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  1. 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 …

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  2. 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 Germanic …
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  3. Word Family - Tongue

    Introduction

    In which linguistics should probably be *dinguistics.

    Armenian լեզու lezu, Lithuanian liežùvis, and Latin lingua (all "tongue") are modified from their expected reflexes of *dn̥ǵʰwéh₂s by association with *leyǵʰ-: "to lick". The expected words would be Armenian *tezu, Lithuanian *iežùvis, and Latin dingua (attested in Old Latin).

    Though …

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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 …
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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 - Beryl

    Teaser

    Bangalore, Pavuluri Ganitamu, beryl, brilliant

    Full Text

    • Dravidian *ūr village, settlement
      • Central Dravidian
        • Kolami ūr village
      • Northern Dravidian
        • Brahui ارآ urā house [1]
      • Southern Dravidian
        • Kannada ಊರು ūru town, city, dwelling
          • Kannada ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು beṅgaḷūru place name: ?-Town
            • English Bangalore
        • Tamil ஊர் ūr town, village, dwelling, place
          • Tamil …
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  7. Word Family - Emerald

    Introduction

    Both Classical Sanskrit 𑀫𑀭𑀓𑀢 marakata: "emerald" and Classical Greek μᾰ́ραγδος máragdos: "emerald" appear to be borrowed from a source like *maraktV.

    This is presumably a form closely related to the Phoenician brqt and Hebrew baréket: "emerald", from *b-r-ḳ: "shining, sparkling". Akkadian cognate baraqu: "shine" instead might have had …

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  8. Word Family - Warm

    Teaser

    fermentation, thermos, warm, petit four, furnace, gore, frantic, adrenaline

    Full Text

    • Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰer- warm, hot
      • Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰéreti warms root imperfective
        • Pre-Albanian *džera
          • Pre-Albanian *džernja
            • Albanian ziej I boil, I cook
        • Celtic *gʷereti warms
          • Celtic *uɸo-gʷereti
          • Old Irish fo·geir to heat, to warm, to inflame, to irritate
        • Hellenic *kʷʰérō …
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  9. Word Family - Turtle

    Introduction

    Turtledoves are not named after turtles, in fact "turtle" has meant the bird for longer than it meant the reptile.

    In Middle English tortu meant "turtle" (from Latin tortuca) and turtel mean "turtledove" (from Latin turtur), then they collapsed into "turtle". The modern meaning of "turtle" won out, and …

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  10. Word Family - Scarab

    Introduction

    A whole pile of words for things with shells and exoskeletons built on something like *kar-

    Some of these are probably each of

    1. Wander words for crabs from an unknown substrate
    2. Derivations from possible Proto-Indo-European roots *krew-, *kh₂er-, (s)ker-, and/or *(s)kerp- with meanings related to "hard …
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  11. 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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  12. 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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  13. 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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  14. 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 to Sanskrit 𑀭𑀓𑁆𑀱𑀲𑁆 rákṣas and …

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  15. Word Family - Five

    Introduction

    I've been doing Word Families for 5 years! In that time, I have made 150 families! So this week is *pénkʷe: "five".

    The *p-kʷ sequence in *pénkʷe leads to a set highly divergent forms. *kʷ is a highly variable sound on its own, becoming /kw/, /w/, /ʍ/, /k/, /t …

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  16. Word Family - Yesterday

    Introduction

    In which yes- and -day in yesterday are the same root.

    • PIE *dʰǵʰes-tero-dʰoǵʰes
    • Germ. *(d)ges-tera-dagaz
    • OE ġes-ter-dæġ
    • English yes-ter-day

    "The day that’s the other day"

    Germanic *dagaz is often explained as being from *dʰegʷʰ-: "to burn", but the loss of labialization would be irregular, and the semantic …

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  17. 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 …
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  18. Word Family - Aloha

    Introduction

    Love, compassion, and pity to Tonga and the city of Nuku'alofa.

    Teaser

    Nukuʻalofa, aloha

    Full Text

    • Austronesian *ʔalep to beckon, to wave
      • Pazeh m-arep to beckon
      • Malayo-Polynesian
        • Chamorro alof to beckon
        • Philippine
          • Tagalog ayap to call, to summon
        • Oceanic *ʔalop
          • Fijian yalo
          • Polynesian *ta-ʔalo
            • Tongan ta-'alo to beckon
            • Nuclear …
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  19. Word Family - Mlk

    Introduction

    MLK is King

    (Martin Luther King Jr. Day Holiday Bonus)

    Full Text

    • Semitic *m-l-k-
      • Semitic *malk-
        • Central Semitic
          • Arabic مَلِك malik king, monarch
            • Pashto ملک malik king
            • Persian ملک malek king
            • Arabic مَلِك Malik King (personal name)
              • English Malik
          • Northwest Semitic
            • Aramaic מַלְכ …
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  20. Word Family - Text

    March theme: Cloth 👘

    Teaser

    subtle, text, technology, dachshund, city, haunt, position

    Full Text

    • Proto-Indo-European *teḱ- to beget, to bring forth, to generate
      • Proto-Indo-European *téḱnom begotten
        • Hellenic
          • Ancient Greek τέκνον téknon child, descendant, young animal
            • Greek τέκνο tékno offspring, child
      • Proto-Indo-European *títḱe-ti Reduplicated thematic verb form
        • Hellenic *tíktō
          • Ancient Greek τίκτω …
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