April theme: Birds 🐦

Teaser

Donald Duck dives to the deep abyss of Dover in a Bathysphere! (What a dope.)

Full Text

• Proto-Indo-European *dʰewb- deep, hollow

  • Proto-Indo-European *dʰewbti goes deep, sinks, dives primary verb

    • Balto-Slavic

      • Slavic *ďubati to peck

        • East Slavic

          • Russian дю́бать djúbatʹ
    • Germanic *dūbanã to dive, to sink

      • West Germanic

        • Old English dūfan to dive, to sink

          • English dive
      • Germanic *dūkanã to duck, to dive under intensive -k-? compare hear/hark and smile/smirk

        • West Germanic

          • Old English *dūcan to dive, to dip, to plunge

            • English duck
            • Scots douk to duck, to dive
            • Old English dūce duck (bird) lit. "diver"

              • English duck
              • Scots deuk duck
          • Frankish *dūkan

            • Dutch duiken to dive

              • Dutch duiker diver, culvert, loon (bird), duiker (antelope)

                • English duiker
          • Old High German tūchan

            • German tauchen to dive, to bathe

              • German Taucher diver, loon (bird), grebe (bird)
  • Proto-Indo-European *dʰowbéyeti makes deep, submerges causative verb

    • Germanic *daubijanã

      • North Germanic

        • Old Norse

          • Icelandic dýfa to dip, to dive
      • West Germanic

        • Old English dȳfan to dive

          • English dive
      • Germanic *daupijanã

        • West Germanic

          • Old English dīepan

            • Scots depe to dip, to incline
      • Germanic *dupjanã variant

        • East Germanic

          • Gothic 𐌳𐌰𐌿𐍀𐌾𐌰𐌽 daupjan to dip, to immerse, to baptize
        • North Germanic

          • Old Norse deypa

            • Danish døbe to baptize, to name
        • West Germanic

          • Old English dyppan

            • English dip
          • Frankish *dōpen

            • Dutch dopen to dip, to immerse, to baptize, to name

              • English dope
          • Old High German toufen to dip, to immerse, to baptize

            • German taufen to baptize
            • Lombardic *taufan

              • Italian tuffare to plunge, to dip
  • Proto-Indo-European *dʰéwbus deep adjective

    • Proto-Albanian *deubeta

      • Albanian det sea
    • Balto-Slavic *dubus

      • Lithuanian dubùs deep, hollow
    • Germanic *deupaz deep

      • East Germanic

        • Gothic 𐌳𐌹𐌿𐍀𐍃 diups deep
      • North Germanic

        • Old Norse djúpr deep

          • Danish dyb deep, profound
          • Icelandic djúpur deep
      • West Germanic

        • Old English dēop deep

          • English deep
          • Scots depe deep, profound
        • Frankish *diop

          • Dutch diep deep, low, profound
        • Old High German tiuf

          • German tief deep, low

            • English tiefling
          • Yiddish טיף tif deep, profound
      • Germanic *diupiþō deepness, depth

        • East Germanic

          • Gothic 𐌳𐌹𐌿𐍀𐌹𐌸𐌰 diupiþa depth
        • North Germanic

          • Old Norse dýpt

            • Danish dybde depth
            • Icelandic dýpt depth
        • West Germanic

          • Old English *dīepþu

            • English depth
            • Scots deepth
          • Frankish *diopitha

            • Dutch diepte depth
    • Hellenic *butʰós metathesis

      • Classical Greek βῠθός buthós depth, deep water, bottom of the sea metathesis from *thubós

        • Classical Greek ἄβῠσσος ábussos bottomless, unfathomable, abyss a-buthos: "without bottom"

          • Latin abyssus abyss

            • Western Romance

              • Italian abisso abyss, gulf
            • English abyss
            • French abysse abyss, deep sea
            • Late Latin *abyssimus abyssal, abysmal

              • Western Romance

                • Old French abisme

                  • French abîme abyss, chasm, hell
                  • English abysm

                    • English abysmal
                  • Spanish abismo abyss
        • Classical Greek βένθος bénthos the depths ^[1]

          • English benthic
          • Classical Greek βᾰθῠ́ς bathús high, deep, profound, intense zero-grade form ^[1]

            • English bathy-

              • English Bathysphere
  • Proto-Indo-European *dʰubnós deep

    • Balto-Slavic *dubno

      • Lithuanian dùgnas bottom, background
      • Slavic *dъnò bottom

        • East Slavic дъно dŭno bottom

          • Russian дно dno floor, (river) bed, bottom
        • South Slavic

          • Serbo-Croatian дно̏ dnȍ bottom
        • West Slavic

          • Polish dno bottom, (river) bed
    • Celtic *dubnos depth, world

      • Brythonic *duβn

        • Breton don deep
        • Welsh dwfn
      • Old Irish domun world, Earth, country, realm

        • Irish domhan world, earth, domain, universe
      • Celtic *Dubnorix World-King (personal name)

        • Gaulish Dumnorix
      • Celtic *Dubnowalos World-Chief (personal name)

        • Brythonic *Duβnowal

          • Welsh Dyfynwal
        • Old Irish Domnall

          • Irish Domhnall
          • Latin Donvaldus

            • English Donald
      • Celtic *Dubnotalos World-head?, World-boss? (personal name)

        • Gaulish Dubnotalus
  • Proto-Indo-European *dʰubrós deep

    • Balto-Slavic *dubrā́ˀ

      • Lithuanian Dubrà
      • Slavic *dьbrь

        • East Slavic дъбрь dŭbrĭ valley

          • Russian де́бри débri thicket, jungle, wilderness
          • East Slavic Дьбрꙗньскъ Dĭbrjanĭskŭ Thicket-Town? (place name)

            • Russian Брянск Bryansk

              • English Bryansk
        • South Slavic

          • Serbo-Croatian дебри debri
    • Celtic *dubros water

      • Gaulish

        • German Tauber
      • Celtiberian

        • Galician Dubra
      • Brythonic *duβr water

        • Welsh dŵr water
        • English Dour
        • Brythonic *duβras waters, Dover

          • Latin (Portus) Dubris Dover

            • Old English Dofras Dover

              • English Dover
            • Brythonic *wenduβras white waters

              • English Wendover
      • Celtic *dubrokū otter lit. "water-dog"

        • Brythonic *düβrgi

          • Welsh dyfrgi otter
        • Old Irish doburchú otter

          • Irish dobharchú otter
    • Tocharian *täpre

      • Arshian tpär
      • Kushean tapre high, tall, fat

        • Kushean tparṣke shallow

Visual

Collected English words

dive, duck, duck, duiker, dive, dip, dope, deep, tiefling, depth, abyss, abysm, abysmal, benthic, bathy-, Bathysphere, Donald, Bryansk, Dour, Dover, Wendover

Footnotes

1. ^

   Most sources say bathús is probably not related to buthós. But the ablaut alternation between benthos and bathos points to an Indo-European origin (equivalent to *bendʰ- vs *bn̥dʰ-), and this is by far the most likely IE origin I can think of.

   Alternatively it could be from the "language of the geminates", a northern European substrate language that apparently had grammatical alternation in prenasalization of internal consonants like -th-/-nth-. But of course Greek is not northern European, so that weakens that possibility (that substrate is primarily seen in Celtic, Germanic, and Finnic).