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  1. Three Kings Day

    Three Kings Day

    It's the Twelfth Day of Christmas, also called Epiphany or Three Kings Day!

    In the European tradition, the Three Kings are named Melchior, Caspar, and Balthazar.

    Melchior

    "Melchior" is apparently Hebrew מלכיאור melek-i-ʾór: "King of Light". Or possibly an Akkadian or Aramaic name king of something else …

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  2. Word Family - Ahmose

    Introduction

    This word for "moon" is wide spread through Afro-Asiatic and specifically Semitic languages. The one exception is Arabic which uses قمر qamar for moon, instead of the expected *war(i)ḵ. The origin of qamar is unsolved.

    Though Arabic may have borrowed the word tārīk: "date, time, time-keeping" from the Safaitic …

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  3. Word Family - Odin

    Teaser

    Odin, Wednesday, Vatican

    Full Text

    • Proto-Indo-European *weh₂t- excited, inspired, possessed, raging
      • Proto-Indo-European *wéh₂tos
        • Germanic *wōdaz
          • East Germanic
            • Gothic 𐍅𐍉𐌳𐍃 wōds possessed (as by a demon)
          • North Germanic
            • Old Norse óðr mad, furious, inspired
              • Old Norse Óðr Divinity name: husband of Freja [1]
              • Icelandic óður furious, frantic, crazy
          • West …
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  4. Word Family - Wolf

    Teaser

    wolf, wolframite, Ralph, Raoul, lycanthrope, lupus

    Full Text

    • Proto-Indo-European *welkʷ- dangerous?, wild?
      • Proto-Indo-European *wl̥kʷós
        • Anatolian
          • Hittite 𒉿𒀠𒆪𒉿𒀸 walkuwa-
        • Celtic *ulk(ʷ)os evil, bad or from *h₁elk-: "wound"
          • Old Irish olc evil
            • Irish olc evil, bad, grudge, misfortune, unfortunate
          • Lepontic 𐌖𐌋𐌊𐌏𐌔 ulkos Evil? Wolf? (personal name) [1]
        • Indo-Iranian *w …
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  5. Word Family - Work

    Teaser

    work, wrought, boulevard, energy, argon, allergy, Demiurge, liturgy, metallurgy, surgeon, organic organize

    Full Text

    • Proto-Indo-European *werǵ- to make
      • Proto-Indo-European *wérǵeti makes
        • Albanian argëtój I entertain, I amuse
        • Celtic *wregeti does, makes
          • Brythonic *gwrėɣɨd
            • Welsh gwneud doing, making
            • Pictish ᚒᚏᚏᚐᚉᚈ urract he made
          • Old Irish fairged
      • Proto-Indo-European *wr̥ǵti
        • Indo-Iranian …
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  6. Word Family - Arctic

    Introduction

    Here I'm following Blažek's compelling argument (2017) to derive *h₂ŕ̥Tḱos from *h₂r̥dh₂éḱh₃-s: "bee-eater", similar to many later words for bear that mean things like "honey eater", "honey pig", "thief of bees", "bee bear", "bee wolf", … . This instead of the traditional connection …

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  7. Word Family - Nebula

    Teaser

    nephology, Niflheim, Nibelungenlied, nebula

    Full Text

    • Proto-Indo-European *nebʰ- cloudy, misty, damp [1]
      • Proto-Indo-European *nébʰos cloud, mist, moisture
        • Anatolian *nébos
          • Hittite 𒉈𒂊𒁉𒅖 nēpis sky, heaven
          • Luwic
            • Cuneiform Luwian 𒋫𒀊𒉺𒀸𒊭 tappassa sky, heaven
            • Lycian 𐊗𐊀𐊂𐊀𐊛𐊀𐊈𐊀 tabahaza
        • Pre-Armenian *m̥bʰos
          • Old Armenian ամպ amp cloud
            • Armenian ամպ amp cloud
        • Balto-Slavic *nébas cloud, sky
          • East Baltic …
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  8. Hades - Supergiant Games

    Introduction

    I had a lot of fun playing Supergiant Games's Hades recently, so I put together a run down of word family information for the names in the game, organized according to the in-game Codex! (Minus the Fables section, which is more spoiler-y and generally less etymologically interesting.)

    This will …

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  9. Word Family - Justice

    Introduction

    June is for Justice. Justice is Life. ✊🏿✊🏽✊🏼 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

    Teaser

    hygiene, forever, not, age, eternal, medieval, young, rejuvenate, junior, jury, injury, prejudice, justice

    Full Text

    • Proto-Indo-European *h₂ey- life, age, vital, eternal
      • Proto-Indo-European *h₂óyu
        • Old Armenian այո ayo yes "on my life??"
          • Armenian այո ayo yes
        • Indo-Iranian *Hā́yu lifetime, life
          • Indo-Aryan …
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  10. Word Family - Warlock

    Introduction

    "Warlock" originally meant "oathbreaker", a compound of *wērō: "truth, oath" and *lugô: "liar". Here I have the families for both pieces of the compound.

    There also used to be a related word in Old English þēodloga, which I am quite fond of. It would have been thedelock in English …

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  11. Word Family - Flower

    May theme: Plants 🌱

    Introduction

    I'm in the process of expanding this family, after merging the original Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₃-: "flower" with Proto-Indo-European *bʰelǵʰ-: "to swell" (originally under title word a href="/word-family-budget.html"Budget/a)—and putting both under Proto-Indo-European *bʰel-: "to blow, to swell up".

    Teaser

    ball …

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  12. Word Family - Pterodactyl

    April theme: Dinosaurs and Friends🦕

    Introduction

    Pterodactyl. Two cool realizations about Greek "pter-". 1) "Helicopter" is so strongly segmented as "heli-copter" in English, it's fun to realize that the Greek construction is actually "helico-pter": "twisting (helix) wing". 2) More recently I realized it's an awesome example of Grimm's Law: apply …

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  13. Word Family - Arbiter

    December theme: Pre-Classical Mediterranean 🏝

    Teaser

    Europe, Maghreb, Arabia, Erebus

    Full Text

    • Semitic *[ʕ/ġ]rb to depart, to set [1]
      • Central Semitic
        • Arabic ġaraba
        • Northwest Semitic
          • Aramaic ערובה ʿrōbā sunset, evening, (Sabbath) eve
          • Canaanite
            • Phoenician *'irōb
              • Homeric Greek Εὐρώπη Eurṓpē Western shore of the Aegean,\nmainland Greece\n(as opposed to Pelopennese …
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  14. Word Family - Egypt

    December theme: Pre-Classical Mediterranean 🏝

    Teaser

    Ptah, Egypt, Hephaestus

    Full Text

    • Afro-Asiatic *ptḥ to create?, to begin?
      • Egyptian ptḥ Ptah, self-created divinity of craft and creation
        • English Ptah
        • Egyptian ḥwt-kꜣ-ptḥ Temple of the Soul of Ptah, Memphis
          • Mycenaean Greek *ai-ku-pi-to
            • Ancient Greek Αἴγυπτος Aíguptos Egypt, the Nile
              • Latin Aegyptus Egypt
                • Western …
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  15. Word Family - Venom

    November theme: Spiders 🕷️

    Teaser

    win, wish, Venus, Darwin, vanadium, venom, wonder, winsome

    Full Text

    • Proto-Indo-European *wenh₁- to love, to want
      • Proto-Indo-European *wn̥h₁néwti?
        • Germanic *winnaną to strive, to work, to gain, to win
          • East Germanic
            • Gothic 𐍅𐌹𐌽𐌽𐌰𐌽 winnan to suffer
              • Gothic 𐍅𐌹𐌽𐌽𐌰 winna suffering, passion, the letter 𐍅
          • North Germanic
            • Old Norse …
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  16. Word Family - Witch

    Introduction

    Bonus word family for Halloween by special request from my 4 year old: "witch" from *weyk-: "to separate, to choose, to consecrate".

    *weyk- looks like an extended root implying *wey-, but I can't find any clear evidence for that root. If it is an extension of *wey-, a zero-grade …

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  17. Word Family - Moon

    October theme: Nighttime 🌃

    Teaser

    maroon, measure, meal, moon, month, semester, Medusa, medicine, mode, modern, modest, mold

    Full Text

    • Proto-Indo-European *meh₁- to measure
      • Proto-Indo-European *miméh₁ti reduplicate imperfective
        • Indo-Iranian *mimáHti
          • Indo-Aryan
            • Sanskrit 𑀫𑀺𑀫𑀻𑀢𑁂 mimīte to measure, to mark off
          • Iranian
            • Avestan 𐬟𐬭𐬀𐬨𐬍𐬨𐬀𐬚𐬁
      • Proto-Indo-European *moh₁ros big, great
        • Celtic *māros big, great
          • Brythonic *m …
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  18. Word Family - Night

    October theme: Nighttime 🌃

    Teaser

    naga, naked, gym, night, nocturnal

    Full Text

    • Proto-Indo-European *negʷ- bare
      • Proto-Indo-European *nogʷó-s naked thing, naked one noun
        • Balto-Slavic *nōˀgás naked
          • Lithuanian núogas naked
          • Slavic *nȃgъ naked
            • East Slavic
              • Russian наго́й nagój naked
            • South Slavic
              • Serbo-Croatian наг nag naked
            • West Slavic
              • Polish nagi naked …
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  19. Word Family - Guest

    September theme: Community 🏘️

    Introduction

    This word for "guest"/"host" is restricted to the Late Northwest Indo-European languages, appearing—as far as I know—only in Balto-Slavic, Germanic, and Italic, plus a single personal name in Lepontic (Celtic). It seems to be cognate to a word for "to eat" which is …

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  20. Word Family - Embassy

    June theme: Celtic Iron Age

    Introduction

    Apologies for the sketchy nature. This one exploded on me in several different ways.

    1. Prior to working on this family, I knew that "ambassador"/"embassy" was from Gaulish via Latin, and I had connected that to the story Livy tells about the Battle of …
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  21. Word Family - Father

    May theme: kinship terms 👨‍👩‍👧‍👧

    Teaser

    pastor, Pan, food, pants, father, pattern

    Full Text

    • Proto-Indo-European *peh₂- to protect, to watch over, to shepherd
      • Proto-Indo-European *péh₂-ti primary verb form
        • Indo-Iranian *pā́ti
          • Indo-Aryan
            • Sanskrit 𑀧𑀸𑀢𑀺 pā́ti to watch, to keep, to protect, to rule
          • Iranian *pāta-
            • Avestan 𐬞𐬁𐬝 pāt̰ protects
            • Western Iranian …
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  22. Word Family - Mother

    May theme: kinship terms 👨‍👩‍👧‍👧

    Introduction

    ma: "mother", from Proto-World! Or—more likely—convergent development from onomatopoeia of nursing sounds.

    Teaser

    mother, matrix, material, Manchester, mammal

    Full Text

    • Proto-World? ma
      • Bantu mààmá mother
        • Swahili mama mother
        • Zulu úm̤áma my mother
      • Basque ama mother
      • Dravidian *amma mother
        • Northern Dravidian
          • Brahui امّا ammā …
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  23. Word Family - Rex

    December theme: Religion 📿

    Introduction

    This is the family that no matter how long I work on it, it's never done. That's what I get for trying to explore the possibility that two extremely important and productive roots may be connected: *h₂er-, related to cosmic order, and *h₃reǵ-, related …

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  24. Word Family - Geyser

    December theme: Religion 📿

    Introduction

    This root has been reconstructed as *ǵʰew-, *ǵʰewH-, *gewH, *gʷewH, *gʷewh₂, with different combinations of the definitions I've listed, but:

    • While it's an unusual amount of variation in the phonological reconstruction, they're all still awfully similar.
    • Looking at any two of "pour …
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  25. Word Family - Bid

    December theme: Religion 📿

    Introduction

    *bʰewdʰ- vs. *gʷʰedʰ-: two families that end up being super confusing in Germanic languages, since *bʰ and *gʷʰ merge at the beginning of a word. In English, they end up being homophones with complementary/opposite meanings: "offer" vs. "ask for".

    I had to do …

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  26. Word Family - Diurnal

    December theme: Religion 📿

    Introduction

    We start religion words with *dyḗwos ph₂tḗr, Old Father Shining-Sky himself.

    Interestingly English "day" is not from this root, despite similarity to many IE words for day, e.g. Latin diēs, etc. Germanic d corresponds to Latin f (PIE ); Latin d corresponds …

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  27. Word Family - Aidan

    September theme: Fire 🔥

    Teaser

    ether, Aidan, edifice, anneal, estivation

    Full Text

    • Proto-Indo-European *h₂eydʰ- ignite, fire
      • Proto-Indo-European *h₂éydʰ-eti burning, igniting primary verb
        • Indo-Iranian *Háydʰati
          • Indo-Aryan
            • Sanskrit 𑀏𑀥𑀢𑁂 édhate to spread, to grow, to increase, to prosper
        • Hellenic
          • Classical Greek αἴθω aíthō To kindle, to light, to burn
            • Classical Greek …
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  28. Word Family - Ignite

    September theme: Fire 🔥

    Introduction

    Proto-Indo-European had (at least) two words *h₁n̥gʷnis: "fire" (grammatically animate) and *péh₂wr̥ (grammatically inanimate).

    Effectively all descendants of *h₁engʷ- have lost the labialization, so distinguishing it from reconstructed **h₁eng- is not immediately obivous. It mostly survives only in languages that …

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  29. Word Family - Earth

    August theme: Earth and Water 🌎🌊

    Introduction

    Semtic *ʾartɬʼ-: "earth" and Proto-Indo-European *h₁erTeH: "earth". I connect these for several reasons (beyond the obvious). First, there are several indicators that *h₁ was pronounced as a glottal stop, including a number of other words that are apparent correspondences between PIE *h₁ and …

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  30. Word Family - Human

    August theme: Earth and Water 🌎🌊

    Teaser

    chthonic, algorithm, humus, Demeter, Gaea, George, geometry, chameleon, camomile, humility, Daoine Sidhe, human

    Full Text

    • Proto-Indo-European *dʰéǵʰm̥ earth singular
      • Anatolian
        • Hittite 𒋼𒂊𒃷 te-e-kán / tēkan earth
      • Proto-Indo-European *dʰǵʰōm the earth, the lands collective
      • Albanian dhe earth
      • Anatolian
        • Hittite *tagān
          • Hittite ta-ga-an-zi-pa-aš earth-goddess …
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  31. Word Family - Easter

    Teaser

    Eärendil, Easter, air, soar, east, Austria, Australia, early, Erigeron

    Full Text

    • Proto-Indo-European *h₂ews- dawn, east
      • Proto-Indo-European *h₂éwsōs Divinity of Dawn
        • Germanic *auzi
          • Germanic *Auziwandilaz Bright-Wanderer, Dawn-Wanderer, Morning Star personal name [1]
            • East Germanic
              • Gothic 𐌰𐌿𐌶𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌹𐌻 auzandil morning star (Venus), Lucifer
            • North Germanic
              • Old Norse Aurvandil
            • West Germanic
              • Old …
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  32. Word Family - Equus

    March theme: March of Horses 🐎

    Teaser

    hippopotamus, equestrian, zebra

    Full Text

    • Proto-Indo-European *h₁eḱ- swift, fast [1]
      • Proto-Indo-European *h₁oh₁ḱus a *o-∅-us reduplicative adjective form
        • Hellenic
          • Ancient Greek ὠκῠ́ς ōkús fast, swift
            • Ancient Greek ποδώκης podṓkēs swift-footed
            • Ancient Greek ὠκῠ́ροος ōkúroos swift-flowing
              • Ancient Greek Ὠκυρόη Ōkuróē Swift-Flowing (personal name), river divinity …
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