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 merge *g and *gʷ (Balto-Slavic, Indo-Iranian, Albanian, Armenian), with only one descendant in a clearly centum language: Latin ignis, where the labialization is also not present due to the following consonant (compare Latin migrō from *h₂migʷró-, corresponding to Greek ameíbō from *h₂méygʷ-).

Possibly the clearest indication of original *gʷ is Albanian thëngjill—the palatalization to gj happens to original *gʷ, but not *g, even though *gʷ and *g merge otherwise.

Full Text

• Proto-Indo-European *h₁engʷ- to burn, fire

  • Proto-Indo-European *h₁n̥gʷnis fire

    • Paleo-Balkan *Enji divinity of Fire

      • Albanian En divinity of Fire and Thunder oblique stem enj-

        • Albanian enjte Thursday calque of Latin `​​(diēs
      • Messapian *En

        • Messapian *Enni- personal name: of (the god) En

          • Latin Ennius ^[1]
    • Balto-Slavic *ungnis

      • East Baltic

        • Lithuanian ugnìs fire
      • Slavic *õgnjь

        • East Slavic

          • Russian ого́нь ogónʹ fire, light, weapons fire
          • Ukrainian вого́нь vohónʹ fire, fireplace, hearth, sunlight, light
        • South Slavic

          • Bulgarian о́гън ógǎn fire, fever
          • Serbo-Croatian о̀гањ òganj fire
        • West Slavic

          • Czech oheň fire
          • Polish ogień
    • Indo-Iranian *Hagnis

      • Indo-Aryan *agní fire

        • Dardic *agní

          • Kashmiri agun
        • Mitanni Aryan

          • Hurrian

            • Hittite 𒀀𒀝𒉌𒅖 a-ak-ni-iš Mitanni divinity of fire, Agni ^[2]
        • Sanskrit 𑀅𑀕𑁆𑀦𑀺 agní fire, Vedic divinity of fire

          • Pali 𑀅𑀕𑁆𑀕𑀺 aggi flame, conflagration, sparks

            • Javanese geni fire
            • Thai อัคนี àk-ká-nii fire, Agni
          • Sauraseni 𑀅𑀕𑁆𑀕𑀺 aggi

            • Madhya Sauraseni

              • Hindi आग āg fire, flame
            • Pahari

              • Nepali आगो āgo fire, flame
              • Punjabi ਅੱਗ agga fire
            • Western Sauraseni

              • Romani jag fire
          • Hindi अग्नि Agni Hindu divinity of fire, Agni
          • Telugu అగ్ని agni fire, Agni
          • English Agni Kai
    • Italic *əngʷnis

      • Latin ignis fire

        • Latin igniō I set on fire, I ignite

          • English ignite
        • Latin igneus fiery, burning

          • Central Romance

            • Italian igneo fiery, igneous
          • Western Romance

            • French igné igneous
          • English igneus
        • Latin *Montēs Ignis placename: Fire Mountains

          • Eastern Romance

            • Romanian Munții Igniș
  • Proto-Indo-European *h₁óngʷl̥ charcoal, coal, ember

    • Pre-Albanian *ts-angila

      • Albanian thëngjill embers, coal, charcoal, carbon
    • Proto-Armenian *anwcúɫ-o-

      • Old Armenian ածուղ acuł coal, soot

        • Armenian ածուխ acux coal
    • Balto-Slavic *anˀglís coal, charcoal

      • East Baltic

        • Lithuanian anglìs charcoal, coal, carbon
      • Slavic *ǫ̀glь coal

        • East Slavic

          • Russian у́голь úgolʹ coal
          • Ukrainian ву́гіль vúhilʹ coal
        • South Slavic

          • Bulgarian въ́глен vǎ́glen charcoal (relational adjective)
          • Old Church Slavonic ѫгль ǫglĭ
          • Serbo-Croatian у̏гаљ ȕgalj coal, charcoal
        • West Slavic

          • Czech uhel charcoal
          • Polish węgiel carbon, coal
      • West Baltic

        • Old Prussian anglis coal
    • Indo-Iranian *Hángāras

      • Indo-Aryan *áṅgāras

        • Dardic

          • Khowar انگار angaár fire
          • Ushojo انگار angàr blacksmith
        • Sanskrit 𑀅𑀗𑁆𑀕𑀸𑀭 áṅgāra charcoal, Mars

          • Pali aṅgāra

            • Old Khmer

              • Khmer អង្គារ ʾɑngkiə Tuesday, Mars
              • Thai อังคาร ang-kaan Tuesday, Mars, cremated remains
            • Malay arang charcoal
          • Sauraseni

            • Romani angar coal

              • Angloromani

                • English wonga ^[3]
          • Telugu అంగారము aṃgāramu fire, charcoal
      • Iranian *ángārah

        • Pashto انگار angār coal, ember
        • Western Iranian

          • Old Persian

            • Persian انگشت angešt charcoal

Visual

Collected English words

Agni Kai, ignite, igneus, wonga

Footnotes

1. ^

   The poet Quintus Ennius—who has been called the father of Roman poetry—was from Apulia and claimed Messapian descent, so his nomen gens, Ennius, was likely a Latinization of an originally theopheoric name referencing the same Illyrian/Balkan god as is preserved in Albanian En and enjte.

2. ^

   Hittite 𒀀𒀝𒉌𒅖 a-ak-ni-iš: "Mitanni god of fire" is recorded in a 13th century BCE treaty between the Hittites and Mitanni. The treaty invoked the gods of both kingdoms to witness and enforce the treaty.

   Mitanni was a kingdom in northern Mesopotamia (around modern day Syria). Most of the people in Mitanni were culturally Hurrian, and spoke a Hurro-Urartian language, unrelated to either the Indo-European or the Afro-Asiatic languages of the area. But the Mitanni kings and other elite appear to have been culturally Vedic, and close relatives of the speakers of Vedic Sanskrit. Sanskrit-like words especially appear in the names of Mitanni kings and gods, as well as horse-related terminology.

3. ^

   "wonga" for "money, cash" is London slang, also used in New Zealand as I understand it. The "money"/"coal" equivalency is a thing that comes a couple of different times in historical London slang.