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  1. Word Family - Cook

    Teaser

    cook, coach, quiche, cake, kitchen, culinary, apricot, Pepsi, biscuit, Budapest

    Full Text

    • Early Proto-Indo-European
      • Anatolian *pekʷ- to pound, to crack grain
        • Hittite pakkušš- to pound, to crack, to crush, to grind
          • Hittite 𒉺𒀝𒋗𒉿𒀭 pa-ak-šu-wa-an cracked? ground? (of grain)
          • Hittite 𒉺𒀝𒆪𒍑𒋗𒅈 pa-ak-ku-uš-šu-ar a tool for crushing grain
        • Lydian 𐤥𐤹𐤡𐤠𐤲𐤶𐤫𐤯 wćpaqẽnt …
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  2. Word Family - Elf

    Teaser

    albino, auburn, daub, oaf, elf, Alfred, Oberon, Elbe, Arpad, Alps

    Full Text

    • Proto-Indo-European *h₂elbʰós white
      • Anatolian *albós
        • Hittite 𒀠𒉺𒀸 alpas cloud
      • Hellenic *alpʰós
        • Classical Greek ἀλφός alphós alphos, leprosy with white lesions
          • Latin alphos
            • English alphos
      • Italic *alβos white
        • Latin albus white, bright, pale, gray, fortunate
          • Central Romance
            • Dalmatian …
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  3. Word Family - Combust

    Introduction

    In which we go from Latin ūrō: "I burn" to English bust: "upper torso", with very little semantic or phonological similarity.

    Latin ūrō: "I burn" picks up an extra b- in many inflected forms based on re-analysis of amb-ūrō, leading to Latin bustum: "place for fires".

    Then semantically Latin …

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  4. Word Family - Violet

    Introduction

    A Mediterranean/Caucasian substrate word approximately like *wion: "violet (flower)", was borrowed into Hellenic, Iranian, and Italic.

    Greek Ionia is probably not related, since the Mycenaean shows 𐀂𐀊𐀺𐀚 i-ja-wo-ne for "Ionians" with digamma in a different position than the *wion expected for "violet" , and Egyptian 𓇌𓅱𓈖𓏭𓉻𓂝𓏛 ywnj-ꜥꜣ supports that …

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  5. Word Family - Bikini

    Teaser

    Bikini, Niue

    Full Text

    • Austronesian ñiuʀ coconut [1]
      • Malayo-Polynesian *niuʀ coconut
        • Bornean
          • Barito
            • Malagasy voanio coconut compound with "fruit"
        • Chamorro niyok
        • Malayo-Sumbawan
          • Chamic *laʔur
            • Acehnese u coconut
            • Tsat lu³³ coconut
          • Malayic *ñiur
            • Malay nyiur coconut
        • Philippine
          • Central Philippine
            • Tagalog niyog coconut
          • Ilokano niog coconut
          • Sangir niuhe' coconut
        • Timoric
          • Tetun …
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  6. Word Family - Lily

    October theme: Ancient Borrowings 𒅴

    Introduction

    tulips and lilies from Egyptian

    Teaser

    Full Text

    • Afro-Asiatic *ḥrr
      • Egyptian 𓁷:𓂋-𓂋:𓏏-𓆰 ḥrrt flower, blossom
        • Egyptian 𓁹-𓁷:𓂋-𓂋:𓏏-𓆰 jrj-ḥrrt to blossom lit. "make-flower" or "do-flower"
        • Demotic Egyptian ḥrrj flower
          • Coptic ϩⲣⲏⲣⲉ hrēre flower
          • Fayyumic Coptic ϩⲗⲏⲣⲓ hlēri flower
            • Classical Greek λείριον …
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  7. Word Family - Thread

    May theme: Cloth 👘

    Teaser

    throw, dreidel, tribade, attrition, thresh, tour, turn, tournament, thread, detergent

    Full Text

    • Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- to rub, turn
      • Proto-Indo-European *terh₁ti
        • Balto-Slavic
          • Lithuanian trinti to rub
          • Slavic *tèrti to rub
            • East Slavic
              • Russian тере́ть terétʹ to rub, to polish, to grind
            • South Slavic
              • Serbo-Croatian тр̏ти tȑti …
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