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 Semitic *ʾ. Second, the PIE word doesn't have a completely regular sound correspondence—the *T corresponds to a Baltic *dw -> Lithuanian dv, Germanic *þ, and Hellenic *d' (ɟ) -> Classical Greek ζ. These seem like reasonable attempts to fit a borrowed *tɬʼ into each phonology.

Proto-Indo-European *h₂erh₃-: "to plow" is (almost certainly) not related, but ends up getting mixed up with *h₁erTeH in a few cases, so I'm treating them both here.

Teaser

Full Text

Proto-Afro-Asiatic *ʔaritɬʼ-

Tamazight
- Tashelhit ṛṛgg earth, soil
Chadic
- West Chadic *Hritɬ’-
  - Pa'a riŝa earth
- East Chadic *ʔirtɬ’-
  - Bidiyo 'iraadya valley
Semitic *ʾartɬʼ-
- East Semitic
  - Akkadian 𒆠 erṣetu earth
- Central Semitic
  - Arabic أَرْض ʾarḍ land, earth, country, ground
    
    Maltese art earth
    
    Swahili ardhi land, earth
    
    Turkish arz earth
    
    Arabic أَرْضِيَّة ʾarḍiyya floor
  - Northwest Semitic
    
    Aramaic 𐡀𐡓𐡏𐡀 ʾarʿā land, soil, earth
    
    Canaanite
    
    Hebrew אֶרֶץ ʾéretz country, land, earth, ground
    
    Hebrew אֶרֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵל ʾéretz yisraél Land of Israel
    
    Phoenician 𐤀𐤓𐤑 ʾrṣ earth, land
    
    Punic 𐤀𐤓𐤎 ʾrs earth
    
    Ugaritic 𐎀𐎗𐎕 ảrṣ earth, ground
    
    Ugaritic 𐎀𐎗𐎕𐎊 ʾArṣay Divinity of the earth and underworld
- Proto-Indo-European *h₁erTeH
  - Balto-Slavic
    
    East Baltic
    
    Lithuanian erdvė̃ space, expanse
  - Celtic
    
    Brythonic
    
    Welsh erw field, acre, erw
    
    English erw
  - Germanic *erþō earth
    
    East Germanic
    
    Gothic 𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌸𐌰 airþa earth
    
    North Germanic
    
    Old Norse jǫrð
    
    Danish jord earth, dirt, soil, ground
    
    Icelandic jörð earth, ground, estate
    
    Old Norse Jǫrð Personification of the earth A giantess and mother of Thor
    
    Icelandic Jörð Jord
    
    English Jord
    
    West Germanic
    
    Old English eorþe earth, ground, dry land
    
    English earth
    
    English Middle Earth
    
    Scots yird earth, Earth, to bury ^[1]
    
    Frankish
    
    Dutch aarde earth, soil, ground
    
    Afrikaans aarde
    
    Afrikaans aardwolf aardwolf lit. "earth-wolf"
    
    Afrikaans erdwolf
    
    Dutch aardwolf aardwolf
    
    English aardwolf
    
    Afrikaans aardvark aardwolf lit. "earth-pig"
    
    Afrikaans erdvark
    
    English aardvark
    
    Old High German erda Earth, soil, ground
    
    German Erde Earth, soil, ground
    
    Yiddish ערד erd Earth, earth, ground, soil
    
    Germanic *erþōbazją strawberry lit. "earth-berry"
    
    North Germanic
    
    Old Norse jarðber strawberry
    
    Danish jordbær strawberry
    
    Icelandic jarðarber strawberry
    
    West Germanic
    
    Old English eorþberġe strawberry
    
    Frankish
    
    Dutch aardbei strawberry
    
    Malay arbei strawberry
    
    Old High German erdberi strawberry
    
    German Erdbeere strawberry
  - Hellenic *eraďe
    
    Classical Greek ἔραζε éraze to/on the ground

Proto-Indo-European *h₂erh₃- to plow

Proto-Indo-European *h₂éryeti to be plowing
- Balto-Slavic *arˀti
  - East Baltic
    
    Lithuanian árti to plow
  - Slavic *oràti to plow
    
    East Slavic
    
    Russian ора́ть orátʹ to plow archaic
    
    South Slavic
    
    Serbo-Croatian о̀рати òrati to plow, to till
    
    West Slavic
    
    Polish orać to plow, to work hard
- Celtic *aryeti to plow
  - Brythonic *ėrðɨd to plow
    
    Welsh aredig to plow
  - Old Irish airid to plow, to till
    
    Irish air to plow archaic
- Germanic *arjanã to plow
  - East Germanic
    
    Gothic 𐌰𐍂𐌾𐌰𐌽 arjan to plow
  - North Germanic
    
    Old Norse erja
    
    Danish ærje
    
    Icelandic erja to plow, to till
  - West Germanic
    
    Old English erian to plow
    
    English ear to plow archaic, dialectic
    
    Old High German erren
- Hellenic *aroyō to plow, to till
  - Classical Greek ἀρόω aróō I plow, I till, I sow, I beget
    
    Classical Greek ἀροτήρ arotḗr plower, farmworker
- Italic *araō
  - Latin arāre I plow, I till, I cultivate land, I acquire by farming
    
    Central Romance
    
    Italian arare to plow
    
    Eastern Romance
    
    Romanian a ara to plow
    
    Insular Romance
    
    Sardinian arai to plow
    
    Western Romance
    
    Spanish arar to plow
    
    Latin arabilis able to be plowed, able to be farmed, capable of growing crops, arable
    
    Central Romance
    
    Italian arabile arable
    
    Western Romance
    
    French arable arable
    
    English arable
Proto-Indo-European *h₂erh₃wós plowable, arable
- Celtic *arwor
  - Brythonic
    
    Welsh erw field, acre, erw
    
    English erw
  - Old Irish arbar
    
    Irish arbhar grain, cereal
- Italic
  - Latin arvus arable, plowed, cultivated
Proto-Indo-European *h₂érh₃wons
- Old Armenian հարաւունք harawunkʿ tilled land, fields, sowing
Proto-Indo-European *h₂érh₃ōs plowing action or result noun
- Old Armenian արօս arōs untilled soil
  - Armenian արօս arōs fallow field
Proto-Indo-European *h₂érh₃trom plow instrumental
- Old Armenian արօր arōr plow
  - Armenian արոր aror plow
- Balto-Slavic *árˀtla plow
  - East Baltic
    
    Lithuanian árklas scratch plow, ard
  - Slavic *òrdlo plow
    
    East Slavic рало ralo
    
    Russian ра́ло rálo plow
    
    South Slavic
    
    Old Church Slavonic рало ralo
    
    Serbo-Croatian ра̏ло rȁlo plow, plowshare
    
    West Slavic
    
    Polish radło simple plow, ard
- Celtic *aratrom plow
  - Brythonic *aradr plow
    
    Welsh aradr plow
  - Old Irish
    
    Irish arathar plow archaic
- Germanic *arþrã plow
  - North Germanic
    
    Old Norse arðr plow
    
    Danish ard
    
    Norwegian ard scratch plow, ard
    
    English ard
    
    Swedish årder scratch plow, ard
    
    Finnic *atra plow
    
    Finnish aura plow, V of birds
- Hellenic
  - Classical Greek ᾰ̓́ροτρον árotron plow
    
    Greek άροτρο árotro plow
- Italic
  - Latin arātrum plow
    
    Central Romance
    
    Italian aratro plow
    
    Eastern Romance
    
    Romanian arat plow
    
    Insular Romance
    
    Sardinian aradu
    
    Western Romance
    
    French araire scratch plow, ard
    
    Spanish arado plow
Proto-Indo-European *h₂érh₃tis
- Germanic *ardiz nature, character, kind ^[2]
  - West Germanic
    
    Old English eard homeland, earth, land, state, condition
    
    Scots airt direction, area, to guide, to direct, to confine
    
    Old English Middaneard the world, the inhabited world re-analyzed from Middanġeard
    
    English Middle Earth
    
    Frankish *ard
    
    Dutch aard nature, character, disposition
    
    Old High German *art
    
    German Art kind, type, species, nature, method
    
    German Mundart dialect
    
    Old Saxon *ard
    
    Low German Aard
    
    Danish art kind, nature, species

Visual

Collected English words

Footnotes

There seems to be some confusion over whether Scots yird is from eorthe (English earth) or ġeard (English yard). The evidence seems better for eorthe. Compare the re-analysis of Old English Middanġeard (Midgard) to Middaneard (Middle Earth).

Germanic *ardiz: "nature, character, kind" is kind of odd. If you just looked at Old English eard: "homeland, earth, land, state, condition", that would seem to back up the connection to *h₂érh₃- suggested by the sounds. But none of the other languages have that "earth"/"land" connection. So, is Old English innovative in that (possibly mixing it up with eorþe), or is Old English conservative and thet Germanic should be understood as have a meaning more like "local character, the nature of a particular place or of the people from a particular place, the way things are done in a place"?

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
- Balto-Slavic *źemē earth …

AidanEM

Other articles

Word Family - Human

August theme: Earth and Water 🌎🌊

Teaser

Full Text

Other articles

August theme: Earth and Water 🌎🌊

Teaser

Full Text

social