Introduction

One day, I picked up my phone to look up the etymology of Pontic, but got distracted and looked up the etymology of path first. And it turned out they were the same!

But wait, how does that work, cause Grimm's Law? Germanic *paþaz is apparently a borrowing from late Scythian/Pre-Alanian into either West Germanic or Late Common Germanic in the Migration Period.

Another possible origin for *paþaz is PIE *gʷeh₂-: "to go" -> Celtic *bā- -> Celtic *bāda -> Germanic *patha-. On the one hand, this would be a more common borrowing path; on the other hand, both Kroonen and Matasovic expect that the Celtic would already have shifted semantically to "pass away, die" by then. A late borrowing is also circumstantially supported by its restriction to West Germanic.

Teaser

find, path, pathfinder, Pontus, peripatetic, pontificate

Full Text

• Proto-Indo-European *pent- to pass, path

  • Proto-Indo-European *pénteti

    • Germanic *finþaną

      • East Germanic

        • Gothic 𐍆𐌹𐌽𐌸𐌰𐌽 finþan to discover, to find out
      • North Germanic

        • Old Norse finna to find

          • Danish finde to consider, to find
          • Icelandic finna to find, to meet
      • West Germanic

        • Old English findan to find, to meet

          • English find

            • Welsh ffeindio to find
            • English pathfinder
        • Frankish *findan

          • Dutch vinden to find
        • Old High German findan

          • German finden to find
          • Yiddish געפֿינען gefinen to find
      • Germanic *fandōną to investigate, to search for, to test

        • North Germanic

          • Old Norse fendinn to test, to tempt

            • Danish fanden hell, devil
            • Swedish fan devil
        • West Germanic

          • Old English fandian to test, to visit, to examine
          • Old High German fantōn

            • German fahnden to search

              • German Fahnder investigator
  • Proto-Indo-European *póntoh₁s path, road

    • Pre-Armenian *fon-

      • Armenian հուն hun riverbed, ford, direction
      • Georgian ფონი poni ford
    • Balto-Slavic *pontis

      • Slavic *pǫ̃tь way, path

        • East Slavic путь putĭ

          • Russian путь putʹ way, path, road, journey
        • South Slavic

          • Bulgarian път pǎt
          • Old Church Slavonic пѫть pǫtĭ
          • Serbo-Croatian пу̑т pȗt road, path, journey
        • West Slavic

          • Polish pąć travel, pilgrimage
      • West Baltic

        • Old Prussian pintis way, path
    • Celtic *φāntīs ^[1]

      • Old Irish áitt place, position, dwelling

        • Irish áit place, holding, situation
    • Hellenic *póntos

      • Homeric Greek πόντος póntos the sea, the Mediterranean

        • Classical Greek Πόντος Póntos The Black Sea, Pontus

          • Latin Pontus The Black Sea, Pontus

            • English Pontus
        • Classical Greek Ποντικός Pontic

          • Classical Greek Ποντικός μῦς

            • Byzantine Greek ποντικός

              • Greek ποντικός mouse

                • Greek τυφλοπόντικας mole "blind mouse"
              • Byzantine Greek ποντίκιον

                • Greek ποντίκι mouse
          • Classical Greek Ποντῐκόν κάρυον Pontikón káruon hazelnut lit. "Pontic nut"

            • Latin nux Pontica hazelnut partial calque
            • Middle Persian pndk'

              • Persian پندک pondok hazelnut archaic
              • Arabic بُنْدُق bunduq hazelnut

                • Armenian պնդուկ pnduk hazelnut
                • French bonduc nickernut, nicker tree

                  • English bonduc
                • Spanish albóndiga meatball
                • Arabic بُنْدُقِيَّة bunduqiyya(t) rifle, gun ^[2]

                  • Persian

                    • Hindi बंदूक़ bandūq gun, rifle

                      • English bundook
                  • Swahili bunduki gun
              • Arabic فُنْدُق funduq hazelnut

                • Ottoman Turkish فندق funduq

                  • Turkish fındık hazelnut
                  • Greek φουντούκι fountoúki hazelnut ^[3]
                  • Russian фунду́к fundúk hazelnut
            • Classical Syriac ܦܢܕܩܐ pendəqāʾ hazelnut, pill
      • Classical Greek πάτος pátos

        • Classical Greek πᾰτέω patéō I walk, I tread, I reside in, I trample

          • Classical Greek περῐπᾰτέω peripatéō I walk around

            • Classical Greek περῐπᾰτητῐκός peripatētikós given to walking around

              • Classical Greek Περῐπᾰτητῐκοί Peripatētikoí Peripatetics
              • Latin peripatēticus

                • French péripatétique peripatetic, Peripatetic, Aristotlean

                  • English peripatetic
    • Indo-Iranian *pántas

      • Indo-Aryan

        • Sanskrit 𑀧𑀣𑀺𑀦𑁆 páthin way, path, doctrine
      • Iranian *pántah

        • Avestan 𐬞𐬀𐬧‎𐬙𐬃 paṇ‎tā̊
        • Northern Iranian

          • Scythian

            • Ossetian фӕндаг fændag road
            • West Germanic *paþaz

              • Old English pæþ path

                • English path

                  • English pathfinder
              • Frankish

                • Dutch pad path
              • Old High German

                • German Pfad path
        • Pashto پونده punda heel
        • Western Iranian

          • Northwestern Iranian

            • Parthian 𐫛𐫗𐫅𐫀𐫗 pndʾn path
          • Old Persian 𐎱𐎰 paθi

            • Persian پند pand advice, counsel, technique, knack

              • Arabic فن fann technique, art, genre

                • Persian فن fann technique
                • Swahili fani a field of knowledge, a discipline, successful, prosperous, worth
                • Turkish fen science
      • Nuristani *pã́tā

        • Kamviri pút
    • Italic *ponts

      • Latin pōns bridge

        • Sardinian ponti
        • Eastern Romance

          • Romanian punte footbridge, deck
        • Western Romance

          • French pont bridge, deck

            • English Pont
            • French du Pont

              • English Dupont
          • Italian ponte bridge, deck
          • Spanish puente bridge
        • Latin pontō ferryboat, floating bridge, pontoon

          • French ponton pontoon

            • English pontoon
        • Latin pontifex high priest, pontiff apparently lit. "bridge-maker"

          • French pontife

            • English pontiff
          • Italian pontefice pontiff
          • Spanish pontífice pontiff
          • Latin pontificare to preside as high priest

            • English pontificate

Visual

Collected English words

find, pathfinder, Pontus, bonduc, bundook, peripatetic, path, Pont, Dupont, pontoon, pontiff, pontificate

Footnotes

1. ^

   Old Irish áitt: "place, position, dwelling" is of uncertain origin. Matasovic find it unconvincing to derive it from *pent- -> *φāntīs -> áitt; but he's not that happy with his alternate idea, either.

2. ^

   The bullets shot by a "stone bow" or pellet-firing crossbow were shaped like hazelnuts. Thus Arabic بُنْدُق‎ bunduq: "hazelnut" became a word for these bullets, then for crossbows, then for firearms.

3. ^

   Greek φουντούκι fountoúki: "hazelnut" is from Turkish from Persian from Arabic from Persian from Greek! Truly requiring a pathfinder!