November theme: Spiders 🕷

Teaser

edema, Oedipus, oat, atter, attercop

Full Text

• Proto-Indo-European *h₂eyd- to swell, abcess, tumor

  • Proto-Indo-European h₂oydéy-eti

    • Old Armenian այտնում aytnum to swell, to be inflamed, to be bloated
    • Hellenic

      • Ancient Greek οἰδέω I swell, I become swollen

        • Ancient Greek οἴδημᾰ oídēma a swelling, a tumor

          • English edema
  • Proto-Indo-European h₂oydro-s swollen basic adjective

    • Hellenic

      • Ancient Greek οἰδῐ́ος oidíos swollen ^[1]

        • Ancient Greek Οἰδῐ́πους Oidípous Swollen-Foot personal name

          • Latin Oedipūs

            • English Oedipus
  • Proto-Indo-European *h₂éydō basic noun

    • Old Armenian այտ ayt cheek
    • Balto-Slavic

      • Slavic *jadъ

        • East Slavic

          • Russian яд jad poison, venom
        • South Slavic

          • Old Church Slavonic ꙗдъ jadŭ poison
          • Serbo-Croatian jа̏д jȁd sorrow
    • Germanic *aitǭ swelling, gland, nodule

      • West Germanic

        • Old English āte

          • English oat
        • Frankish

          • Dutch eit ear wax
        • Old High German eiz abcess, boil

          • German Eiß ulcer, sore
  • Proto-Indo-European *h₂oydós agentive noun

    • Hellenic

      • Ancient Greek οἶδος oîdos tumor, swelling
  • Proto-Indo-European *h₂eydrom instrumental noun

    • Germanic *aitrą boil, sore, pus, poison

      • North Germanic

        • Old Norse eitr poison

          • Danish edder
          • Icelandic eitur poison
      • West Germanic

        • Old English ātor poison, venom ^[2]

          • English atter
        • Frankish *ētar

          • Dutch etter pus
        • Old High German eitar pus

          • German Eiter pus
      • Germanic *aitrąkuppaz spider lit. "poison-head" or "pus-head"

        • North Germanic

          • Old Norse

            • Danish edderkop spider
        • West Germanic

          • Old English ātorcoppe spider

            • English attercop
          • Frankish *ētarkopp

            • Dutch etterkop peevish, disagreeable person
  • Proto-Indo-European *h₂idsth₂-os

    • Balto-Slavic *iˀst-

      • Lithuanian ìnkstas testicle
      • Slavic *jьsto

        • South Slavic

          • Old Church Slavonic исто isto kidney, testicle, entrail
    • Germanic *aista- testicle

      • North Germanic

        • Old Norse eista testicle

          • Icelandic eista testicle
  • Proto-Indo-European *h₂oydskeh₂

    • Albanian eshke kidney

Visual

Collected English words

edema, Oedipus, oat, atter, attercop

Footnotes

1. ^

   Ancient Greek οἰδῐ́ος oidíos: "swollen" is not the origin of English odious, which is from Latin ōdī: "I hate, i destest" from PIE *h₃ed-: "to stink". It wouldn't be surprising if *h₂eyd-: "pus" and *h₃ed-: "stink" were connected in Pre-Proto-Indo-European.

2. ^

   The poisonous snake adder is not formally related, being the result of a segmentation error from older nadder ("a nadder" -> "an adder"). nadder is from PIE *nh₁trih₂, compare Latin nātrīx: "water-snake" or Irish nathair: "snake, adder". You could certainly see how the segmentation error could have been influenced by the similar sounding word for "poison", though.