Questions tagged [proto-indo-european]
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Derivation of the Latin Word "fores"
I was reading up on Grimm's law and an example that I saw of voiced aspirated stops becoming voiced stops (dh -> d specifiaclly) was that of the word "dhwer" (door) becoming the word &...
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Does the old English second person verb ending -est (eg thou comest) come from Latin conjugation?
I feel like the question has all the information but yeah I'm just curious if the Latin verb endings influenced the old English -est endings.
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How can I translate the names of the Proto-Indo-European gods and goddesses into Latin?
What would be the best Latin translation of the following two main Proto-Indo-European gods?
*Dyḗws Ph₂tḗr (sky father)
*Dʰéǵʰōm Méh₂tēr (earth mother)
I would like to use words directly derived ...
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What is the origin of the Latin suffix -ela?
Wiktionary has an entry for the Latin suffix "-ēla," used in words such as "tēla" and "candēla," as a suffix that "forms abstract nouns from verbs, often ...
Kolin Chasm
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What is the relationship between cubō and cumbō?
Various prefixed verbs, such as recumbō "lie back" and succumbō "collapse", seem to point at a basic form *cumbō (-ere), meaning something like "lie down".
However, as ...
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What's the cool killer app of Latin?
I'm about halfway through an introductory course on Latin, and I'm not particularly enjoying it. The problem I'm having is that it's coming across as a very generic, fussy language that's similar to ...
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What is the evidence for *ḱw > *kʷː in Greek?
It seems to be commonly accepted that Proto-Indo-European *ḱw became something very close to *kʷ in Greek, hence ἵππος (Mycenaean i-qo = *hiqqos?) showing the same develarization as ἕπομαι. The ...
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Which verbs come from *deh₃ and which from *dʰeh₁?
Latin has quite a few prefixed verbs looking like -dō, -dere, -didī, -ditus (condō, abdō, reddō, trādō, ēdō, etc).
I'd previously thought these came from the verb dō, dare, dedī, datus (< *deh₃ &...
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How did PIE *h₂énti-h₃kʷós get lengthened to Proto-Italic *antīkʷos?
The word antīquus has a long vowel in the middle, but the proposition ante is short; indeed, if I am not mistaken (it has been a while since I read and wrote about Saturnian), both of its morae are ...
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What is the etymology of 'cuius' and is it different from 'quis'?
'cuius' (and 'cui') is an interesting word in that it stands out as different from the other terms in the declension of 'quis'.
It seems to be pronounced differently. 'quis' is /kwis/ but 'cuius' is /...
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Where does the -τ- come from in the oblique stem of some Greek neuter nouns with nom/acc sing forms in -ς?
I just learned that some Greek neuter nouns of the third declension with a nominative/accusative singular form ending in -ς have oblique stems in -τ-, which surprised me.
I expected τ-stem neuter ...
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How did the preposition "de" evolve into meaning "from"?
I see that in reconstructed PIE "de" or "do" has a meaning of "towards" which is retained in Germanic "to" and Slavic "do". But in Latin "de" has a meaning of "from". Is that simply due it taking the ...
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Origin of the Latin Language?
Latin is an Italic language which originated in the Italian peninsula, and was originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome located along the Mediterranean Sea. Similar to most European languages, ...
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Is "ex-" (old, past) seen in Latin
I just really don't know where English ex-, as in "ex-friend" exactly came from. So far I havent seen such meaning in Latin (or Greek), but I know little. It would bolster the following idea,...
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What evidence points to a long ō in the first syllable of nōscō's present-tense form?
I've read in various sources that the verb nosco 'know' had a long vowel in the first syllable in Classical Latin pronunciation: nōscō [noːskoː]. I'm wondering what the linguistic evidence is for the ...
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What connects lex (contract, law) and PIE *leg- 'to collect, gather'?
I was researching the etymology of 'legacy' when I saw that lex was imputed to PIE *leg-. Why? How does law or contracts relate to collecting and gathering?
Etymonline (see link above) mentions ...
user37
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Does Latin "pingo" relate to "pix"? [closed]
Does Latin "pingo" to paint relate to "pix" tar by analogy with "pango" to agree and "pax" peace?
user4863
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Are vestiges or influence of the instrumental case in any way identifiable in Latin and Greek?
I believe the instrumental case was absorbed by the ablative in Latin and by the dative in Greek. Is there any way at all in which influence of the old instrumental can be seen in Latin or Greek?—...
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How can you tell whether prefixed ‘in-’ is the preposition ‘in’ or Indo-European ‘in-’?
Background
The verb īnsum has the prefix in-. Prefixing in/in- to words, changes their meaning to ‘in’, ‘on’ et sim., or ‘un-’, ‘non’ et sim. (ɔ:¹ negation).² However, according to Wiktionary, the ...
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Does mentula ("penis") derive from the same root as mens ("mind"), and if so why?
The Latin word mentula isn't properly defined in the Lewis & Short dictionary, but it does show up on Latin-Dictionary.net and Wiktionary. Both those dictionaries define mentula as "penis". But ...
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Are there other Latin words from the same PIE root as oculus?
In an answer to the question whether oculus is a diminutive, cnread told that this word comes from the Proto-Indo-European root *H3ekw, "see".
Are there other Latin words from this same root, in ...
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Does the Latin nosco come from Greek?
Does the Latin verb nosco come from Greek, or did the shared root (cf. γιγνώσκω) end up in Greek and Latin separately? According to Wiktionary, it seems to be the latter case, as the free dictionary ...
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Why does “inferus” have /f/ rather than /d/?
I found various sources indicating that the Latin word inferus (or infer) comes from a Proto-Indo-European form like *n̥dʰer, the source of English “under” and Sanskrit adhara, adhas. (The Sanskrit ...
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Was there ever dual conjugation in Latin?
Latin effectively lost its dual number.
It left behind some remnants, most notably duo and ambo.
However, all examples or relics of the dual number in Latin I have seen are in declension.
I would ...
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Is ῥύομαι cognate with rescue?
I couldn't help but wonder, while reading this verse from the Lord's Prayer, whether ῥύομαι might be cognate with the English verb rescue.
καὶ μὴ εἰσενέγκῃς ἡμᾶς εἰς πειρασμόν,
ἀλλὰ ῥῦσαι ἡμᾶς ...
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How do the verbs do and δίδωμι come from *deh₃-?
I was a little surprised to find that the PIE root of do and δίδωμι is *deh₃-, not *do-. How did we get the "o" vowel sound from eh₃? I don't actually know how to pronounce h₃, but I'm assuming that *...
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Are λαλέω and λέγω related?
Every now and then, I'm reminded that λαλέω means "to say or speak", especially when reading the New Testament. It seems possible that λαλέω derives from the same PIE stem as λέγω through ...
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How are εὔχομαι and voveo cognates?
The verb εὔχομαι means "to pray", and it shows up before the Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13) as προσεύχεσθε. I was curious to learn more about this word, so of course I looked it up in Wiktionary, and ...
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What underlying semantic notions connect the stem '-festus' to the PIE root *gu̯hedh- ('to ask, beg, wish for')?
Pokorny Etymon: gu̯hedh- 'to ask, beg, wish for'
Semantic Field(s): to Ask, Request, to Will, Wish
[...]
Italic
Latin: -festus [suffix] hit W7
What semantic notions underlie 'hit' ...
user37
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What underlying semantic notions connect 'mēnsa' to the PIE *me-?
[U Texas :] Pokorny Etymon: 3. mē-, m-e-t- 'to measure'
Semantic Field: to Measure
[...] Italic: Latin: mēnsa
[ Wiktionary : ]
a table
a table of food; meal, course, ...
user37
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What underlying semantic notions connect 'campus' to the PIE root *kam-p- (to bend)?
Univ. Texas's page on kam-p- 'to bend' states: 'Semantic Field: to Bend'. Then I saw campus (plain, campus, open field) listed, but what semantic notions underlie it and 'to bend'?
I can ...
user37
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What semantic notions underlie 'paene' to the PIE root 'pē(i)-' (to hurt, scold, shame)?
Reading the etymology of fiend propelled me to read Univ. Texas's page on the PIE etymon pē(i)-, pī- 'to hurt, scold, shame', whose Semantic Fields are stated as:
to ...
user37
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What underlying semantic notions connect 'luctor' to the PIE root *leug (“bend, twist”)?
[ Wiktionary :] From Proto-Indo-European *lugsos, from *leug (“bend, twist”). Cognates include Ancient Greek λύγος (lúgos), Lithuanian lugnas, and Old Norse lykna.
Etymonline does not expose the ...
user37
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What underlying semantic notions connect 'sī' to the PIE root *se (to Own, Possess)?
Preface: Wiktionnaire's etymology supports U Texas's below, but Wiktionary's assigns sī to a different PIE root: *só. I am conjecturing that Wiktionary is incorrect.
[70% down the page] sī conj if ...
user37
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What underlying semantic notions connect 'strēnuus' to stiffness and rigidity?
[Wiktionary :] From Proto-Indo-European *ster- (“stiff”). [...]
Etymonline's entry for 'strenuous' (adj.) references Etymonline's entry for 'stern' (adj.) which states the same PIE root as above.
...
user37