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  2. Word Family - Singh

    New Years theme: Lions 🦁

    Teaser

    Singh, Sinhala, Singapore, shih tzu

    Full Text

    • Central Asian substrate *sVrng-??
      • Late Indo-European dialect *sinǵʰos
        • Armenian ինձ inj panther
          • Armenian ընձառյուծ ənjaṙyuc leopard
        • Indo-Aryan *sinȷ́ʰás [1]
          • Indo-Aryan
            • Sanskrit सिंह sĩhá lion, hero [2]
              • Maharashtri 𑀲𑀺𑀁𑀖 sĩgha
                • Marathi
                • Tamil சிங்கம் ciṅkam lion, Leo …
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  3. Word Family - Lion

    New Years theme: Lions 🦁

    Introduction

    It has long been noted that the Ancient Greek λέων léon: "lion" (whence the word for lion in nearly all Balto-Slavic, Germanic, and Italic languages, as well as a few others) looks almost like it comes from Semitic *labu, but not quite. Pre-Classical Greek would …

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  4. Word Family - Camel

    June theme: Domestic Animals 🐕

    Teaser

    camel, gamma

    Full Text

    • Semitic *gamal- camel
      • Central Semitic
        • Arabic جمل jámal camel
          • Maltese ġemel camel
        • Northwest Semitic
          • Aramaic
            • Classical Syriac ܓܡܠܐ gamlā’ camel
          • Canaanite
            • Hebrew גמל gamal camel
            • Phoenician
              • Ancient Greek κάμηλος kámēlos camel
                • Greek καμήλα kamíla camel
                • Latin camēlus camel
                  • Old French
                    • English …
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  5. Word Family - Cow

    June theme: Domestic Animals 🐕

    Introduction

    Proto-Indo-European has *gʷṓws: "cow, cattle" and *woḱéh₂: "(female) cow". The expected feminine of the *gʷṓws would be something like **gʷow(s)éh₂. *woḱéh₂ looks similar, but not quite there.

    Sino-Tibetan *ŋwa: "cattle, ox" is also highly reminiscent of *gʷṓws. If there was a Central Asian …

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  6. Word Family - Swine

    June theme: Domestic Animals 🐕

    Introduction

    I present two families for "pig" here, partly because Armenian խոզ xoz is derivable from either family (see footnote [1])

    Family 1, Indo-European *suH- pig, sow?", possibly related to Akkadian 𒊺𒄷𒌑 še-hu-u₂ and Sumerian 𒋚 šah; and family 2, Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰóryos: "pig", probably central PIE …

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  7. Word Family - Canine

    June theme: Domestic Animals 🐕

    Introduction

    I get a little speculative here, if not downright provocative. There are words for dog all over Eurasia that recall each other. These could be onomatopoeic, but they do not much resemble the common forms you find in words that actually used as dog sound …

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  10. Word Family - Weasel

    Teaser

    virus, weasel, bison

    Full Text

    • Proto-Indo-European *weys- slime, poison, flow, melt
      • Proto-Indo-European *wisós action noun, zero-grade variant
        • Hellenic *wihós
          • Ancient Greek ῑ̓ός īós poison, venom
            • Greek ιός iós venom, virus
        • Indo-Iranian *wišás
          • Indo-Aryan *wíṣas
            • Dardic *biṣá
              • Kalasha biṣ poison
            • Sanskrit विष viṣá poison, venom, bane
              • Sauraseni 𑀯𑀺𑀲 visa …
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  14. Word Family - Moa

    April Theme: Birds 🐦

    Teaser

    moa, manuk

    Full Text

    • Sino-Austronesian?
      • Proto-Austronesian *manuk bird
        • Malayo-Polynesian
          • Bajau memanuk bird
          • Javanese ꦩꦤꦸꦏ꧀ manuk bird
          • Malayic *manuk
            • Malay manuk bird, chicken
          • Phillipine
            • Tagalog manók chicken
          • Oceanic
            • Micronesian
              • Chuukese machang bird
              • Kiribati man bird
            • Polynesian *manu bird
              • Tongan manupuna bird
              • Nuclear Polynesian
                • Samoan manu bird …
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  18. Word Family - Bee

    March theme: Bees

    Teaser

    La bohème, bee, antisphexish

    Full Text

    • Proto-Indo-European *bʰewh₂- to hit, to strike
      • Proto-Indo-European *bʰewh₂ti primary verb
        • Proto-Albanian *bajā
          • Albanian bahe sling
        • Balto-Slavic
          • Lithuanian bausti to chastise, to punish
        • Celtic
          • Old Irish fo-botha threaten lit. "under-*beat"
        • Italic
          • Latin *fūtō
            • Latin confūtō
              • Western Romance
                • French
                  • English confute …
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  26. Word Family - Cavalry

    March theme: Horses

    Teaser

    capercaillie, chivalry, cavalier, cavalry

    Full Text

    • ??
      • Turkic
        • Old Turkish käväl horse? [1]
        • Persian ?
        • Proto-Slavic *kobyla mare (female horse)
          • Russian кобы́ла kobýla mare
          • Polish kobyła mare
      • Saka kabä
      • Ancient Greek καβάλλης kabállēs nag, pony
      • Proto-Celtic *capallos
        • Brythonic *kappilos horse
          • Welsh ceffyl horse
            • English Cavall [2]
            • English …
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  29. Word Family - Equus

    March theme: Horses 🐎

    Teaser

    hippopotamus, equestrian, zebra, Afghanistan

    Full Text

    • Proto-Indo-European h₁éḱwos horse [1]
      • Anatolian *ʔeḱu-
        • Hittite 𒀲𒆳𒊏𒍑 ekkus horse
      • Armenian էշ
        • Latin asinus donkey
          • Old English assen donkey, ass
            • English ass
          • Latin assellus small/young donkey
            • Germanic *asiluz donkey
              • East Germanic
                • Gothic 𐌰𐍃𐌹𐌻𐌿𐍃 asilus donkey
              • Slavic *osilu donkey
                • East …
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