form in the PIE lexicon. Taking any one of these six roots as a starting point, what are the chances that seven roots, selected at random from the approximately 1,500 roots in the PIE lexicon, would yield five more that fall within this semantic field? No doubt, the chances would be extremely small. This suggests that some other factor accounts for their higher than expected frequency. That factor is very probably that they are ultimately cognate.

It remains to analyze the metathesis forms *u̯i̯ḱ-s- and *u̯rei̯ḱ-. Disregarding medial resonants, the entire PIE lexicon contains only two roots with the consonantal forms i̯—ḱ (none) or the extended form *u̯— i̯ḱ.⁵² Of those two roots, both share a semantic field that includes the concepts:

• house, dwelling, village, tribe
• cover, protect, construct (the characteristics of a house or dwelling)

Combining all instances of roots showing either the direct or metathesis forms (*ḱ—i̯, i̯—ḱ, and the extended form *u̯— i̯ḱ) results in ten roots, with eight sharing the semantic field of Table 1. Thus 80% of the phonetic forms share in this semantic field, vastly more than would be expected from a random sampling of roots in the reconstructed PIE lexicon.

* * *

Root Variants for *p(R)eu̯-

The following table illustrates a resonant series composed of elements that are each traditionally considered separate roots in PIE. The semantic field is tightly concentrated on notions of breathing, blowing, panting, gasping, snorting, wind and spirit. Those roots that reference lungs, floating, and swimming can be included here because the lungs are the organ of breathing, and both floating and swimming require the lungs to be filled with breath. While the ultimate source of these roots was no doubt onomatopoeic,⁵³ its elaboration using resonant variants is clearly derivative.

Note that the root-final /u̯-/ does not act as a variable resonant, but rather as a fixed final consonant that is consistent across all the roots in this series. Any element following this final consonant is a root extension or suffix. As mentioned above, semi-vowels have the ability to function either as vowels or consonants, and in this case the function is unvaryingly consonantal and structural.

1. *preu̯-th₂- 'pant, blow, breathe heavily, gasp, snort, inflate, foam, froth'

Ved próthati 'pant, blow, breathe heavily, gasp, snort,' pra-prōthati 'pant, blow up, inflate,' YAv fraoθaṯ.aspa- 'with snorting horse,' OE ā-frēoðan 'foam, froth,' ON frauð 'foam.'⁵⁴ Note that Pokorny also analyzes this root as *preu-t(h)-.

2. *pneu̯- 'blow, breathe, fragrance, pant, snort, wind, breath, blast, soul, spirit'

Grk πνέω 'blow, breathe, draw breath, fragrance,' πνέῦμα 'blast, wind, breath, spirit, soul,' ON fnýsa 'pant, blow, breathe heavily, snort,' OE fnēosan 'sneeze,' fnæst 'puff, blast, breath.'⁵⁵

3. *pleu̯-mon-, *pleu̯- 'lungs, right lung, float, swim, sail'

Skt klṓman- 'right lung,' Grk πλεύμων 'lung,' Lat pulmō 'pl. lungs,' Lith plaũčiai 'lungs,' ORus pljuča 'lungs,' Ved plávate 'swim, float,' Grk πλέω 'to sail, to swim,' TochB plyewsa 'float.'⁵⁶

The lungs are the instruments (organs) for breathing, panting, blowing, gasping and snorting, therefore they legitimately fit into the semantic field defined by the other roots in this series.

PIE *pleu̯- 'float, swim' has been seen as the source for Latin pulmō 'lungs' etc., but this is unlikely. Names for parts of the body generally do not derive from abstract concepts, rather the contrary is much more common. We say, for example, "the mouth of the river," "the foot of the mountain," "the head of the department," "the heart of the artichoke." For this reason, the concept "floating" is much more probably derived from the notion, "breath, breathe air into the lungs." The following two roots are clearly derivatives of *pleu̯- 'float, swim.'⁵⁷

4. *pleu̯-d- 'swim, flow, wash'

ON fljóta 'flow, wash, swim,' Lith pláudžiu 'to wind, to coil, wash,' OIr lúaidi 'move, put in motion, agitate,' ON fleyta 'push, lift up.'⁵⁸

5. *pleu̯-k- 'swim, push, set in motion, float, throw, fly, rush'

ON fliúga 'fly, rush,' Lith plaukiù 'swim, push, set in motion, float,' ON fleygja 'throw.'⁵⁹

6. *peu̯- 'pant, gasp, puff, wheeze, lungs, breath, wind, spirit, soul, foam, blast, bellows'

Skt phupphukāraka 'pant, gasp, puff, wheeze,' phuphusa 'lungs,' Arm (h)ogi 'breath, spirit, soul,' MIr ūan 'foam,' Grk φῦσα 'breath, wind, blast, bellows,' Latv pũga 'squall of wind.'⁶⁰

7. *peu̯-k- 'breathe, exhale, respire, pant, gasp'

Arm p'č'em 'breathe, exhale, respire, pant, gasp.'⁶¹

8. 2.*peu̯-H- 'to stink, rot, putrefy, decay'

Ved pū́yati 'decay, rot, stink,' YAv puiieti-ča 'putrefy, decompose, decay, molder, rot,' ON fúa, fúinn 'rot, putrefy,' feyja 'allow to rot,' Lith pūnù (pū́ti) 'rot, decay.'⁶²

The sensation of odors is carried by the breath, hence the semantic connection to this archaic root.

9. *peu̯-t- 'breathe, blow, swell, exhale'

Lith pučiù 'breathe, blow,' puntù 'swell, exhale.'⁶³

10. *u̯ep-, *u̯apōs- 'vapor, steam, exhalation, blow'

Lat uapor 'an exhalation, vapor, steam,' uaporium 'a room in which steam circulates for heating part of a bath suite,' uaporifer 'producing steam or hot vapor,' Skt vāpáyati 'causes to blow,' Skt vāṣpá / bāṣpá 'vapor, steam.'⁶⁴

Semantic Commonality in this Series

All of the members of this series share in a tight semantic field denoting: breathe, breathe heavily, pant, lungs, float, wind, vapor, spirit, scent. It appears that closed roots ending in a semi-vowel tend to attract (mostly obstruent) root-extensions to provide a kind of psychological closure in cases where that final could be mistaken for a medial resonant as in the various extended forms seen above.

Estimate of Statistical Validity

In addition to the nine roots listed in Table 3, five other PIE roots share in the closed consonantal structure *p—u̯- (or in a structure that could possibly be analyzed to that form).⁶⁵ Therefore nine out of fourteen roots (64%) bearing that consonantal structure share this semantic value. Taking any one of the roots in Table 3 as a starting point, a random sampling of thirteen additional roots out of the approximately 1,500 in the PIE lexicon would likely yield less than one semantic match. Eight matches would be improbable in the highest degree. How could this be explained other than by concluding that these roots are cognate?

In addition to the root *u̯ep-, *u̯apōs- 'vapor, steam, blow,' six other PIE roots bear the consonantal structure *u̯—p, none of which shares this semantic value.⁶⁶ The argument that this root is cognate to the others in Table 3 rests only on the observation that their consonantal structures are inverses of each other and that they share comparable semantic values. The level of confidence of this root being cognate to the others should perhaps be equal to our confidence that Latin speciō 'see, look at,' is cognate to the Greek words in inverted form: σκέπτομαι 'look at,' σκοπέω 'look at, spy.' If that is the case, then the likelihood of *u̯ep- being cognate to *peu̯- is high.

* * *

Root Variants for *g^u̯he(R)i̯d-

The semantic field encompassed by the following series of roots includes two primary concepts:

• shine, be bright
• see, find, know

The connection between these two concepts is readily apparent: Objects can be seen because they are bright, and once they have been seen, they are known. Some of the roots in this series combine both notions, others either one or the other. Together they form a tight sematic field.

They also share similar phonetic features:

• 11 out of 13 roots continue the initial labiovelar in one of the following three forms:
  1. Intact (g^u̯h, k^u̯)
  2. Separated (ku̯)
  3. Loss of one element (labial or velar) and retention of the other (k or u̯).
• 12 out of 13 show a medial resonant (R2) in /i̯/.
• 11 out of 13 show a root-final consonant /d/, or /t/ in the reduced variants. Of the remaining two, one could be considered a /t/ that has decayed into a sibilant and the other as a dental that has become lost.⁶⁷
• The other medial resonant (R1) shows limited variability: Those in /u̯/ reflect the labial element of the separated initial labiovelar and should therefore technically be considered as a medial resonant (R1) in /∅/. One root shows a medial resonant in /h₂/. In conclusion, 12 out of 13 are essentially R1 in /∅/.

It is not unusual for single PIE roots to encompass the two semantic values see and bright. Consider the root *leu̯k-, for example:

NWels amlwg 'evident,' OPrus laukīt 'seek,' OCS lučiti 'meet someone,' Grk λεύσσω 'see, look, examine,' Skt lókate 'see, behold, perceive, shine, locana 'illuminating, brightening,' ruc 'shine, be bright, radiant, to be splendid or beautiful or good,' Lat lūceō 'shine,' lux 'light,' Hit lukke- 'shine,' TochAB luk- 'shine.'⁶⁸

Another example can be found in Tocharian, where TochB ¹pälk 'see' corresponds to TochB ²pälk 'shine.'⁶⁹ See also *b^heh₂- 'light, bright, shine, light up, make visible, white' (Table 16 below).

1. *g^u̯heh₂i̯d- 'bright, clear, shining'

Grk φαίδιμος 'shining, noble,' φαιδρός 'bright, clear, joyous,' φαιδύνω 'to make bright, cleanse, cheer up,' φαιδυντής 'purifier,' φαιδιμόεις 'shining, radiant, glistening,' Lith giẽdras 'clear, bright,' gaidrùs 'fine, clear, bright, limpid,' gaidrà 'cloudless heaven, clear weather.' Latv dziedre 'clear, cloudless heavens.'⁷⁰

2. *u̯ei̯d- 'see, find, know, seek'

Lat uīdī 'see,' videō 'to see,' Ved ávidat 'have found,' vindáti 'find,' véda 'to know,' Grk εἶδον 'see, perceive,' εἴδομαι 'appear, seem, resemble,' ἰδανός 'fair, good-looking,' ἰδέα 'appearance, form,' ἰδεῖν 'behold, recognize,' ἰδυῖοἰ 'witnesses,' οἶδα 'to know,' Goth wait, witum 'know,' OCS vědě 'to know.'⁷¹

3. *(s)u̯ei̯d- 'shine, gleam, sparkle'

Lith svidėti 'shine, gleam,' Latv svîstu 'become bright,' svīst 'break of day,' OE switol 'clear,' Av xvaēna 'glowing,' Lat sīdus 'star, planet, constellation, heavenly body,' consīderō 'to observe, examine, look at.'⁷²

4. *di̯eu̯-os 'heaven, divine, god, the light of day'

Grk δῖος 'belonging to heaven, godlike,' Ζεύς 'Zeus, heaven, god of heaven,' Lat deus 'a god, deity,' Iūpiter 'Jupiter,' Diespiter 'Father Jupiter,' diu 'by day,' diēs 'day, daytime,' Lith diẽvas 'god,' Hit sius 'god,' Skt devá 'god,' dív 'heaven, the sky,' dívā 'day,' divyá 'divine, heavenly, celestial, wonderful, charming, beautiful,' ON Tyr, 'god of war,' OE Tīw 'god of war,' NE Tuesday.⁷³

5. *di̯eu̯-t 'shine, be bright, star, to see'

Ved dyutāná 'to shine, be bright or brilliant,' dyút 'shining, splendor, ray of light,' dyota 'light, brilliance,' dyótana 'shining, illuminating, enlightening, seeing, sight,' jyótis 'light, brightness (of the sky), the heavenly bodies, planets, stars,' Palaic Tiyat- 'the sun.'⁷⁴

6. *dei̯- 'bright, shining, seen'

Grk δέατο 'is seen, appeared, seemed,' δῆλος 'clear, visible,' Skt dīdeti 'shines, is bright,' ON teitr 'glad.'⁷⁵

This root is traditionally seen as the basis for the previous two roots in this series. The fact that the others show a final consonant in /u̯/ (including the metathesis forms) raises the question of whether or not they were all constructed on an extended form in /u̯/, or whether, on the other hand, the final was lost in this root. The latter explanation is most likely.

7. *k^u̯ei̯t- 'shine, appear, observe, know'

Ved cétati 'perceive, observe, take notice, understand, know, appear,' cikitvás 'knowing, understanding, shining,' Latv škìetu 'to shine, to think,' Rus čitát' 'read,' Czech čítati 'read, count.'⁷⁶

As noted above, roots sharing the semantic values bright, visible, see, and know are not uncommon in PIE.

8. *ku̯ei̯t- 'shine, glisten, sparkle, bloom'

Latv kvitu 'shine, sparkle,' OCS cvisti 'bloom.'⁷⁷

9. *ḱu̯ei̯t- 'light up, shine, be bright, white'

Skt śvíndate 'to lighten,' śvetá 'white, bright,' śvitrá 'whitish,' Av spaēta 'white,' Lith švitėti 'shine shimmer,' švaitaũ 'make bright,' OCS svьěti 'shine,' ORus svьnuti 'become bright, dawn,' NE white (< *ḱ^u̯ei̯d-).⁷⁸

LIV calls *ku̯ei̯t- the "Kentum-Form of ḱu̯ei̯t-" implying that the two are ultimately cognate (LIV 375n1 of lemma *ku̯ei̯t-). Based on that authority, ḱu̯ei̯t- is included in this series despite the initial /ḱ/.

10. *kei̯t- 'be bright, shine, lighten'

Ved cetati 'shine, appear, stand out,' citrá 'visible, shining, bright, appearance,' ciketa 'has lightened,' Av ciθra- 'shining, visible,' Goth haidu- 'appearance,' ON heið 'clear heavens,' heiðr 'clear,' OHG heitar 'radiant, shining.'⁷⁹

11. *k^u̯ei̯- 'observe, take notice, perceive, see'

Ved cā́yati 'take notice, observe,' cinóti 'perceive,' Grk τηρός 'guardian,' τηρέω 'observe, watch over, guard, give heed to,' OIr ad-ci 'sees,' Lith skaitaũ 'count, read,' OCS čĭtǫ 'count, reckon, read.'⁸⁰

This root is traditionally seen as the basis of the extended root *k^u̯ei̯t- 'shine, appear, observe, know.' Considering, however, that the vast majority of the roots in this series show a final dental, it is more likely that *k^u̯ei̯- reflects an instance where the original final was lost.

12. *k^u̯ei̯s- 'see, take note, perceive'

OAv cōišt 'decide,' OIr :ac-castar 'was seen,' :ac-cae 'saw, has seen,' ad:cichestar 'will be seen,' Gall pissíiumí 'will see.'⁸¹

According to LIV (381n1), this root is cognate to *k^u̯ei̯- 'observe, take notice, perceive, see.' The final in /s/ may indicate a /t/ in process of being lost, as seen in the previous root.

13. *tu̯ek- 'be visible, the visible form'

Hit dukkāri 'is visible, is seen, is important,' tuekk(a) 'the body,' Ved tvāc- 'skin.'⁸²

* * *

Root Variants for *g^u̯e(R)b^h-

1. *g^u̯reb^h-, *g^u̯erb^h- 'fetus, embryo, child, foal'

Grk βρέφος 'babe in the womb, fetus, newborn babe, foal, whelp, cub, nestling,' βρεφόω 'form into a fetus, engender,' OCS žrēbę (< *g^u̯erb^hen-) 'foal,' MIr brommach 'foal.'⁸³

2. *g^u̯elb^h- 'womb, uterus, young animal'

OE cilfor-lamb 'ewe lamb,' OHG kilbur 'ewe lamb,' Grk δελφύς 'uterus,' δέλφαξ 'young pig,' δελφάκειος 'female pudenda,' δελφίς 'dolphin (fish with womb, i.e. mammal),' Av gərəbuš- 'newborn animal,' and from *g^u̯olb^ho- 'womb, fruit of womb,' ON kalfr 'calf,' OE cealf 'calf,' NE calf, OHG chalb, chalp 'calf,' Goth kalbō 'calf,' Grk (Hesychius) δολφός 'womb,' Av garəwa- 'uterus,' Skt gárbha- 'to conceive, womb, uterus, fetus, embryo, child, brood offspring, a woman's courses,' Lat volba (& variants volva, vulva) 'womb,' Gall galba 'potbelly,' Ukr helevo 'belly.'⁸⁴

3. *g^(u̯)emb^h- 'womb, vulva, slit, deep down, sexual intercourse'

Skt gabhīrá-, gambhīrá- 'deep,' gambha-, gámbhan-, gambhára- 'depth, slit, vulva,' gambhv-epas 'moved deeply or inwardly, deeply excited,' gabhi-shák 'deeply down, down or within,' jambh (also jabh) 'to know carnally,' jambhana 'sexual intercourse.'⁸⁵

4. *g^u̯ei̯b^h- 'dive, covet, female pudenda, vibrate, fornication, lewdness' (Proposed root)

TochA kip 'female pudenda,' TochB kwīpe 'female pudenda,' Lat uibrō 'vibrate, become excited, catamite, be homosexual,' Grk δῑφάω 'dive, covet, seek,' YAv vaēpaiiaṇt 'fornication, lewdness.'⁸⁶

5. *g^u̯eh₁b^h- 'something slimy, young animal, woman, wetness, vibrate, emit fluid'

OSax quappa 'eel pout,' MHG quappe 'tadpole, belly,' ON kvap 'something slimy or gelatinous' (IEW 466), Swed-dial (s)kvebba 'fat woman,' NE quab 'bog, mire,' NE quaver 'shake, vibrate,' Norw-dial kvapa 'emit a fluid or liquid,' Old Prussian gabawo 'toad,' OCS žaba 'toad.'⁸⁷

6. *g^u̯eh₂b^h- 'dive, plunge, deep, become hard, dye with blood or other colorants'

ON kafa 'dive, plunge,' kvefja 'dip, submerge,' OSwed kvaf 'depth,' Grk βάπτω 'dip, plunge, dip a sword into a liquid in order to temper the steel, become hard, to dye, to dye someone with their own blood (cutting by sword), draw water by dipping.'⁸⁸

7. *g^u̯eb^h- Proposed Root: 'sexual intercourse, masturbate, soften with the hand'

Grk δέφω 'soften by working with the hand, masturbate, have sexual intercourse,' present tense variant (taboo deformation?) δέψω 'work or knead a thing until it is soft,' Lat depsō 'work up into a paste, knead, soften by rubbing or squeezing in one's hands, to pound or beat in an obscene sense, shamelessness in sexual conduct, "apparently of sexual intercourse."⁸⁹

Latin depsō is considered to be from the Greek, but it preserves the original sexual denotation as attested in Grk δέφω. Neither of these words has a known PIE etymology.

8. *b^heg^u̯- 'womb, vulva, desirous of sexual pleasure, woman, wife, sister, flee, fear'

Ved bhága 'love, affection, sexual passion, amorous pleasure, dalliance, the female organ, pudendum muliebre, vulva,' bhága-deva 'whose god is the female organ, lustful, a libertine,' bhágam-dara 'lacerating the vulva,' bhága-bhakshaka 'living by the vulva, a procurer, pander,' bhagâṅkura 'the clitoris,' bhagâsya 'whose mouth is used as a vulva,' bhaginī 'sister (sibling with a womb),' bhagaḥ 'female sexual organ, vulva,' Grk φέβομαι 'to flee,' φοβέω 'frighten away,' OLith bėgmi 'run, flee,' ORus běgu 'run,' Hindi bhāgnā 'flee.'⁹⁰

In ancient (and in modern tribal) societies, in case of enemy attack, the men grab their weapons and run to meet the foe, while it is the responsibility of the women to gather up the children and to flee to safety in the surrounding forest. Hence, whether justified or not, the propensity to flee in fear is commonly ascribed to members of the female gender.⁹¹

Since Sanskrit is a satem language, the reflex of this root would have been bhag, which is identical to the form taken by another root *b^heg-, *b^hag- 'divine apportioner, God (Slavic bogŭ 'God,' Rus bog 'God,' Av baγa- 'God,' Skt bhága- 'lord'), Av bag 'distribute,' Skt bhájati 'divides, distributes, portion,' Grk φάγειν 'eat,' TochB päke 'share, portion.'⁹² Over time these two roots have fallen together in Sanskrit because of their identical phonetic form, but semantically they are quite distinct. For this reason I have here treated them as two separate roots. The root *b^heg-, *b^hag- 'share, portion,' has been analyzed below in Table 11.

9. *b^horg^u̯-os 'foolish, silly, stubborn, capricious, unrefined, ignorant, angry, furious'

Arm bark 'furious,' OIr borb, borp 'foolish, silly,' MIr borb (*burbo-, PIE *b^horg^u̯o-) 'unrefined, ignorant,' Latv baȓgs 'stern, unfriendly, unmerciful,' Swed dial. bark 'stubborn, capricious, unfriendly,' barkun 'coarse.'⁹³

In this case again, ancient female stereotypes are expressed.

10. *b^herg^u̯- 'feed, nourish, tend'

Grk φέρβω 'nourish, feed, tend, preserve,' φορβὰς κόρη/γυνή 'prostitute,' Myc po-qa /p^horgwā/ 'feed, nourish,' φέρβήτης 'herdsman.'⁹⁴

Greek φέρβω is considered by Beekes to be an agricultural term without PIE etymology. Women are, however, anatomically adapted to provide nourishment to their children: to feed, nourish, and tend them. This biological and social dynamic conforms to the general semantic field of the resonant series under discussion here.

11. *b^hleg^u̯- 'blood vein, womb, vulva, buttocks, embryo, fetus'

Grk φλέψ, φλεβός 'vein,' φλεβοτομέω 'bleed, let blood,' φλεβάζονες · βρύοντες (Photius, Etymologicum Magnum 795.43: βρύω 'to swell, teem with,' βρυασμός 'pleasure,' ἔμβρυον 'newborn (lamb), fetus, that which grows inside the womb,' English embryo), OHG bolca, bulchunna (*b^hl̥g^u̯-) 'bulla,' Lat bulla 'bubble, "compare Lith bulìs"' (OLD 244). Lith bulìs 'buttocks, arse, vulva.'⁹⁵

According to both Beekes and DELG, there is no known PIE etymology for Grk φλέψ, φλεβός, with Frisk stating that it is an unsolved riddle. The semantics of this particular root, however, intersect very directly with the overall trends within this series: female anatomy, sexual functioning, reproduction, child bearing, and the woman's place in society. First, a highly marked female characteristic is the swelling of their bodies that occurs during pregnancy. Second, the monthly flow of blood from their reproductive organs strongly distinguishes them from males. Third, the sexual act is linked to feelings of pleasure. Fourth, women are unique in that they are able to bring forth young from their bodies.

12. *ke^u̯p- 'desire, covet, vibrate, be in a passion, vulva'

ON hjúfa 'moan,' Skt kupyati 'shake, tremble, thrill, vibrate, to be moved, be excited, be agitated, be in a passion,' Lat cupiō 'wish, want, desire,' cupiditās 'passionate desire, longing, yearning, lust, passion, the object of one's desire,' cupidus 'eager for carnal pleasure, wanton, lecherous, passionately longing,' cupītus 'that which one desires, beloved,' Ved kopáyati 'shake, quake, vibrate, be in a passion,' Slav *kъpъ, Czech kep 'vulva.'⁹⁶

13. *k^u̯elp- 'womb, vagina, gulf, arched or vaulted ceiling'

Grk κόλπος 'bosom, lap, vagina, womb, bay, gulf, fold of garment,' ON holf 'the domed, arched, curved, or vaulted ceiling of a room,' OHG be-welben 'surround, encircle, curve or arch over.'⁹⁷

14. *k^(u̯)lep- 'desire'

Av xrap- 'desire,' TochAB kulyp- 'desire.'⁹⁸

15. *krep- 'body, belly, womb, uterus, midriff'

OHG (h)rëf 'belly, womb, uterus,' OFris href 'belly,' OE hrif 'womb, uterus, belly,' mid(h)rif 'midriff,' Grk πραπίς 'diaphragm,' Lat corpus 'the body, the generative powers, to live by prostitution (corpore quaestum facere), the center of certain physiological needs and desires, especially as representing the grosser elements in human nature,' Skt kr̥pá 'form, beauty,' Av kəhrpəm 'form, body,' MIr crī 'body' (< kr̥pes).⁹⁹

16. *k^(u̯)emp- 'tremble, shake, quiver, vibrate'

Ved sam-pra-kampante 'tremble, shake, quiver, vibrate, to be in excited motion,' kampáyāmi 'let shake, tremble, vibrate,' YAv kafsąn 'shake, tremble, quiver, vibrate.' Possibly Lat concumbō 'to lie together (for sexual intercourse).'¹⁰⁰

17. *k^(u̯)Rep-H 'yearn for, desire, lament'

Ved akr̥payat 'yearn for, desire, lament,' Kr̥ipaṇya 'wish, desire, pray for,' cakr̥pánta 'desire, wish for, long for, hanker after, crave.'¹⁰¹

18. *pleh₂k- 'appease passions and appetites, find favor'

Lat placeō 'to be pleasing, to be sexually attractive to, to find favor,' complacēre 'to capture the affections of,' plācāre 'to make favorably disposed, appease,' plācō 'to make a person calm, to soothe, to appease passions and appetites,' TochB plāktsi 'agree,' TochA plākäm 'permission.'¹⁰²

19. *(s)plek- 'copulate' (Proposed Root)

Grk σπλεκόω, κατασπλεκόω 'to copulate, have sexual intercourse,' σπλέκωμα 'sexual intercourse,' πλεκοῦν 'have sexual intercourse.'¹⁰³

Beekes states that there is no known PIE etymology for these Greek terms.

20. *preK- 'fear, be afraid, frighten, danger'

TochB parskaṃ 'be afraid,' prāskaṃ 'will be afraid,' TochA praskatär 'fear,' proskiye 'fear, danger,' pärsk- 'feel fear, be afraid,' parski 'fear,' Goth faurhts 'frightened,' faurhtjan 'fear,' OHG, OSax forhta 'fear,' OE forht 'frightened.'¹⁰⁴

Those Tocharian attestations in /rsk/ are originally from prk-ske/o. The velar at final could be from k or from G(h), see LIV 491n1. Note that the meaning fear in this root corresponds to one semantic value of *b^heg^u̯ (as seen in Greek phobia) in root #8 above.

Using the Phonetic Grid as a Heuristic Guide

There is reason to believe that the presently reconstructed lexicon of PIE amounts to only about 10% of the spoken language that must have existed before the break-up of the daughter languages.¹⁰⁵ In the best case scenario there is evidence from eleven or twelve different stocks to support PIE root reconstructions, but many lexical items are reconstructed with far less support, some with as few as one or two stocks. No doubt there are many roots that have survived with only a trace or two here and there, but with insufficient evidence to be confidently accepted as established roots in the lexicon.

If, however, a word can be placed somewhere in the grid of a table like the one above, with a strong semantic conformity to the series as a whole, then it may be possible to assign a plausible and even convincing etymology for it.

In this way, new roots can be identified with a reasonable degree of confidence, since using gaps in the grid as a guide often leads to the discovery of attestations that would otherwise have escaped notice. Drawing from the history of another scientific field as a paradigm, empty gaps in the early development of the periodic table, in several instances, led chemists to discover the missing elements in question because they then knew what they were looking for.

Estimate of Statistical Validity:

1. Aside from the seven roots listed in Table 5, there are no other roots with the consonantal form *g^u̯—b^h in the reconstructed proto-language. Statistically, the chances of seven roots with this phonetic form all carrying similarly related semantic values (womb, woman, act of conception, embryo, offspring) are infinitesimal when compared to a random sampling of PIE roots. One must therefore conclude that other factors are involved, the most probable being that of genetic relationship, i.e., they are cognates. Note: An extensive discussion about the semantic connections between some of these roots can be found in Haynes (2020: Table 28). Space does not allow that discussion to be reproduced here.¹⁰⁶

2. Aside from those four roots listed in Table 5, the only other root with the consonantal structure *b^h—g^u̯ in the PIE lexicon is *b^hei̯g^u̯-, the meaning of which is obscure.¹⁰⁷ Four semantic matches out of five roots with this phonetic shape, despite some limited semantic divergence, far exceeds what would be expected in a random sampling.

3. Five of the six roots of the resonant series *k^(u̯)e(R)p- show /u̯/ in the phonetic structure, either in the character of the initial labiovelar or as a separate resonant element. It is doubtful that this is merely the result of coincidence; on the contrary, it raises the likelihood that these roots share a genetic connection. In all, there are about twenty roots (depending on how they are counted) with the phonetic form *(s)k^(u̯)e(R)p in the PIE lexicon,¹⁰⁸ six of which show a semantic value related to: womb, woman, vulva, vibrate, sexual excitement, desire, act of conception, embryo, offspring, as shown in Table 5. These six roots then represent 30% of all roots with this phonetic form in the PIE lexicon. Note especially that roots comprised of lenis consonants (p, t, k, ḱ) are more plentiful since they represent both those roots that carry such consonants organically, as well as roots whose consonantal elements are derived by reduction from voiced/aspirated originals.

In a random selection of twenty PIE roots, how many would be expected to carry this or a related semantic value? It is very unlikely that more than fifty PIE roots could be found with meanings that fall within this semantic field.¹⁰⁹ If it is assumed that the PIE lexicon contains approximately 1,500 entries,¹¹⁰ then fifty items would represent approximately 3% of the distinct semantic values in the lexicon. Therefore it would not be unreasonable to say that this correlation, by limiting selections to roots in the form (s)k^(u̯)e(R)p, is about ten times greater than if the selection were random.

* * *

Root Variants for *h₂(R)eĝ-

1. *h₂eĝ- 'lead, carry, fetch, bring; drive cattle, fight'

Lat agō 'drive cattle, drive off cattle as booty, plunder, of men: to force to move on, set in motion,' agitō 'set in motion, drive or ride horses, propel forcefully, drive before one,' Grk ἄγω 'of living creatures: lead, carry, fetch, bring; carry off as captives or booty, lead, guide, manage, keep,' ἀγός 'leader,' ἀγών 'gathering, assembly, battle,' ἀγέλη 'herd; herd of horses, oxen or kine; any herd or company, bands in which boys were trained,' ἀγελικός 'of the flock,' Ved ájati 'to drive,' ajá 'a drove, a troop, driver, leader, the leader of a flock, a he-goat, ram,' (with instrumental suffix -trā) aštrā 'whip, lash, scourge,' Skt ājí 'race, fight,' Arm acem 'leads,' OIr -aig, -agat 'drive, lead,' tāin (from *to-ag-no) 'raid,' ON aka 'go, travel, drive,' MIr āg 'fight, warrior's ardor,' TochAB āk- 'lead, guide, drive,' āśäṃ 'lead.'¹¹³

Leading or driving the flocks to fresh pastures and clean water sources is central to the semantic field denoted by this root series. Cattle raids were also clearly a part of ancient practice.¹¹⁴ The application of animal herd nomenclature to young human beings is common, as for example, the English use of the word, kids, to refer to human children.

2. *h₂eĝ-reh₂- 'hunt'

OIr ār 'carnage (especially by dogs), battlefield,' Wels aer 'battle,' Grk ἄγρα, ἄγρη 'hunting, the chase, way of catching, quarry, prey, game, fish,' ἀγρεμῶν 'hunter,' ἄγρευμα 'that which is taken in hunting, prey, means of catching, hunting or fishing, net, take by hunting or fishing, catch,' ἀγρηνόν 'net,' ἀγριμαῖος 'wild, wild game,' Av azrō 'hunt.'¹¹⁵

Of this root, EIEC states: "Although all are derived from *h₂eĝ- 'drive,' the antiquity of this loose set of comparisons is not clear. The Avestan term occurs in a compound hapax -azro-daiδim as an epithet of a she-wolf and is also translated as 'roaming in the fields'."

3. *h₂(ĝ)-er- 'gather, collect, capture'

Grk ἀγέροντο 'collect, get together, fetch,' ἀγρόμενοι 'collected,' ἀγρέω 'take, seize, capture,' ἀγορά 'assembly, place of assembly, marketplace,' TochB karāre 'gather, collect.'¹¹⁶

Rounding up animals for protection, milking, shearing, slaughter, or sale is a necessary part of normal animal husbandry. Seizing them is part of traditional cattle raiding.

4. *h₂eĝ-ros 'field'

Lat ager 'land, field, countryside,' Skt ájra 'field, plain,' Grk ἀγρός 'field,' OE æcer 'field,' NE acre 'field,' Arm art 'field.'¹¹⁷

Integral to the tending and care of flocks is providing them with adequate pasturage. The root *h₂eĝ-ros probably originally denoted hunting ground, which was later expanded to include animal pasture, and then any kind of field. It is not surprising that this resonant series combines notions of hunting and pasturing, since both concepts are tightly connected with the habitat of animals. Compare the unrelated OHG weidōn 'hunt, pasture' (Buck 191).

5. *h₂le(ĝ)- 'look after, care for, give careful attention to, gather up'

Grk αλέγω 'to mind, look after, care for,' Lat -legō, legere 'look after, care for,' dīligens 'fond of, careful, attentive, diligent,' dīligentia 'carefulness, attentiveness, give careful attention to,' legō 'gather up, count up, follow the track of.'¹¹⁸

6. *h₂melĝ- 'squeeze out, press out, milk animals'

Grk ἀμέλγω 'squeeze out, press out, to milk,' MIr bligim 'to milk' (< mligim), OE melcan, OHG melchan 'to milk,' Lith mélžu 'to milk,' Alb mjel 'to milk,' Lat mulgeō 'to milk,' TochA mālk 'milk.'¹¹⁹

7. *h₂merĝ- 'squeeze out, gather up, harvest, wipe clean, drive and graze animals'

Grk ἀμέργω 'squeeze out, pluck, gather, harvest,' ὀμόργνυμι 'wipe off,' ἀμοργός 'press out,' ἀμόργη 'the liquid that runs out when olives are pressed' (also Lat amurga, amurka), Ved mā́rṣṭi 'wipe off, clean,' YAv marəzaiti 'touch, strip off, take off,' Arm meržem 'expel, drive cattle out to graze.'¹²⁰

8. *h₂reh₁(ĝ)- 'help, aid, support, be concerned about, pay attention to, care for'

Grk άρήγω 'help, aid, succor, be good for, ward off,' ON røkja 'to be concerned, pay attention to, take care of,' OHG ruoh, ruohha 'pay attention to, take trouble for, care, attention, conscientiousness,' NE reck- (opposite of reckless 'carelessness').¹²¹

9. *h₂erĝ- 'white' *h₂erĝ-n̥t-om 'white metal: silver'

Skt árju-na-ḥ 'light, white,' rajatá 'white,' rajatám 'silver,' TochB ñkante 'silver,' Grk ἀργός 'white,' ἀργεννός 'white ("in Homer almost always of sheep" —LSJ 235), of woolen cloths,' ἄργυρος 'silver,' TochA ārki 'white,' OIr argat 'silver,' Lat argentum 'silver,' Av. ərəzatəm 'silver,' Arm arcat 'silver,' Hit harkis 'white.'¹²²

The use of this root to denote the concept white would be a result of observing the white fleecy sheep and lambs against the green pastures. This would then be applied to other white or light colored materials such as the metal, silver. For an outside linguistic connection between lamb and the color white in Basque, see Trask.¹²³

10. *h₂eiĝ-(s)- *h₂eĝos- 'goat'

Skt aja-karṇa 'goat's ear,' aja-kshīrá 'goat's milk,' ajajīvana 'goat herd,' ajapa 'goat herd,' ajaví 'goats and sheep, small cattle,' Alb edh 'kid,' Grk αἴξ 'goat,' αἰγο-βάτης 'goat slayer,' αἰγο-βοσκός 'goatherd,' αἰγο-φάγος 'goat eating,' Arm ayc 'she-goat,' Av izaēnā 'goat hide.'¹²⁴

Ancient flocks were most often composed of goats and sheep.

11. *h₂eĝ-inom 'hide, leather'

OCS (j)azno 'hide, leather,' Skt ajinam 'hide.'¹²⁵

12. 2.*h₂eĝ- 'proclaim, order, command, say' ('verbally lead or drive men, slaves, soldiers')

Grk ἦ 'say,' ἄν-ωγα 'command, order (especially of kings and masters), advise, urge, bid,' Lat aiō 'say, (of law) prescribe, lay down,' Arm asem 'say,' TochB ākṣäṃ 'announce, proclaim, instruct, issue a proclamation, recite.'¹²⁶

Since the root 1.*h₂(R)eĝ- 'lead, drive' was applied figuratively to groups of people, soldiers, troops, young boys, etc., as well as originally to animals, this may represent a semantic split where to order soldiers or slaves was conceptually equivalent to driving or leading them.

If this is true, then every PIE root with the structure *h₂(R)ĝ- is devoted to terms originally indicating the hunting, herding, feeding, tending, protecting, pasturing, leading, driving, gathering, and milking of flocks of animals. References to both goats and sheep (with their characteristic color) are evident.¹²⁷

13. *s(e)h₂(ĝ)- 'track, scent, trail, seek, lead, direct'

OIr -saig 'trace something, search, seek,' Goth sokjan 'seek, search, attack,' Lat sāgiō 'trace, track down, get the scent of,' Hit sākiya 'discover,' Grk ἡγέομαι 'lead, direct, drive.'¹²⁸

A word with uncertain etymology is Grk ἀγαπάω 'to regard with affection, to love, especially when directed toward children.' Later Christian terminology used the nominal, ἀγάπη to denote 'the love of God for man, and of man for God.' It has been suggested (DELG 1264, Beekes 8) that this word is a compound, ἀγά-πη, where -πη is the care and feeding denoted in the PIE root, *peh₂- (Haynes 2020: Table 68). The first element of this compound is conjectured to be the Greek intensive prefix ἀγά, but I suggest that it is more likely a reflex of the resonant series described above. Thus ἀγάπη is the care that a shepherd shows for his flock. The numerous instances in the scriptures where God is compared to a shepherd and human beings to his flock, would tend to support this hypothesis.¹²⁹

Some of the following terms were, in later times, commonly applied to human social behavior but probably originally referred to aspects of animal husbandry. This type of adaptation of language is well-attested, for example:

• NE kid 'young goat' applied to human children.
• PIE *u̯rētos 'flock, herd,' in OE wrǣþ 'herd of swine,' Skt vrā́ta- 'flock, swarm' applied to war bands of young men (NG Männerbünde) in ancient Indian society (vrātya).¹³⁰
• Lat grex 'assembly of animals, flock, herd, group of sheep, a litter, a brood,' was later expanded to include "a group of people assembled together, band, troop, company, dense mass of people, crowd, or (contemptuously) the undistinguished crowd, the ruck."¹³¹

14. *ĝi̯eH- 'steal, deprive someone of property, overpower, rob, grow old'

Ved jināti 'grow old, rob, deprive of,' YAv zināt 'rob, deprive of.'¹³²

15. *ĝeu̯H- 'drive, rouse, impel, be quick, animate, inspire'¹³³

Ved junā́ti, jávati 'press forwards, hurry on, be quick, impel, urge, rouse, drive, incite, excite, promote, animate, inspire,' apī-jū́ 'impelling,' dhī-jū́ 'inspiring the mind, rousing devotion,' yatú-jū́ 'incited or possessed by a yatú,' vayo-jū́ 'exciting or increasing strength,' viśva-jū́ 'all-impelling,' sánā-jū́ 'nimble or active from of old.'¹³⁴

16. *ĝemH- 'mate, marry, copulate, breed'

Grk γαμέω 'marry, copulate, have sexual intercourse,' Skt. jārá 'a paramour, lover, become old,' jā́mātṛi 'maker of new offspring.'¹³⁵

17. *ĝi̯eu̯H- 'eat, consume, devour, chew, masticate'

TochB śuwā-, śāwā-, TochA śuwat-, śuwaṃ 'eat (at), consume, devour,' TochB śwātsi- 'food,' eśuwatte 'not having eaten, having gone hungry,' NE chew, Rus žujú 'chew,' ževat' 'to chew,' NPers ǰāvīdan 'chew.'¹³⁶

18. *ĝerh₂- 'ripen, cause to grow old, become old'

Ved járanti 'allow to become old,' OCS –zoriti 'let ripen,' –zьrěti 'ripen,' Grk γηράω 'become old, ripen, bring to old age,' γηράσκω 'to get old.'¹³⁷

In Modern English we say, "I raise cattle for a living." This means that I breed cattle and nurture the young animals until they are mature (old) enough to sell in the market. I would suggest that the application of this root to old human beings is secondary.

19. *ḱemh₂- 'carry off as prize or booty, care for animals or men, toil, calm, soothe, settle'

Grk κομέω 'attend to, take care of (horses or men),' κομίζω 'take care of, provide for, attend, give heed to, carry off as a prize or booty,' κάμνω 'work, labor, toil, be weary from toil,' ἱπποκόμος 'who takes care of horses, groom,' Ved śamáyati 'pacify, calm, soothe, settle,' śaśamé 'toil at, become tired, rest, be quiet or calm or satisfied or contented,' śama 'tranquility, calmness, rest.'¹³⁸

20. *ḱleu̯H- 'wipe, sweep, brush, clean'

Lat cluere, cloare 'purify, Lith žemait 'wipe, sweep, brush, clean' OE hluttor 'clean, pure.'¹³⁹

21. *ḱei̯h₂- 'arouse, set in motion, urge on, drive'

Lat cieō 'move, set in motion, rouse to exertion, urge on, excite, stir up,' Grk κίω 'set in movement, move away,' κῑνέω 'drive away, set in movement, move to and fro, shake.'¹⁴⁰

22. *ḱrh₂-, *ḱerh₂- 'horn, head, deer, stag, cow, goat, horn for blowing and drinking'

Myc ke-ra 'horn (material),' Hit karāwar 'horn,' Grk κέρας 'the horn of an animal,' κάρα 'cattle, tame goat,' TochB karse 'deer, stag.'¹⁴¹

23. *(ḱ)u̯eh₂- 'gain, obtain, acquire, earn, possession'

Grk ἐπασάμην 'gain, obtain, acquire, earn, win,' πέπαμαι 'possession.'¹⁴²

24. *h₂eḱ-h₃- 'lead or drive to pasture, consume, eat up, tend, feed, graze'

ON ęja 'lead or drive to pasture, tend, feed, graze,' agn 'bait food for fish,' ǣja 'lead or drive to pasture, tend, feed, graze, rest, repose,' Ved āśayati 'cause to eat, feed,' aśnāti 'eat, consume,' āśa 'food, eating.'¹⁴³

25. *Hmelḱ- 'stroke lightly, touch, soothe, appease, caress, fondle'

Ved mr̥śáti 'touch, stroke, handle,' Lat mulceō 'touch lightly, stroke, caress, soothe, pacify, quiet, appease.'¹⁴⁴

26. *h₂er(ḱ)- 'keep, keep away, fend off, shut up, guard, ward off, defend'

Hit harzi, harkanzi 'have, hold, keep, retain,' Lat arceō 'keep close, contain, hold in, control, prevent from approaching, keep away, repulse, protect,' arca 'box, chest,' Grk ἀρκέω 'ward off, defend, keep off, assist,' Arm argehum 'hinder, restrain, hold back.'¹⁴⁵

27. *Hólḱ-is 'elk, wild sheep, antelope'

NE elk, Lat alcēs < West Germanic 'elk,' Grk ἄκλη < from West Germanic 'elk,' Rus losĭ 'elk,' Khot rūś 'sheep (Ovis poli),' Skt r̥śya 'male of antelope.'¹⁴⁶

28. *h₂eḱ- 'sharp, pointed, sharpen, sour, needle, grinding stone, hunting spear, prick'

MCymr hogi 'sharpen, hone,' OHG eggen 'harrow,' Lat aceō 'be sour,' acus 'needle,' Lith aš(t)rùs 'sharp,' OCS ostrŭs 'sharp,' Alb athët 'sour,' Grk ἀκή 'point, sharp,' Arm aseln 'needle,' NPers ās 'grinding stone,' Skt áśri 'sharp edge.'¹⁴⁷

29. *h₂ei̯ḱ-(smeh₂) 'spear, pointed stick, point of spear, arrow, impale, put on a spit'

Lith iẽšmis 'spit, spear,' Grk αἰχμή 'point of a spear, spear, point of an arrow, war, battle,' Lat īcō 'wound, injure, hurt, strike with a weapon.'¹⁴⁸

30. *h₂eḱ-s 'axis, axle, literally: leads or drives (the wheels)'

Lat axis, OE eax 'axle,' Lith ašìs 'axle,' OCS osĭ 'axle,' Grk ἄξων 'axle, axis,' Skt ákṣa- 'axle, axis.'¹⁴⁹

31. *h₂ei̯ḱ- 'possess, property, earnings, rule over' (animals as wealth)

OE āgan 'possess,' ME own, Av ise 'is lord of,' Skt īśe 'owns, possesses,' TochB aik- 'know.'¹⁵⁰

Semantic Development of *h₂eĝ- and its Variants

Languages experience phonetic change over time, but the semantic fields to which words refer are more persistent. Clearly those fields expand to encompass innovations and newly encountered geographical and social elements, but the older lexical items often survive the changes. Not only do old words continue in use, but the many neologisms are cobbled out of their substance.

Given its semantic range, the evidence suggests that the root *h₂eĝ-, whatever phonetic transformations it has undergone over the millennia, goes back semantically to the earliest stages of language development. What could be more primal than hunting? What combination of sounds (aagh!) could be more fundamentally expressive of the agony of combat with wild animals? When but at the earliest stages of language, would that primitive guttural expression of anguish have come to express the whole range of the semantic field connected with hunting and killing animals?

Stages in the Semantic Development of *h₂eĝ- and its Variants

Original Semantic nucleus: hunt

Original Semantic Field: hunt, fight and kill animals, drive hunted animals, hunting tools, hunting grounds, hunted animal, hunter.¹⁵¹

Diachronic Semantic Field: See table below.

Table 8: Three Stages in the Semantic Development of *h₂eĝ- and Its Variants

Table 9: Semantic Map for *h₂(R)eĝ- and Its Root Variants

Table 10: Summary of the Semantic Map of *h₂(R)eĝ-

Root Variants for *b^he(R)g-

Table 11: *b^he(R)g- 'food: its desirability, its preparation, its sharing, and its satisfaction'

1. *b^hag- 'get a portion, share with, partake, enjoy, wish, desire, long for'

Grk ἔφαγον, φαγεῖν 'eat, devour,' Ved bhájati 'divide, distribute, allot, share with, receive a portion, obtain as one's share, partake of, enjoy, possess, have, prefer, choose,' abhakṣayam 'enjoyed, drank,' bhíkṣate 'wish, desire, long for,' YAv baxšaiti 'divide out,' baxšaite 'get a share.'¹⁵²

2. *b^heh₃g- 'wish for, desire, long for, want, crave, roast, toast, bake'

Rus bažítь 'wish, desire, long for, want, hanker after, crave,' Grk φώγω 'roast, toast, parch,' OE bacan 'bake,' Czech bažiti 'to long for something.'¹⁵³

3. *b^heu̯g- 'eat, feed, drink, enjoy, nourish, support, maintain, use, possess'

Ved bhójate 'have eaten, have enjoyed,' Arm bowci 'nourish, feed,' Ved bhunákti 'enjoy, use, possess, enjoy a meal, eat, eat and drink, consume, take possession of,' bhuñjáte 'enjoy,' Arm bowcanem 'nourish, feed, support, maintain.'¹⁵⁴

4. *b^hreu̯Hg- 'need, want, require, use, enjoy, be blessed with, delight in'

Goth brūkjan 'need, want, require, use,' OE brūcan 'need, want, require, use,' Lat fruor 'avail oneself of, enjoy, to have as one's lot something good, to be blessed with, to derive pleasure from, delight in.' To these I would add Grk φρύγω 'roast, fry.' Formally, it is equivalent, and semantically, it parallels other roots in this series.¹⁵⁵

5. *b^hrei̯(ĝ)- 'cook, bake, roast'

Lat frīgō 'to roast,' MPers bryz, brēz 'to roast.'¹⁵⁶

6. *pek^(u̯)- 'cook, boil, bake, ripen, become ready for eating, distribute cooked food, smelt'

Av pačaiti 'cooks,' OCS pek 'bake, roast,' Alb pjek 'bake,' Skt pácati 'cook, bake, roast, boil, ripen, melt,' Grk πέσσω 'ripen, cook, bake, concoct, distribute largess of cooked food,' TochAB päk 'become ready for eating,' Lat coquō 'prepare food, boil, bake, brew, concoct, smelt ore, extract metal by smelting,' Lith kepù 'bake,' Latv cepu 'bake.' Note the metathesis forms of the Baltic attestations.¹⁵⁷

7. *perk- 'fill, satisfy, sate, bestow richly, food, nourishment, refreshment, quench,

Ved pr̥ṇákti 'mix, put together with, fill, sate, satiate, give lavishly, grant bountifully, richly bestow,' pr̥íksh 'refreshment, satiation, nourishment, food,' Lat compescō 'confine, close, hold in, restrain, calm, subdue undesirable things and qualities, quench, allay thirst and hunger.'¹⁵⁸

8. *ku̯eh₁p- 'boil, simmer, seethe, bubble, froth over, steam, smoke, fume, boil up'

OCS kypě 'bubble, simmer, boil, seethe,' Lith kūpėti 'bubble, boil up, froth over,' Latv kûpu 'smoke, fume, steam,' possibly Grk Kúπρος 'Cyprus,' Lat Cyprius 'of Cyprus,' cuprium 'Cyprian copper,' OE copor 'copper (loan from Latin?),' Latv kapars (loan from Low German?).'¹⁵⁹

A Greek name with unknown etymology, Κúπρος 'the island Cyprus,' was famous for its copper in antiquity, and may be related to *k^u̯eh₁p- in this resonant-group. Copper was one of the first metals discovered and utilized by humans that usually required smelting from mineral ores in order to render it pure enough to work. Could that smelting (which is a form of boiling) be the link to PIE words denoting bubble, boil, seethe as seen in the Baltic forms analyzed here? The metathesis-form *pek^(u̯)- has, as one of its explicit semantic values, 'melt, smelt ore, extract metal by smelting.' Was the copper (literally, the smelted) and the island (literally, smelter island) named for this process? This suggestion is supported by an unrelated but parallel word for copper, Greek πυρίτης 'copper ore, ore.' The root of this word, πῦρ- 'fire,' probably refers to the use of fire to smelt the copper metal.¹⁶⁰

9. *ku̯ep- 'be fragrant, smell, aroma, scent'

Lith kvepiù 'be fragrant, smell,' kvimpù 'aroma, scent.'¹⁶¹

10. *ku̯Hp- 'cup, beaker, goblet, big-bellied drinking vessel, milk vessel'

Lat cūpa 'cup,' OE hýf > NE 'hive,' Grk κύπελλον 'cup, beaker, goblet,' Skt karpara- 'cup, pot, bowl.'¹⁶²

11. *kelp- 'jug, pot, pitcher, drinking vessel'

OIr cilorn < *kelpurno- 'pitcher,' Grk κάλπις 'pitcher, cup, kind of drinking vessel.'¹⁶³

These last two roots carry a closely related semantic value. Such vessels would have been instrumental in performing the cooking and boiling operations referred to in the roots *k^u̯eh₁p- and *pek^u̯- and so fit tightly into a narrow semantic field along with them.

In the aforementioned root, *pek^u̯- 'cook, boil, bake, ripen,' the structure consists simply of initial and final consonants without intervening medial resonants. This root can be compared with the semantically equivalent but inverted root *k^u̯eh₁p- 'boil, simmer, seethe.' The presence of the sequence /k^u̯/ in one root, as opposed to the labiovelar /k^u̯/ in the other, could naturally result from the transposition of this element from initial to final position or vice versa.

The medial resonant (in this case the laryngeal h₁) acted as a vowel modifier but did not affect the semantic value of the root. As described above, the presence or absence of such resonants is semantically neutral.

Semantic Commonality in this Series

Table 12: Semantic Map of the Roots Shown in Table 11

Table 12 illustrates the large degree of semantic overlap that each root shares with the other roots in this resonant series. These can be summarized as follows:

1. *b^hag- shares some semantic values with 8 other roots in the series.

2. *b^heh₃g- shares some semantic values with 10 other roots in the series.

3. *b^heu̯g- shares some semantic values with 10 other roots in the series.

4. *b^hreu̯Hg- shares some semantic values with 10 other roots in the series.

5. *b^hrei̯(ĝ)- shares some semantic values with 7 other roots in the series.

6. *pek^(u̯)- shares some semantic values with 9 other roots in the series.

7. *perk- shares some semantic values with 10 other roots in the series.

8. *ku̯eh₁p- shares some semantic values with 9 other roots in the series.

9. *ku̯ep- shares some semantic values with 6 other roots in the series.

10. *ku̯Hp- shares some semantic values with 9 other roots in the series (as instr.)

11. *kelp- shares some semantic values with 9 other roots in the series (as instr.)

Note that pots, bowls, cups, pitchers, and such receptacles are instrumental in preparing, mixing, cooking, and distributing food. No doubt some type of pot was also used as a crucible for smelting metals. In the semantic map above, the assumption was made that *ku̯eh₁p- 'bubble, simmer, boil, seethe' was also used in the sense 'smelting.'

* * *

Root Variants for *pe(R)t-

Table 13: *pe(R)t- 'spread out, stretch out, be wide, be open, attack (with outstretched arms), fly, rush; a road or path that is open and without obstacles'

1. *(s)pet-h₂- 'spread out, stretch out the arms, be open, extend in space'

Grk πίτνημι 'spread out, stretch out the arms, open,' πετάνυμι 'spread out, unfold, open, the open sea, spread wide, opened wide,' πέταλον 'leaf, metal or gold plating,' Lat pandō 'to spread out, splay, extend the hands, open, open out, to deploy or extend troops,' Osc patensíns 'open,' Lat pateō 'to be open, to extend in space, cover a wide field, of a road: to offer unimpeded passage,' spatium 'expanse of ground, area, space.'¹⁶⁴

2. *plet-h₂- 'spread, extend, become larger or wider, broaden, spread out'

Ved práthate 'spread, extend, become larger or wider,' YAv fraθa.sauuah- 'the spreading power,' Lith plečiù 'to broaden, spread itself out,' Grk πλατύς 'broad, wide, flat, level, widespread, a street.'¹⁶⁵

3. *pet- 'run, move toward, reach out for, attack, fly, fall, fall upon, fly, hurry, attack, overthrow, ruin, destroy'

Hit piddāi 'run, flee, fly,' Arm ən-t'ac'aw 'ran,' t'ert' 'leaf,' Grk ἒπτατο 'fly up,' πέτομαι 'fly, rush, fall' πίπτω 'to fall, fall violently upon, attack,' ποτάομαι 'fly hither and thither,' πωτάομαι 'fly about,' Lat petō, -ere 'to direct one's course to a person or place, to reach out for, go in the direction of, move towards in falling, to attack, to make for with hostile intent, to attack or menace with actions, words, etc., to make an attempt on the life of someone, to aim at or strike with a weapon, to go after, chase, pursue, to go in quest of, to hunt out,' NWels hedeg 'fly,' Ved pátati 'fly, soar, rush on, fall, bring down, overthrow, ruin, destroy,' Skt páttra 'wing, feather, flight,' pátman- 'flight, path, road,' YAv pataiti 'fly, hurry.'¹⁶⁶

LIV (479n1) suggests that this root may be related to the first root listed above, *(s)pet-h₂-, since to spread the wings is identical to fly. This is very likely to be the case because,

• The semantic value to reach out, recorded for *pet-, corresponds to the sense 'stretch out the arms, extend the hands' noted for *(s)pet-h₂-.
• The semantic value, 'leaf,' attested in the Armenian t'ert' corresponds to the general concepts, 'broad and wide,' that are explicit in the root *(s)pet-h₂-.
• Skt páttra 'wing, feather,' refers to objects that are also broad and wide.
• As remarked in LIV, the act of flying, a concept that is strongly represented in *pet-, requires that wings be 'spread out, extended, opened up, and stretched out,' which is the primary sense of *(s)pet-h₂-.
• When a flock of birds is disturbed, it both 'takes flight (*pet-),' and 'spreads out, covering a wide field' (*(s)pet-h₂-).
• Semantically, attack (*pet-) and deploy or extend troops (*(s)pet-h₂-) both refer to the hostile engagements of combat.
• Both roots refer to roads, streets, or paths.

4. *pert- 'to fight, to combat, battle, contest, strife, army, rush in to fight'

YAv parətəṇte 'fight, battle,' pāpərətāna 'being in battle,' Ved pr̥it, 'battle, contest, strife,' pr̥itanā 'battle, contest, strife, a hostile armament, army, rushing to or in battle,' pr̥itanājya 'rushing together in battle, close combat, fight.'¹⁶⁷

This root conforms phonetically to the paradigm. It also shares semantic values with *pet- ('attack...') and with *(s)pet-h₂- ('deploy or extend troops...'). This semantic overlap suggests that *pert- should also be included in this resonant series. After all, the most successful strategy in any attack would be for fighters to 'spread out' and attack the enemy from all sides. This also conforms to the meaning, 'run,' given for the Armenian attestations of *pet-, especially considering that, in many languages, fly can mean either fly through the air or run quickly.

Perhaps it should not be surprising that, in the semantic development of this resonant series, 'stretching out the arms' is linked with combat. No doubt, the first fights between early humans involved striking with the fists and out-stretched arms.¹⁶⁸

5. *pértus 'passage, way, ford, bridge'

OWels rit 'ford,' Gaul ritu- 'ford,' Lat portus 'harbor,' porta 'city gate,' ON fjǫðr 'estuary,' OHG furt 'ford,' NE ford, Av pərətu- 'ford, bridge.'¹⁶⁹

6. *pent- 'walk, tread on, find a path, dwell in; path, way, platform, floor'

Goth finþan 'find, learn, discover,' Grk πατέω 'walk, tread on, dwell in,' πάτος 'way, path, floor, dirt, field,' Arm hown 'ford,' Lat pōns 'bridge,' Skt pathin 'road, way, path, reach,' OCS pǫtь 'road,' OPrus Pintis 'road.'¹⁷⁰

This root overlaps in semantic value with Lat petō, -ere (*pet- above: 'to direct one's course to a person or place, to reach out for, go in the direction of, move towards'). Furthermore, paths are said to 'extend in space or stretch for long distances. Most importantly, the concept path suggests a course of travel that is open and free of obstacles. This corresponds semantically to the sense of *(s)pet-h₂- ('of a road: to offer unimpeded passage'). In addition to this root, three of the previous roots (*(s)pet-h₂-, *plet-h₂-, and *pet-) refer to roads, streets, or paths. Grk πάτος also refers to objects that are 'wide' such as floors or fields.

7. *plu̯t- 'plank'

Lat pluteus 'movable penthouse, shed,' Lith plaūtas 'plank,' Latv plāuts 'wall plank,' ON fleyđr 'roof rafter,' Norw flauta 'cross beam.'¹⁷¹

This root refers again to objects that are broad and wide.

Table 14 illustrates the large degree of semantic overlap that each root shares with the other roots in the resonant series. These can be summarized as follows:

1. *(s)pet-h₂ shares some semantic values with 6 other roots in the series.
2. *plet-h₂- shares some semantic values with 6 other roots in the series.
3. *pet- shares some semantic values with 6 other roots in the series.
4. *pert- shares some semantic values with 5 other roots in the series.
5. *pertus shares some semantic values with 5 other roots in the series.
6. *pent- shares some semantic values with 5 other roots in the series.
7. *plu̯t- shares some semantic values with 3 other roots in the series.

Table 14: Semantic map for *pe(R)t- 'spread out, stretch out, be wide, be open, attack, fly, rush; an open road or path that is without obstacles'

Semantic Change

Semantic development ordinarily proceeds in the following three logical steps:

1. The Personal: body, body parts, bodily functions, close personal relations
2. The Natural: animals, plants, human social relations, geographical characteristics
3. The Abstract: general concepts such as width, extension, height; kindness, indifference

The semantic development of *pe(R)t-, beginning from the primitive root underlying all these resonant variants, may have proceeded in something like the following manner:

• Individuals extend hands and stretch out arms. The leader stretches out his arm to direct the migrating tribe toward the path to be taken. The leader of the hunt stretches out his arms to direct the hunting band's course. The war leader silently directs warriors to their positions with his outstretched arm.
• Paths extend into the distance. They are open, unimpeded, and passable, stretching far out into the fields and the spreading pasture-lands.
• Raptors spread their wings, fly up, and then fall upon their prey.
• Hunters run and spread out to surround the hunted animal and fall upon it from all sides.
• Warriors spread out and attack the enemy. They run as they spread out, then fall upon the enemy like a bird of prey falls upon the animal it hunts. They stretch out their arms and attack the enemy with their fists or with weapons.
• The huts in the village spread out from the center. The fields spread out from the village. The pastures spread out from the cultivated fields.
• The territory of the tribe stretches to the river, to the mountain range, to the sea.
• The plain extends to the horizon. The earth extends forever.
• Extension, breadth, and width become abstract concepts that can be applied to spatial relations.

* * *

Root Variants for *me(R)d^h-

Table 15: *me(R)d^h- 'mead, honey, honey bee, rob (rob a hive/collect honey), chew'

1. *med^h-u̯ 'mead, honey, wine, intoxicated'

OIr mid 'mead,' Wels medd 'mead,' OIr medb 'intoxicated,' ON mjǫðr 'mead,' OE meodo 'mead,' OHG metu 'mead,' OPrus meddo 'honey,' Lith medùs 'honey,' Latv medus 'honey, mead,' OCS medŭ 'honey, wine,' Grk μέθυ 'wine,' Av maðu- 'berry wine,' Oss myd 'honey,' Sogd mðw 'wine,' Skt mádhu 'honey, wine, mead, milk, butter, ghee, sweet, delicious, charming, delightful,' TochB mit 'honey.'¹⁷²

2. *mli̯t-ós 'honey, honey bee, rob a hive < gather honey'

OIr mil 'honey,' Wels mêl 'honey,' Lat mel 'honey,' OE mildēaw 'mildew,' Goth miliþ 'honey,' Grk μέλι 'honey,' μέλισσα 'honey bee,' βλίττω 'rob a hive, gather honey,' Arm mełr 'honey,' mełui 'bee,' Hit militt- 'honey,' Luv mallit- 'honey,' Iranian μελίτιον 'a kind of Scythian drink.'¹⁷³

3. *mei̯t-h₂- 'take away, rob, cohabit sexually, change, exchange'

Ved mithatí 'unite, pair, couple, copulate,' mithuná 'pairing, copulation, honey and ghee (lex.),' mithunī 'become a pair, cohabit sexually,' OAv mōiθaṯ 'rob, be deprived of,' Lat mittō 'release, let go, emit,' admissārius 'stallion or ass kept for breeding,' admissiō 'controlled mating,' admissūra 'copulation, breeding,' committere 'to entrust to, commit, join,' ēmissus 'emission,' prōmittere 'to send forth, promise, guarantee,' mūtō 'change,' Goth maidjan 'change, falsify,' TochB mit- 'go, set out.'¹⁷⁴

This root presents some confusion in its many and diverse semantic values. I propose that two different roots have fallen together here. One of these is cognate to the previous cited roots in this resonant series relating to robbing bee hives, honey, and sweetness. There then seems to have been a semantic jump from notions of honey and sweetness to the more abstract notion of a male and female pair "becoming sweet" on each other, leading to extended notions of cohabitation and emissions of fluids. Whether this led further to notions of mutual exchange, promises, and trust, or whether these were a semantic contribution from another root (poss. 2.*mei̯- 'exchange, barter, change'¹⁷⁵) it is difficult to say.

Monier-Williams lists honey and ghee as one definition for Skt mithuná, but this appears only lexographically. The Old Avestan mōiθaṯ 'rob, be deprived of' links this root to Greek βλίττω (βλ < μλ) 'rob a hive, gather honey' and that concept is further attested in the following root.

4. *met-h₂- 'steal, rob, snatch away, chew'

Ved máthīt 'rob, steal,' mathnā́ti 'rob, snatch away,' Lat mandō 'chew, bite, glutton,' mandūcāre 'chew, eat,' māsūcius 'voracious,' Grk μασάομαι 'chew, bite.'¹⁷⁶

* * *

Root Variants for *h₂e(R)b^h-

It has been suggested that the combination of attested meanings of the PIE roots *h₂ep- 'water' and *h₂eb^h- 'water' specifically denote "living water, i.e. water on the move."¹⁷⁷ If this is correct, it may be because such water typically shows a characteristic white color, as in English: white water rafting.¹⁷⁸ This observation leads to the possibility that *h₂ep- and *h₂eb^h- may have originally referred to the color white rather than to the element we call water. That this is likely the case is confirmed by comparing these roots with other roots also denoting the concepts white or white objects as shown in the table below.

Table 16: *h₂e(R)b^h- 'white, light, shine, fire; white objects: swan, cloud, elf, rushing water, snowy mountains, barley'

1. *b^heh₂- 'light, bright, shine, light up, make visible, white'

OIr bān 'white,' Ved bhā́ti 'shine, be bright or luminous, to be splendid or beautiful,' YAv frauuāiti 'shine forth,' Grk φάντα 'shine, bring to light, appear,' φάσις 'appearance of stars above the horizon,' Arm banam 'open, reveal, allow to be seen.'¹⁷⁹

2. *h₂eb^h- 'river (white water?), white, white objects'

Hit hapa- 'river,' OIr ab 'river.'¹⁸⁰ In addition to these, I suggest that the following Greek words with dubious etymologies are reflexes of this root: ἀφρός 'foam,' ἀφρέω 'to foam,' ἄφρα 'a kind of plaster,' ἀφύω 'to become white or bleached,' Ἄφριος 'an epithet of Zeus in Thessaly,' Ἀφροδίτη 'the goddess Aphrodite ('the white goddess').'¹⁸¹

3. *h₂elb^h-ós 'white, swan, white-barley, white leprosy, (white) river'

Lat albus 'white,' albēscere 'become white,' Hit alpā 'cloud' (possibly from *h₂olb^h-o-), Grk ἀλφούς 'white,' ἀλφός 'white leprosy,' OHG albiz 'swan,' OCS lebedĭ 'swan,' Umbr alfu 'white,' possibly the following toponyms: Lat Alba 'a town,' Albula 'an earlier name for the Tiber River,' Albis = 'NHG Elbe,' ON elfr 'river,' Grk Ἀλφιός 'a river-name.'¹⁸²

4. *h₂(e)l̥b^h- 'elf (< the shining one)'

ON alfr 'elf,' Skt r̥bhú 'one of a group of gods, divine craftsman.'¹⁸³

5. *h₂elb^h-it 'barley (the white grain)'

Grk ἄλφι 'barley-groats,' ἄλφιτα 'barley meal,' Alb elb 'barley,' Pashto ōrbaš 'barley,' Wakhi arbəsi 'barley.'¹⁸⁴

6. *peh₂-(u̯er) 'fire, fever, digestion, ashes'

Umb pir 'fire,' NE fire, OPrus panno 'fire,' Grk πῦρ 'fire,' πυρετός 'fever,' Arm hur 'fire,' Hit pahhur 'fire,' TochB puwar 'fire, digestion,' and Czech pýř 'ashes.'¹⁸⁵

PIE *peh₂u̯er (or *peh₂u̯r) contains two syllables, and so would typically be composed of two separate monosyllabic roots. The first, *peh₂-, may be a reduced variant of *b^heh₂- 'light, bright, shine, light up, make visible, white,' while the second could be from, *u̯er 'warm, burn, cook, boil.' If this is correct, the full compound could be glossed as, 'that which shines and warms.'¹⁸⁶

7. *h₂ep- 'river, living or moving water (white water?)'

OPrus ape 'river,' Lith ùpė 'river,' Av āfš (gen. apō) 'water,' Skt ā́p- 'water,' TochAB āp- 'river.'¹⁸⁷

8. *h₂elp- 'white, the Alps (snowy white mountains)' Proposed Root

Sabine alpus 'white,' Lat Alpis 'the mountain range of the Alps,' Occitan dialect alp 'mountain,' alpage 'meadows in high altitude that are covered in snow in winter and where herds are sent in summer.'¹⁸⁸

* * *

Root Variants for *d^héĝ^h-om-

Early humans built dwellings out of mud bricks. The craftsmen who mastered this art were the first technicians (*teḱ-s < *d^héĝ^h- 'earth' through reduction). Later, construction methods incorporated the mud and wattle system, where earth (mud) was daubed onto a lattice created by twisting withies (wood) into a woven pattern. At that point, a technician was someone who had mastered the use of both raw materials: earth and wood. When buildings began to be fashioned out of wood alone, the former terminology was again applied to the workers who became experts in this craft (Grk τέκτων 'carpenter, craftsman, artist'). The pattern of terminology continues to this day, where computer workers are employed in high-tech industries or in the technology sector.

Because earth was the first building material, PIE words for building, making, and fabricating were derived from words signifying earth, as were the words for various types of (initially earthen) constructions: walls, enclosures, fences, houses, towns, etc.

The great mass of common folk and slaves who were often employed in gathering and assembling the various forms of earth (mud, clay, stones) or in the cultivation of the earth (soil) were called "earth workers," and this term became, in time, the generic word for "man" as in Lat homo. It is doubtful whether this word was initially ever applied to the rulers and aristocracy. A parallel development can be seen in the Grk γεωργέω 'to be a husbandman, farmer' (modern name George, literally 'earth worker' from γῆ + ἒργον). References to 'man' in this resonant series therefore probably reflect, not man in general, but rather man as 'earth worker, commoner, vassal, slave (as in the Phrygian attestation below).'¹⁸⁹

The process of colonizing, settling an area of land, building dwellings, and cultivating crops was also designated by a derived term *tḱ-ei̯-, as was also the control and dominion of the earth, as in the term land holders.

Table 17: *d^héĝ^h-om- 'earth, earth works, fabrication, earth workers, cultivation of soil, domination of earth'

1. *d^héĝ^h-om- 'earth, ground, man (as earth worker), slave'

Hit tēkan 'earth, ground,' Ved kṣám- 'earth, ground,' Grk χθών 'earth, ground, land,' Lat humus 'earth,' homo 'human being,' OE guma 'man, (bride)groom,' Lith žēmė 'earth,' OCS zemlja 'earth, land,' Phrygian zemel 'slave,' TochA tkaṃ 'earth, ground.'¹⁹⁰

2. *d^hei̯ĝ^h-, *d^hi̯ĝ^hs- 'form, build, mold mud or clay, knead, smear, plaster; wall of mud'

Skt dḗhmi 'spread, fill,' dḗhī 'wall, rampart, dam,' Goth digan 'form, fashion, knead, make pottery,' ON deig 'dough', digr 'thick,' NE dough, Lith žiedžiù 'form from mud,' TochB tsikale 'to form,' Lat fingō, finxī 'form, shape,' figūra 'form, shape, figure,' fictilis 'fashion out of clay, made of earth or clay,' figulus 'potter,' Av pairi-daēza- 'enclosure' (> NE paradise); Grk τεῖχος, τοῖχος 'wall, embankment,' possibly Grk θιγγάνω 'touch with the hand,' OIr digen 'build, firm, solid, hard, strong, fixed.'¹⁹¹

Mallory and Adams (223-224, 371) write, "The underlying semantics of *d^hei̯ĝ^h indicate that it was specifically associated with the working of clay (e.g. Lat fingō 'fashion,' Skt dḗhmi 'smear, anoint,' TochAB tsik- 'fashion [pots, etc.],' hence the English cognate dough; in Greek and Indo-Iranian it is also associated with building walls, e.g. Av pairi-daēza 'build a wall around' ... but there are also cognates of more general meaning, e.g. OIr con-utainc 'builds,' Lith diežti 'whip, beat,' Arm dizanem 'heap up'." And in EIEC (629) they write: "The substance from which the walls were made, [earth] came to be applied both to the finished product, e.g., Grk τοῖχος 'wall', Av uz-daēza- 'wall', and clay-like substances, e.g. Germanic dough."

3. *d^heu̯ĝ^h- 'make, build, make ready, prepare, produce something useful, suitable, fit, touch, knead, big, strong; common or vulgar men'

Grk τεύχω 'make, prepare, build, produce by work or art, form, create, well made, of fields: tilled,' Grk τυγχάνω, ἔτυχον 'gain one's end or purpose, succeed, attain, obtain a thing, of men: common, every-day, vulgar' (compare *d^héĝ^h-om above), Goth daug 'be useful,' OIr dúal 'suitable, fit,' NIr dual (< d^hug^h-lo-) 'right, proper, natural,' ON duga 'to suit,' NHG taugen 'to be useful or fit,' Slav *dugь 'strength,' Pol duży 'strong, big.'¹⁹²

4. *d^herĝ^h-, *d^hereĝ^h- 'become hard, strong, firm; garden, yard, enclosure'

Skt dr̥hyati 'make firm,' Lith diržmas 'strong,' daržas 'garden,' Latv dārz 'garden, yard, enclosure,' OPrus dīrstlan 'powerful,' diržti 'tough, tenacious, become hard.'¹⁹³

5. ĝ^herd^h- 'fence, corral, enclosure, granary, house, town, city'

OPrus sardis 'fence,' Lith žaȓdis 'corral,' žárdas 'fence, enclosure,' Rus zoród 'granary,' Phryg –zordum 'city.'¹⁹⁴

6. *teḱ-s, *te-tḱ- 'establish, produce, hew, cut, fabricate, fashion, axe'

Lith tašýti 'hew, trim,' OCS tesati 'hew,' Skt tákṣati 'fashions, creates, carpenters, cuts,' Grk τέκτων 'architect,' τέχνη 'art, craft, skill, technique,' Skt tákṣan 'carpenter,' Hit taksanzi 'undertake, prepare, cause, joint,' OHG dehsa 'axe.'¹⁹⁵

7. *tḱ-ei̯- 'cultivate soil, settle a land, dwell in a place'

Ved kṣéti 'dwells, lingers,' Myc ki-ti-je-si = /ktii̯ensi/ 'to build on, cultivate, or work land,' Lat pōnō 'put, place, sit down,' Grk κτίσις 'settlement,' κτίζω 'people a country and build houses and cities in it,' Av šiti 'settlement,' Arm šēn 'dwell, build on, farm, town.'¹⁹⁶

8. *tḱ-eh₁- 'take hold of a piece of land, gain control of, land allotment, rule, kingdom'

Skt kṣáyati 'possess, rule over, govern, control,' Av, OPers kšaθra 'dominion, control, command,' Grk κτάομαι 'gain, acquire, earn, win,' Myc ki-ti-me-na-ko-to-na 'land allotment,' ki-ti-je-si 'clear, bring into cultivation.'¹⁹⁷

9. *tu̯erḱ- 'carve, cut, form, fashion, mold, shape'

YAv θβərəsaiti 'carve, cut, form, fashion, shape,' OAv θβarōždūm 'have formed, have shaped,' Skt tváṣṭar 'maker or creator god,' Grk σάρξ 'flesh, piece of flesh.'¹⁹⁸

Root Variants for *g^heb^hōl

1. *g^heb^h-ōl 'head, top, skull, gable'

ON gafl 'gable, gable-side,' OHG gibil 'gable,' gebal 'skull, gable,' Goth gibla 'gable,' Grk κεφαλή 'head, top,' Macedonian (Illyrian?) κεβ(α)λή 'head,' TochA śpāl 'head,' TochB śpālmem 'excellent.'¹⁹⁹

2. *kap-u̯t, *kap-olo- 'head, skull, cup'

Lat caput 'head,' ON hǫfuð 'head,' OE hafud 'head.' "Related in some fashion are ON haufuð 'head,' OE hēafod 'head' (> NE head), OHG houbit 'head,' Goth haubiþ 'head,' OE hafola 'head,' Skt kapála- 'cup, bowl; skull.'²⁰⁰

* * *

Root Variants for *de(R)h₂-

The English word season originally signified the act of sowing and is cognate to English seed.²⁰¹ Thus the sowing time, which is just one of the yearly seasons, is taken for the cycle of seasons in general. Other "seasons" such as the spring thaw, summer heat, or the abundance of the autumn harvest time could serve the same function—marking a recurring memorable point in the divisions of the yearly cycle. Rotations, wheels, especially the wheel of time and its incremental divisions, divisions in general, and the sum of the cycles lived (a person's age) are represented by *de(R)h₂- and its root variants.

1. *deh₂-, *deh₂-(i̯)- 'time and other divisions, cut up, divide, division of people'

Alb për-daj 'distribute, divide, scatter,' Grk δαίομαι 'to divide, to feast,' δαίς 'portion, meal,' δαιθμός 'division, divided land,' δῆμος 'a political subdivision of the people,' Ved dáyate 'divide,' OE tima, ON tími 'hour, time,' OHG zīt 'time,' Arm ti 'old age, time,' NE tide and time.²⁰²

2. *h₂ed- 'dry, parch, dryness, heat (< season of the year with dryness and heat, summer?)'

Grk ἄζω 'to dry,' ἄζομαι 'to parch (mostly intransitive),' ἄζα 'dryness, heat,' άζαλέος 'barren, arid,' Hit hādu (ḫāt-) 'to dry up, become dry.'²⁰³

3. *teh₂- 'thaw, (season when the ice melts, spring time?)'

Arm t'anam 'to wet, moisten,' Oss taj- 'thaw, melt,' OCS tajati 'melt, thaw,' Cymr tawdd 'melted.'²⁰⁴

4. *teh₂-(ḱ)- 'melt (season when the ice melts, spring time?)'

Grk τήκομαι 'melt,' τέτηκα 'is melted.' An extension of the previous root per LIV 617n1.²⁰⁵

5. *telh₂- 'raise, lift, cause to rise into the air, uphold, turn, spin, endure, rise (of stars)'

Lat tollō 'lift, cause to rise into the air, endure' TochAB täl 'uphold, raise,' Grk τέλλω 'come into being, accomplish, turn, to rise (of stars).'²⁰⁶

LSJ writes of Greek τέλλω: "The sense rise is perhaps derived from that of revolve as used of stars." That this is correct can be seen from the name, Anatolia, signifying Asia (or more particularly, Asia Minor), as the place (the East) where the stars "up-turn" (ανα 'up,' τέλλω 'turn'), or, as we commonly say in English, "where the stars come up." But the ancients were well-aware that the stars move in a circular motion, i.e. that they turn.²⁰⁷ Other attestations of this root have drifted into the metaphorical realm: Grk ταλάσσαι 'bear, suffer,' Goth þulan 'bear, suffer, endure,' etc., but evidence that the original sense of this root was, as suggested by LSJ, turning up, revolving, spinning, can be seen from the fact that a group of related Greek words indicate just that: ταλασήïος 'of wool spinning,' ταλασίουργέω 'spin wool,' ταλασίουργός 'wool spinner.'

Another Greek word, Ἄτλας 'the titan, Atlas,' who is said (by Hesychius) to be the "axis of the earth," is often ascribed to this root (ἀ- euphonic, and τλάς from *τλάω). Since "axis of the earth" is, by definition, "axis of rotation," this supports the notion that this root ultimately shares the fundamental semantic value of revolve, rotate, as do the other roots in this resonant series.

6. *terh₂- 'pass over or across, above, transit (go across in a diurnal motion)'

OIr tar 'across, above,' Lat trāns 'across, on the other side,' Av taro 'over, to,' OHG durh 'through,' Hit tarhuzi 'to prevail,' Ved tṛī, tárati 'to pass across or over, to overcome,' tārá 'carrying across, save, protect, shining, radiant, a fixed star, asterism,' tāraka 'causing to pass over, belonging to the stars,' tārakatvá 'the condition of a star,' tārakāmāna 'sidereal measure, sidereal time,' tārakiṇī 'starry night,' tārā-gaṇa 'a multitude of stars,' tārā-pīḍa 'star-crowned, the moon,' tārā-valī 'a multitude of stars,' stṛī 'a star, a mark or star-like spot (on the forehead of a bull or cow).'²⁰⁸

The evidence suggests that, fundamentally, this root expresses the motion of the stars as they pass over, across, and above the terrestrial plane. In the Polar Regions, these stars never drop below the horizon so that their course is obviously circular; they rotate around the pole. This rotation is in accordance with the basic concept represented in this root series. Later, the idea of this stellar motion was transferred to any movement from one side of anything to the other in analogy to the rising of the stars in the east and their setting in the west.

Monier-Williams suggests that Ved stṛī 'a star' is cognate to other PIE terms denoting stars, i.e., Lat stella (< Proto-Latin stērlā), German Stern (< Germanic sterzōn), ME star (< OE steorra), etc. Most authorities give the original form as *h₂ster- 'star' as in Grk ἀστήρ and Hit hašter(a)-.²⁰⁹ It may be reasonable, however, to further analyze this two-syllable word into component roots: h₂eh₁s- 'burn, glow, hearth, altar'²¹⁰ plus *(s)terh₂- 'to cross over, to cross above,' yielding something like "glowing embers that cross over above." Forms without the initial syllable may simply be attestations of terh₂- with the s-mobile ("they that rotate and cross over above").²¹¹

7. *teu̯h₂- 'abundance, fat (< season of abundance, autumn?), swell'

Ved tavīti 'to be or make strong,' tavás 'strong, energetic, courageous,' Av tav- 'to be capable of,' ORus tyju 'to be fat,' Grk σῶς 'safe, healthy, intact, keep alive, stay alive, saving, preserving,' σωρός 'heap (of corn), that which is heaped up, epithet of Demeter,' NE thousand, Lith túkstantis, OCS tysęšta 'thousand,' (< *tuHs-ḱm̥to- 'literally 'fat hundred' or 'abundant hundred'), TochB tumane 'ten thousand.'²¹²

8. *h₂eu̯t- 'autumn' (Proposed Root)

Lat autumnus 'autumn, year, harvest,' autumnitās 'the autumn season, autumn fruits.'²¹³

9. *h₂ert-us 'season of the year, epoch, period, division of the year, fixed order'

Skt ŕ̥tu- 'season of the year, any settled point of time, fixed time, time appointed for any action (especially for sacrifices and other regular worship), an epoch, a period, especially a division or part of the year, the cyclical menstrual discharge in women, fixed order, rule,' r̥tavyà 'relating or devoted to the seasons,' r̥tá 'proper, right, fit, apt, suitable, able, brave, honest,' r̥tá-van 'keeping within the fixed order or rule,' r̥ti 'going, motion,' r̥t-víya 'being in proper time, observing or keeping the proper time, a woman in or after her courses, a woman during the time favorable for procreation,' r̥tu-nātha 'lord of the seasons, the spring,' r̥tu-paryāya 'the revolution of the seasons,' r̥tu-vṛitti 'revolution of the seasons, a year,' r̥tu-saṃdhi 'junction of two seasons, transition from one season to the next one,' Lat artus 'joint, limb, juncture,' Av ratu 'section of time, period,' arəta- 'order,' Grk ἀρτύς 'ordering, arranging, arrangement,' Arm ard 'order,' OHG art 'innate feature, nature, fashion.'²¹⁴

10. *(H)ret-h₂- 'wheel, circle, round, ring, cart, chariot, run'

Lat rota 'wheel, wagon' rotula 'small wheel,' rotundus 'round,' OIr roth 'wheel, circle,' OWel, OBret redec 'to run, flow,' Lith rãtas 'wheel, circle, ring, cart, wagon' Latv rats 'wheel, cart,' OHG rad 'wheel,' Skt rátha-, YAv raϑa- 'chariot, wagon,' TochB retke 'army (< 'chariotry').²¹⁵

11. *h₂et-nos 'year, a revolution of the sun, age'

Lat annus 'year, the period of the sun's apparent revolution, a unit for expressing age, old age' < Proto-Italian *atno- 'year,' Umb acnu 'year,' Goth aþna- 'year,' Ved atasi 'travel, wander,' Av xvāϑra 'well-being.'²¹⁶

12. *h₂et- 'go, wander'

OHG ātar 'quick,' Lith otrùs 'lively.' Said to be related to the previous root. (Compare Grk πλάνητος 'wandering stars, planets').²¹⁷

13. *h₂elt- 'old, an age, a period, high'

OHG alt 'old,' OSax ald 'old,' Goth alds 'age, period, lifetime,' OE ield, ON ǫld, Goth alþeis 'old, period, interval, space of time,' ON aldr 'age, lifetime,' OE ealdor 'life,' Lat altus 'old, high, deep.'²¹⁸

14. *h₂ŕ̥tḱos 'bear, the constellation Ursa Major, north'

Skt ŕ̥kṣa- 'bear, the constellation Ursa Major,' Av arəša 'bear,' Grk ἄρκτος 'bear, the constellation Ursa Major, north,' Alb ari 'bear,' Arm arǰ 'bear,' Lat ursus 'bear, the constellation Ursa Major,' MIr art 'bear, hero, warrior,' Wels arth 'bear,' OBret Ard-, Arth- 'bear,' Gaul Artio (theonym), Hit ḫartakka-, ḫartagga 'wild animal, bear-man.'²¹⁹

The true name of the bear was taboo in the Indo-European languages, resulting in a wide variety of euphemisms: OIr mathgamain, literally "the good calf," Lith béras "the brown one," Lith lokys, Lat lācis, OPrus clokis, SCr dłaka "the hairy or shaggy one," OCS medvědĭ "honey-eater." Many authorities believe that PIE *h₂ŕ̥tḱos was the non-euphemized original term for bear, but the evidence may suggest otherwise. The word contains two syllables and so is most likely a compound consisting of two roots. This compound could be analyzed as: *h₂ert- 'wheel' + *h₂eḱ-(s) 'axis,' literally "(at) the axle of the wheel" (see Table 7, ref. 30 above). This would be in reference to the bear (Ursa Major) the constellation located near the axis point of the starry heavens (the north celestial pole) which was regarded in ancient times as a great wheel because of its daily cycle of rotation. If this is the case, then *h₂ŕ̥tḱos would be yet another euphemistic circumlocution for the taboo animal. The Hittite form would seem to most accurately preserve the full compound.²²⁰

Ringe (2006: 106) suggests an interesting alternative for the Proto-Germanic derivation of *berō > OE bera, OHG bero, ME bear, usually glossed as 'the brown one.' He points out that, "… an actual PIE word of that shape and meaning is not recoverable, whereas 'wild animal' is securely reconstructable." The root that he refers to is PIE *ĝ^hu̯ér-, ĝ^hu̯ḗr- > Grk θήρ 'wild animal, beast of prey,' Lith žvėrìs 'wild animal,' Lat ferus 'wild,' and PGmc *berō. If Ringe is correct, then perhaps *ĝ^hu̯ér is the original PIE term for bear.

* * *

III. CONCLUSIONS

1. The foregoing discussion lists twelve examples of root-families that are genetically linked despite surface differences in medial resonants, metathesis, and/or reduction. In every case, the consonant structure is persistent and the semantic core is intact. In the overwhelming majority of cases the number of synonymous roots sharing a given consonant structure far exceeds the number that would be expected from a random sampling of roots in the PIE lexicon. The only reasonable explanation for this statistical anomaly is that of genetic relationship, i.e., the roots share a common ancestor.

2. This list is by no means exhaustive. More could be provided, and many more, no doubt, await discovery. Because so much of the proto-language has been lost over the millennia, there must exist a large number of roots that have persisted into one or another of the daughter languages, but which have left no traces in other branches. These are often dismissed as "substrates," "pre-Greek," or "borrowings from unknown sources." By recognizing the possible root transformations described above, many such words can be assigned secure PIE etymologies.²²¹

3. In the physical world, despite the wide diversity of form and structure, everything on earth—animal, vegetable, or mineral—is composed of combinations of only ninety-four naturally occurring chemical elements. By way of analogy, it is not inconceivable that a limited number of primitive roots may underlie the PIE lexicon. If this is the case, then the identification of such primitive roots would be the first essential step in any attempt to relate PIE to outside language families, as for example, with the Nostratic Hypothesis.

4. The semantic fields of the root variations presented here are well within the range normally found in PIE roots in general. The root *kerp-, for example, contains attestations that include actions, instruments, time indications, and objects of actions:

MIr corrān 'sickle,' cirrid 'mangles, maims,' Lat carpa 'pluck,' ON harfr 'harrow,' OE hærfest 'autumn,' Lith kerpù 'cut, shear, clip (of hair or wool),' Latv cìrpu 'shear,' cirpẽ 'sickle,' OCS črĭpǫ 'ladle out,' Grk καρπός 'fruit,' Skt kr̥pāṇī 'dagger,' kr̥pāṇa- 'sword,' karpara 'rind, shard, skull.'²²²

These can be summarized as follows:

Actions: Pluck, harvest, mangle, maim, harrow, cut, clip, shear, ladle out
Instruments: Sickle, dagger, sword, harrow
Time indication: Autumn
Object of action: Fruit, rind, shard, skull

Many other examples of PIE roots could be cited with a similarly broad semantic range. The semantic diversity within the twelve root families presented above is generally comparable to these.

5. One-word or two-word glosses ascribed to roots in etymological dictionaries are almost always misleading and should rarely form the basis for semantic comparison. It is always necessary to consult the lexica of the individual languages involved because the meaning of the word that demonstrates semantic continuity will sometimes have become, over the millennia, one of its minor meanings, and may therefore have gone unmentioned in the short glosses given in the etymological dictionaries.

Most roots have attestations that span a field of related semantic values. Comparison with the full range of cognates, including those that have undergone root transformations of the kind described above, significantly aids in the identification of the semantic nucleus. This is because those root transformations must have occurred at an early stage of language development and they often better preserve the original core of the semantic field.

The evidence suggests that, in the early stages of language development, words were not used so analytically as at the present. For example, *ḱ(R)ei̯-, a word meaning "lie down" did not merely represent the physical act of assuming the horizontal position, rather it was inseparable from the larger context of "who to lie down with," "where to lie down," and "what to do when lying down (rest, sleep, have intercourse, lie dead)."

Similarly, the ancient word *g^u̯e(R)b^h-, often glossed as 'womb,' did not merely represent the physical organ denoted by that word today, but rather encompassed a larger semantic field that included the feelings of desire, the vulva, the act of conception, the resulting embryo, and the young child (or animal) that was the outcome of this entire process.

The farther back in time that we try to push our understanding of language, and of the relationships between languages, the more we will need to expand our notions of semantics in this way—or so it seems to the present author.

6. Because resonants can vary when not in the root-initial position of open roots (*CR-), it is dangerous to compare them with similar forms in outside language families as is often done in Nostratic studies. Such comparisons are rarely convincing because they rely on what is essentially a single-consonant phonetic correspondence.²²³

APPENDIX

Notes on Typological Comparisons between Proto-Indo-European and Salish:
Root Inversion

Evidence has been presented in the body of this paper suggesting that the radical metathesis of CVC root-consonants is far more common in PIE than is generally believed. If this is correct, then the questions naturally arise: Can such a feature be found in other language families, and if so, which ones? How does it function there, and what is the motivation for this type of inversion?

The literature on metathesis is substantial.²²⁴ All authorities acknowledge that normal metathesis, the inversion of contiguous phonetic elements for euphonic purposes, occurs frequently in language typology. Two frequently cited examples are: bridd > bird, and wæps > wasp, which occurred in the transition from Old to Middle English.

But the type of radical metathesis, with inversion in the ordering of non-contiguous root-consonants as seen in PIE, is considered very rare. The only widely cited example of this feature occurring in significant numbers is the Salish language family, where such examples of root inversion are common. The Salish languages are/were spoken by twenty-three indigenous ethnic groups located in British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, northern Idaho, and western Montana.²²⁵

The following are some examples of CVC root-metathesis found in the Salish languages, along with comments and citations from leading Salishists on the subject:

"Inversion of root-elements (e.g., C₁VC₂ > C₂VC₁) is remarkably frequent in Salish. When one or a few languages have a form deviating from all others they are considered the innovators…"²²⁶

* * *

"One of the more striking features of the pan-Salish lexicon is the relatively large number of apparent cases of root inversion, i.e., pairs of cognate roots where the order of the consonants is reversed. So, for example, a C₁VC₂ pattern with a given meaning will have a counterpart in a C₂VC₁ pattern with the same or similar meaning in another language, or even within the same language. Thus we find BC xʷay 'thaw' alongside Hl yaxʷ 'thaw'. Similarly, we find in CA the following items: xʷaɬ 'dart' and xʷiɬ 'hurry at' alongside ɬaxʷ 'rush' and ɬexʷ 'move with weight and speed.'

While I have had little difficulty in amassing a considerable list of examples of root inversion in Salish, I had a great deal of difficulty finding even a few plausible examples in other language families with CVC roots whose morphological structures and histories I am sufficiently familiar with to allow me to assess the reasonableness of a potential inverted root pairing. One such family is Tibeto-Burman, in particular the TB languages of Nepal. Hale (1973) is a comparative dictionary of approximately 4,000 entries for each of twelve Tibeto-Burman languages of Nepal (along with Indo-European Nepali). Looking through Hale (1973) and searching for cognate forms in my own dictionary of Chantyal (Tibeto-Burman: Tamangic) (Noonan et al., forthcoming), I was able to find only two plausible cases of root inversion. A search through my comparative Western Nilotic data base of approximately 900 entries yielded no examples. Something unusual seems to be going on in Salish."²²⁷

* * *

"Before discussing a set of possible explanations for the existence of inverted root pairs, I should make clear one assumption I am making concerning inversion: the phenomenon of inversion does not seem to be a characteristic of a single language or of a single division within the family but seems rather to involve the entire Salish group. Examples can be found in the lexicon of any well-described Salish language. From this we can infer that, if its origins lie in a PROCESS of some sort, the process either affects or has affected the entire family or goes back to Proto-Salish."²²⁸

The following are some examples of Salish radical metathesis taken from the 100 cited by Noonan. Note that the infixes (ʔ, u, i, etc.) and vowel ablaut are semantically neutral. Note also that any elements following C₂ are suffixal.²²⁹

Additional examples from other sources are listed below:

Although other Northwest language families show instances of radical metathesis (Chimakuan and possibly Wakashan), in the majority of cases these instances have apparent cognates in Salish, suggesting either common ancestry (unlikely unless very distant) or borrowing.²⁴⁹

Possible Explanations for the Inverted Root Phenomenon

Noonan enumerates eight possible explanations for the inverted root phenomenon observed in the Salish language family.²⁵⁰ Of the eight, he discards seven as implausible and regards the eighth (reduplication) as only remotely influential. A simplified recounting of the possibilities that he considers, along with the objections he raises that weigh against them, are as follows:

• The pairs of roots are only accidentally similar: they are not cognate.

  Objection: The large number of metathesis pairs found in the languages suggest that accident alone cannot account for their existence.

• The inverted root pairs can be accounted for by some grammatical rule of metathesis.

  Objection: Metathesis typically occurs where adjacent consonants and vowels change places for phonetic reasons. But in Salish, root inversion occurs in non-contiguous situations where phonetic motivations are unlikely.

• Inverted root pairs are the product of a lexical composition process.

  Objection: This would be the case if each consonant of a CVC root were an independent semantic element that could be combined in a different order. But the fact that these purported separate elements do not occur elsewhere in the lexicon, argues against this explanation.

• Inversion is the product of a language game or of disguised speech.

  Objection: Although there are descriptions in the linguistic literature of word games or disguised speech that scramble the order of sounds, lack of evidence for such a process in the Salish languages renders this explanation possible, but unlikely.²⁵¹

• Inversion is the product of consonant symbolism or word taboo.

  Objection: It has been documented that, among Salish communities in the past, word taboo has been operative where, after the death of a high ranking person, any word in the lexicon that sounds like the name of the deceased becomes unspeakable. Consequently, a substitute had to be found for the word that was affected by the taboo. Two examples from Elmendorf (1951: 206-207):

  "The death of x̣a'twas, a man of the Duhlelap Twana village community, changed x̣a'tx̣at mallard duck to hɔ'hɔbšəd red foot. …Many common words in Twana have the appearance of non-original substitute terms, if this inference is correct. An example is sx̣we'ʔšəd deer, analyzable as split foot.

  But since root inversion involves only a modification of the root, rather than its substitution, this process cannot adequately explain the metathesis so frequently seen in Salish roots.

• Inverted root pairs are the product of a phonologically conditioned process of metathesis.

  Objection: Typically, metathesis reverses two adjacent sounds because they are easier to pronounce in the inverted position. If this were the explanation for the examples of root inversion in Salish, it would require the initial and final consonants to have appeared in a zero-grade formation, and then later be reanalyzed with full-grade vocalization. Additionally, such reversal would manifest only with certain phonetic combinations and not others. This is not seen to be the case, since frequently the metathesis forms are less sonorous than the originals.

• Reduplication is involved in the production of inverted root pairs.

  Objection: It is well known that Salish roots often appear in a reduplicated form, either partial reduplication (where only one of the root consonants is repeated) or in full reduplication (where the entire root is repeated). If this process accounted for the many metathesis pairs observed in the lexicon, then two steps would have needed to occur: First, a full reduplication, and second, a selective loss of consonantal elements that would leave a remnant in root-reverse order. Using a PIE example, *(s)pek- 'see' would, through full reduplication, have become *(s)pek-pek. A following secondary loss of the first /p/ and the second /k/ would have resulted in the metathesis-form *(s)kep-, which would account for the differing Latin and Greek attestations of this root. This is quite a convoluted process that probably would not have occurred more than once or twice in the evolution of the language, if at all. It is hardly likely to have been a regular development that could account for the extensive patterns observed in Salish.

• Random metathesis of syllable onsets, one that is neither grammatically nor phonologically conditioned, has produced inverted roots.

  Objection: Metathesis of syllable onsets are not uncommon in world languages, but they typically occur randomly. Consequently, this cannot explain the unusually large number of metathesis root-pairs found in Salish as compared with other language groups.

Conclusions Concerning Root Inversion in Salish and PIE

This analysis by Noonan of the Salish root inversions could equally apply to the metathesis seen in the oldest stratum of PIE roots. In seeking a motivation for this feature, Noonan succeeds in considering the most likely possibilities. He concludes that only the process of reduplication could reasonably be expected to have influenced the root inversions seen in Salish, but he further concedes that even such an explanation is not very likely.

Of the alternatives that Noonan considers, the possibility of intentional root inversion through either taboo deformation or disguised speech deserves a further comment. Noonan discards these explanations because, quoting Dale Kinkade, no evidence of such a dynamic is known to have been an operative mechanism in the history of the Salish languages.²⁵²

One can point, however, to a lexical entry in the Squamish dictionary of Kuipers: Squamish kwui̯ has the meanings 'joke, be funny,' and the related Coeur d'Alene qway is defined as 'joke, talk backward.'²⁵³ This would seem to constitute evidence that talking backward (presumably reversing the direction of root consonants) was a recognized activity, with a verb in the Salish vocabulary to denote it.

But while wordplay certainly could be a part of this process, it is probable that taboo avoidance would have been an even larger part of the motivation, especially given the large number of word inversions in Salish and because taboo avoidance played a significant role in Salish lexical development.

In addition to root metathesis, the Proto-Indo-European and Salish language families share a large number of typological characteristics. These include: vowel ablaut, vowel color influenced by other phonemes, a favored CVC root structure, reduplication, s-mobile, laryngeals or quasi-laryngeals, existence of full and zero-grade roots, variability of medial resonants, correspondence of accent systems, and possible lexical correspondences. These similarities have led some authorities to examine the possibility that PIE and Salish may be genetically related.²⁵⁴

The observation that root inversion in PIE is much more prevalent than previously believed adds strength to the arguments for such a relationship. Nater, in his list of linguistic characteristics shared by both Salish and PIE, does not even include root-inversion presumably because he is not aware of its presence in PIE.²⁵⁵ Kuipers mentions "occasional interchange of root consonants" in his list of shared characteristics. Although he is aware that this feature is very common in Salish, he can list only four examples in PIE (*peku̯- : *ku̯ep- 'cook,' *speḱ- : sḱep- 'see, scrutinize,' *d^hei̯ĝ^h- : ĝ^hei̯d^h- 'mould, build,' and *punkstè : Lith kùmstè 'fist').²⁵⁶

I have listed eleven examples of root inversion that are generally recognized in PIE (above, Section I-2.) and have suggested dozens of additional examples in Section II. It appears that this very rare typological feature exists about as plentifully in PIE as it does in Salish.

Kuipers, after carefully noting the many shared features of Salish and PIE, suggests that, if the two languages were spoken in adjacent geographic locations, then the "…parallels and comparisons could be used to suggest a remote common origin." He concludes,

However, as long as the descriptive spade-work largely remains to be done and intra-Salish comparison has not been worked out, genetic-comparative work must remain speculative where distant, and inexact where closer connections are concerned.²⁵⁷

Nater, while referring to the idea of a common origin between Salish and PIE as a "seemingly preposterous claim," proceeds to argue for "new, i.e., hitherto unsuspected, historical (genetic) connections."²⁵⁸ In other words, he argues that PIE and Salish indeed shared a common ancestor.

While it is beyond the scope of the present investigation to consider this question in detail, without doubt the wide prevalence of root inversion in PIE should, in the future, be seriously factored into the discussion of its parallels with Salish.

ABBREVIATIONS OF LITERATURE

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Adams, Douglas Quentin. "On the History and Significance of Some Tocharian B Agricultural Terms." The Bronze Age and Early Iron Age Peoples of Eastern Central Asia. Victor H. Mair, ed. Washington D.C.: Institute for the Study of Man, 1998, 372-378.

———. A Dictionary of Tocharian B. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1999.

American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. 4th ed. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2000.

Anttila, Raimo. "Beating a Goddess out of the Bush?" Indo-European, Nostratic, and Beyond: Festschrift for Vitalij V. Shevoroshkin, edited by Irén Hegedús, Peter A. Michalove, & Alexis Manaster Ramer. Washington DC: Institute for the Study of Man (1997): 1-8.

———. "Aggression and Sustenance: Driving (*ag-) and Beating (*gwhen-) Symbiosis in (Proto-) Indo-European." UCLA Indo-European Studies 1, edited by Vyacheslav V. Ivanov and Brent Vine. University of California at Los Angeles, Program in Indo-European Studies, 1999.

———. Greek and Indo-European Etymology in Action: Proto-Indo-European *aĝ-. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2000.

Autenrieth, Georg. A Homeric Dictionary. Norman, Oklahoma: Univ. of Oklahoma Press, 1982.

Beck, David. "Grammatical Convergence and the Genesis of Diversity in the Northwest Coast Sprachbund." Anthropological Linguistics 42, no. 2 (2000):1-67.

Beekes, Robert. Etymological Dictionary of Greek. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2009.

Bird, Norman. The Distribution of Indo-European Root Morphemes. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1982.

Bjørn, Rasmus Gudmundsen. Foreign elements in the Proto-Indo-European vocabulary: A Comparative Loanword Study. Master's thesis, Department of Nordic Studies and Linguistics, University of Copenhagen. 2017.

Blažek, Václav. "Indo-European Dendronyms in the Perspective of External Comparison." The Journal of Indo-European Studies 46, Spring/Summer (2018): 21-25.

———. "The Ever-green 'Beech'-argument in Nostratic Perspective." Mother Tongue Journal 6 (2000/2001): 85.

———. "Indo-European 'Smith' and his divine colleagues." Journal of Indo-European Studies Monograph Series 58, (2010): 1-119.

———. "Indo-European 'Bear'." Historische Sprachforschung 130, (2017): 148-192.

———. "Indo-European Astronomical Terminology in the Near Eastern and Northern Eurasian context." Cosmos 33-35 (2017-2019)[2022], 129-167.

Bomhard, Allan R. A Comprehensive Introduction to Nostratic Comparative Linguistics: With Special Reference to Indo-European. 4th ed. Charleston, South Carolina, 2021.

Bosworth and Toller. Anglo-Saxon Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1921.

Buck, Carl Darling. A Dictionary of Selected Synonyms in the Principal Indo-European Languages. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1949.

Buckley, Eugene. "Metathesis." The Blackwell Companion to Phonology, edited by Marc van Oostendorp, et al. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011.

Bürgisser, Philippe. "Some thoughts about Shabo, Ongota and the Kadu family of languages." Mother Tongue Journal 9 (2004): 192-216.

Chantraine, Pierre. Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: Histoire des mots. new edition. Klincksieck, 2009.

Christenson, Allen. K'iche' - English Dictionary. Unpublished work from 1978-1985, http://www.famsi.org/mayawriting/dictionary/christenson/quidic_complete.pdf.

Czaykowska-Higgins, Ewa, and M. Dale Kinkade, eds. Salish Languages and Linguistics: Theoretical and Descriptive Perspectives. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 1998.

Derksen, Rick. Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon. Leiden: Brill, 2008.

de Vaan, Michiel. "Wrestling with metathesis." Petri Kallio Rocks: Liber Semisaecularis, edited by Toimittaneet Santeri Junttila & Juha Kuokkala. Helsinki (2019): 184-190.

———. Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages. Leiden: Brill, 2008.

de Vries, Jan. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd ed. Leiden: Brill, 1977.

Diakonoff, Igor. Mother Tongue Newsletter 8 (1989): 27 (Question 4). https://www.mother-tongue-journal.org/LR/MTN8.pdf.

Dictionary of the Kalispel or Flat-head Indian Language. Montana: St. Ignatius Print, 1877.

Dočkalová, Lenka, & Václav Blažek. "The Indo-European Year." Journal of Indo-European Studies 39, nos. 3 and 4 (2011): 414-495.

———. "On Indo-European Roads." Journal of Indo-European Studies 39, no's. 3 and 4 (2011): 299-341.

Dolgopolsky, Aharon. Nostratic Dictionary. Cambridge, UK: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, 2008.

Elmendorf, William. "Word Taboo and Lexical Change in Coast Salish." International Journal of American Linguistics 17, no. 4 (1951): 205-208.

Fahnrich, Heinz, and Surab Sardshweladse. Etymologisches Worterbuch der Kartwel-Sprachen. Leiden: Brill, 1995.

Fortson Benjamin W. Indo-European Language and Culture: An Introduction. 2nd ed. Chichester, U.K: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010.

Fraenkel, Ernst. Litauisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2 vols. Heidelberg: Carl Winter, 1962-1965.

Friedrich, Johannes. Kurzgefaßtes Hethitisches Wörterbuch. Heidelberg: Carl Winter, 1991 (originally published 1952-1966).

Frisk, Hjalmar. Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. Heidelberg: Carl Winter Universitätsverlag, 1960.

Garnier, Romain, Laurent Sagart, and Benoît Sagot. "Chapter 13: Milk and the Indo-Europeans." Language Dispersal Beyond Farming, edited by Martine Robbeets and Alexander Savelyev. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins (2017): 291–311.

Gimbutas, Marija. "Old Europe in the Fifth Millennium BC: The European Situation on the Arrival of Indo-Europeans." The Indo-European in the Fourth and Third Millennia, edited by Edgar C. Polomé. Ann Arbor: Karoma (1982): 1-60.

Greenberg, Joseph H. Indo-European and Its Closest Relatives: The Eurasiatic Language Family. vol. 2 Lexicon. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2002.

Haynes, Gregory. Tree of Life, Mythical Archetype: Revelations from the Symbols of Ancient Troy. San Francisco: Symbolon Press, 2009.

———. "Resonant Variation in Proto-Indo-European." Mother Tongue 22 (2020): 151-222.

———. "Resonant Variations on Immortality" Mother Tongue Journal 23 (2021): 151-162.

——— and Michael Witzel. "Of Dice and Divination." Journal of Comparative Mythology 2 (2016): 1-26, https://www.academia.edu/44802729/Of_Dice_and_Divination.

Hesiod. Works and Days. Evelyn-White, trans. revised edition. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1936.

Hock, Wolfgang, et al. Altlitauisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. Berlin: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 2019.

Hodge, Carleton. "Indo-European Consonant Ablaut." Diachronica 3, no. 2 (1986): 143-162.

Hoenigswald, Henry. Language Change and Linguistic Reconstruction. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1960.

Homer. Iliad. Translated by A. T. Murry. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1999.

Hume, Elizabeth. "Metathesis in Phonological Theory: The Case of Leti." Lingua 104, nos. 3–4 (1998): 147-186.

——— and Scott Seyfarth. Metathesis. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019.

Illič-Svityč, Vladislav Markovič. Materials for a Comparative Dictionary of the Nostratic Languages (Indo-European, Altaic, Uralic, Dravidian, Kartvelian, Hamito-Semitic). Этимология 'Ėtimologija' (1965): 321-373.

———. Опыт сравнения ностратических языков. 'Comparative Dictionary of Nostratic Languages.' 3 vols. Moscow: Nauka, 1971, 1976, 1984.

Jones, David Mervyn, and Nigel G. Wilson. Prolegomena de comoedia. Scholia in Acharnenses, Equites, Nubes [Scholia in Aristophanem 1.2. Groningen: Wolters-Noordhoff, 1969], http://stephanus.tlg.uci.edu/Iris/Cite?5014:002:19563. verse-column 24b.

Joseph, Brian D. "On the Etymology of Hittite tuqqāri 'be visible'." A Linguistic Happening in Memory of Ben Schwartz, edited by Yoël Arbeitman. Louvain-la-Neuve: Peeters (1988): 205-213.

Kaibel, Georg. Athenaei Naucratitae deipnosophistarum libri xv. 3 vols. Leipzig: Teubner, 1-2:1887; 3:1890. http://stephanus.tlg.uci.edu/Iris/Cite?0008:001:82115, Book 1, Paragraph 46, Line 10.

Kinkade, M. Dale. "Prehistory of Salishan Languages." International Conference on Salish and Neighboring Languages 25. Vancouver, BC: University of British Columbia (1990): 197-206.

———. 1992. "Translating Pentlatch." On the Translation of Native American Literatures, edited by Brian Swann. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution Press (1992): 163-75.

Kloekhorst, Alwin. Etymological Dictionary of the Hittite Inherited Lexicon. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2008.

———. "Chapter 5: Anatolian." The Indo-European Language Family, edited by Thomas Olander. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (2022): 63-82.

Kluge, Friedrich. Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache. 19th edition. Berlin: De Gruyter, 1963.

Kock, Theodorus, ed. Comicorum Atticorum Fragmenta. vol. 2. Lipsiae: Teubneri, 1884, https://archive.org/details/comicorumatticor02kockuoft/page/206/mode/2up?view=theater.

Kuipers, Aert H. The Squamish Language. The Hague: Mouton, 1967.

———. "Towards a Salish Etymological Dictionary." Lingua 26. North Holland Publishing (1970): 46-72.

———. "Towards a Salish Etymological Dictionary II." Lingua 57. North Holland Publishing (1982): 71–92.

———. "Towards a Salish Etymological Dictionary IV." Papers 31st ICSNL (1996): 203-210.

———. Salish Etymological Dictionary. Missoula, Montana: University of Montana Occasional Papers in Linguistics 16, 2002.

Kümmel, Martin. Addenda und Corrigenda zu LIV², last updated March 2, 2015, http://www.martinkuemmel.de/liv2add.html.

Lehmann, Winfred P. "What Constitutes Scientific Evidence in Paleolinguistics?" Mother Tongue Journal 6 (2000/2001), 76.

Liddell, Henry George, Robert Scott, and Henry Stuart Jones. A Greek–English Lexicon. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1968.

Mallory, James Patrick, and Douglas Q. Adams. Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture. London and Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 1996.

———. The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006.

Mann, Stuart. An Indo-European Comparative Dictionary. Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag, 1984-1987.

Mayrhofer, Manfred. Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindoarischen. 2 vols. Heidelberg: Carl Winter Universitätsverlag, 1992.

———. Kurzgefaßtes etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindischen. 4 vols. Heidelberg: Carl Winter Universitätsverlag, 1956-1980.

McCarthy, John J. "A Prosodic Theory of Nonconcatenative Morphology." Linguistic Inquiry 12, no. 3. MIT Press (1981): 373-418.

Melchert, Craig. Cuneiform Luvian Lexicon. Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 1993.

Militarev, Alexander. "Root extension and root formation in Semitic and Afrasian." Aula Orientalis 23 (2005): 83-129.

Möller, Hermann. Vergleichendes indogermanisch-semitisches Wörterbuch. 2nd ed. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1970 (orig. publ. 1911).

Monier-Williams, Sir Monier. A Sanskrit–English Dictionary. new ed. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1981. Originally published Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1899.

Murtonen, A. "Comments on the Nostratic Reconstructions of Illič-Svityč (revised edition)." Mother Tongue Newsletter 9, 1989.

Nater, Hank F. "Towards a Genealogy of the Bella Coola Language." Paper presented at the 20th International Conference on Salish and Neighboring Languages. Vancouver, B.C. (1985): 225-243.

Noonan, Michael. "Inverted Roots in Salish." International Journal of American Linguistics 63, no. 4 (1997): 475-515.

Nussbaum, Alan J. Head and Horn in Indo-European. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2011.

Oxford Classical Dictionary, edited by Max Cary, Herbert J. Rose, H. Paul Harvey, and Alexander Souter. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1964.

Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, edited by Charles T. Onions. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1966.

Oxford Latin Dictionary, edited by Peter G. W. Glare. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1982.

Peyrot, Michaël. "The deviant typological profile of the Tocharian branch of Indo-European may be due to Uralic substrate influence." Indo-European Linguistics 7, no. 1. Leiden: Brill (2019): 72–121.

Pokorny, Julius. Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. Bern: Francke, 1959.

Polomé, Edgar C. "Initial PIE *gwh- in Germanic," Festschrift for Henry Hoenigswald on the Occasion of his Seventieth Birthday, edited by George Cardona and Norman H. Zide. Tübingen: Gunter Narr Verlag (1987): 303-313.

Puhvel, Jaan. "All our 'yesterdays'." in Festschrift for Henry Hoenigswald on the Occasion of his Seventieth Birthday, edited by George Cardona and Norman H. Zide. Tübingen: Gunter Narr Verlag (1987): 315-318.

Ringe, Don. From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006.

Rix, Helmut, et al. Lexicon der Indogermanischen Verben. 2nd ed. Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, 2001.

Ruhlen, Merritt and John Bengtson. "Global Etymologies." On the Origin of Languages: Studies in Linguistic Taxonomy. Merritt Ruhlen. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1994. 277-336.

Starostin, George, Mikhail Zhivlov, and Alexei Kassian. "The 'Nostratic' roots of Indo-European: from Illich-Svitych to Dolgopolsky to future horizons." Slovo a slovesnost 77 (2016): 392-415.

Starostin, Sergei A. "Indo-European – North Caucasian Isoglosses." Translated by R. W. Thornton. Mother Tongue Journal 14 (2009): 77-136.

Thesaurus Linguae Graecae. Univ. of California at Irvine. Maria Pantelia, Director. https://stephanus.tlg.uci.edu/.

Thompson, Laurence C. "Salishan and the Northwest." The Languages of Native America: Historical and Comparative Assessment. Edited by Lyle Campbell and Marianne Mithun. Austin: University of Texas Press (1979): 692-765.

——— and M. Terry Thompson. "Metathesis as a grammatical device." International Journal of American Linguistics 35, no. 3 (1969): 213–219.

Thompson, M. Terry, and Steven M. Egesdal, eds. Salish Myths and Legends: One People's Stories. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 2008.

Trask, R. L. "Basque and Dene-Caucasian: A Critique from the Basque Side." Mother Tongue Journal 1 (1995): 3-82.

Turner, R. L. A Comparative Dictionary of the Indo-Aryan Languages. London: Oxford University Press, 1966.

Ultan, Russell. "A Typological View of Metathesis." Universals of Human Language 2, Phonology, edited by Joseph H. Greenberg, Charles Albert Ferguson, and Edith A. Moravcsik. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press (1978): 367–402.

van Eijk, Jan. "A Bibliography of Salish Linguistics." Northwest Journal of Linguistics 2.3:1–128 (2008).

Vigfusson, Gudbrand. Icelandic–English Dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1874.

Watkins, Calvert. American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European Roots. 3rd ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011.

———. Appendix I to the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2000.

Wescott, Roger Williams. "An Editorial for Mother Tongue III." Mother Tongue Journal 3 (1997): 95-98.

———. "Consonantal Apophony in Indo-European Animal Names." Mother Tongue Journal 4 (1998): 126-137.

———. Review of "Sub-Grammatical Survival: Indo-European s-mobile and its Regeneration in Germanic, by Mark R.V. Southern." Mother Tongue Journal 6 (2000/2001): 129-130.

———. "Protolinguistics: The Study of Protolanguages as an aid to Glossogonic Research." Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. vol. 280: 1976, 104-116.

Winter, Werner. "Lexical Archaisms in the Tocharian Languages." in The Bronze Age and Early Iron Age Peoples of Eastern Central Asia. Victor H. Mair, ed. Washington D.C.: Institute for the Study of Man, 1998, 347-357.

Witczak, Krzysztof Tomasz. "Flowing and Stagnant Water in Indo-European." Linguistica Brunensia 63, no. 1 (2015): 7-19.

Witzel, Michael. "Comparison and Reconstruction: Language and Mythology." Mother Tongue Journal 6 (2000/2001): 45-62.

Wodtko, Dagmar S., Britta Irslinger, and Carolin Schneider. Nomina im Indogermanischen Lexikon. Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter, 2008.

Zabaltza, Xabier. "Comments on R. L. Trask's Article 'Basque and Dene-Caucasian: A Critique from the Basque Side'." Mother Tongue Journal 1 (1995): 165-171.

ABBREVIATIONS OF NAMES OF INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES