Daily Cognates

A root a day

[dailycognates]

Holy Healthy Halloween

Holy, healthy, and Halloween are part of a large family of words, all of which ultimately descend from the Proto-Germanic *hailaz “healthy, whole, complete, sound”.  The direct descendent of that root is the Modern English “whole”.  The w in the spelling whole has no etymological basis, and appears to have been added to distinguish it from the unrelated noun hole.  In northern dialects, it became hale, meaning “healthy, sound”, which is now dated.  In Old Norse, this root became heill, which was borrowed into English as hail in the sense of “greeting”, from the practice of wishing good health as a greeting (compare the Latin salve, used as a greeting, literally meaning “be healthy!” or “be well!”)

A verb *hailijaną, was derived from this adjective, with the meaning “make whole, make healthy”, which became the Modern English verb heal.  And a noun form *hailiþō was also formed from that root, meaning “wholeness” or “health”.  This is the ancestor of the Modern English health, and from that was formed the adjective healthy

Another suffix, *-gaz, “being, having, or doing X” was used to form the word *hailagaz, “holy, sacred”, which became Modern English holy.  A noun derived from this adjective, *hailagô (”holy person or thing”), became the now-obsolete noun hallow, “a saint”, which is preserved in the older name All Hallows’ Day for the festival more commonly known today as All Saints’ Day on November 1.  The night before All Hallows’ Day was All Hallows’ Even (Even in this context being an alternative form of Evening, or Eve), which came to be contracted to Halloween.  A verb *hailagōną derived from this source became the Modern verb hallow, the two forms eventually merging phonetically

[dailycognates]

Ring, harangue, curve, cancer

The noun ring comes the Old English hring from the Proto-Germanic *hringaz.  A variant form of ring in Middle English was rink, which survives as the Modern English rink as in “ice rink”.

This same Proto-Germanic root produced Gothic *hriggs which was borrowed into Old Italian as aringo “a public assembly”, from the idea of a group of people gathered together in a circle, with an epenthetic vowel to break up the Gothic hr- cluster.  This became the verb aringare (Modern Italian arringare) which formed the noun aringa which was borrowed into French as harangue “a public address”, which became English harangue.

The Proto-Germanic was earlier *hrengaz, borrowed into Proto-Finnic as *rengas, and derived ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European *krengʰ- from the root *(s)ker- “to turn”, “to bend”.

A nominal derivative *kr̥wós became Latin curvus, source of English curve.  A reduplicated form *kr̥kr̥- became Proto-Italic *karkros, “enclosure”, “barrier”, which became Latin carcer “jail”, “prison”, the source of Modern English incarcerate.  A variant form in Proto-Italic was *kankros with dissimilation of the -rkr- to -nkr-, which became Latin cancer “crab”, from the way a crab’s claws form a circular enclosure.  This was also used to refer to a tumor, due to a perceived similarity in shape between some tumors and crabs, whence the medical use in Modern English

[dailycognates]

Mix, mash, miscellaneous

The verb mix is descended from Middle English mixen from an unattested Old English *mixian, a metathesized version of miscian, while the noun derives from the Anglo-Norman mixte influenced by the verb.  More on the Anglo-Norman form below.  The Old English verb miscian is descended from Proto-Germanic *miskijaną “to mix”, “to combine”, from Proto-Indo-European *miḱ-sḱe- with a simplification of an expected medial cluster -hsk- to -sk-.  *miḱ-sḱe-, in turn, derived from the root *meyḱ- or *meyǵ- plus an inchoative suffix -sḱe-.

This same PIE form became Proto-Italic *mikskō, which became Latin misceō “I mix”, past participle mixtum, the source of the Anglo-Norman mixte from above, or mistum.  A number of compound words existed in Latin based on this root, among them the noun mixtūra, source of Modern English mixture, and the adjective miscellus “mixed”, “sundry”, “miscellaneous”, “hybrid”, and the synonymous miscellāneus which became English miscellaneous and prōmiscuus “not separate or distinct”, “shared”, “mixed”, “indiscriminate”, “promiscuous”, “common”, “usual”, “general”, which became Modern English promiscuous.

A nominal form in PIE *moyḱsḱeh2 became Proto-Germanic *maiskō or neuter *maiską  which became Old English māsc (which had a variant māx), which in turn became Modern English mash.

[dailycognates]

The Bereaved Robber stole a Robe

The word rob is descended from Old French rober from Medieval Latin raubāre from Frankish rōbōn or raubōn, or Old High German roubōn, raubōn “to rob”, “to steal”, “to plunder”, both from Proto-Germanic *raubōną with the same meaning.

This same Proto-Germanic root became Old English rēafian which became the archaic English reave “to raid”, “to plunder”, “to pirate”, “to deprive through violence” which survives in the historic term Border Reivers and should also be familiar to Firefly fans as the term “Reaver”.

A more common word preserving this root is the derived bereave from the compound *biraubōną.

This Proto-Germanic root in turn derives from Proto-Indo-European *Hrowpéyeti, from the root *Hrewp- “to break”, “to tear” with the causative suffix -éye-.  A nominal derivative of this root was *Hrowpós which became Proto-Germanic *raubaz “plunder”, “loot”, “booty”, “spoils”, which became Old French robe “plunder”, “spoils”, “garment” apparently through the notion of garments as valuable items to be taken in raids.  The same double meaning existed in the Old English cognate rēaf.  The Old French in turn was borrowed into English as robe, with only the clothing meaning surviving.  Modern French also has lost the “plunder” meaning.

[dailycognates]

“Pilgrim”, “Acre”

The Modern English word acre is inherited from the Middle English acre or aker from Old English æcer “field”, “the amount of land which can be ploughed in one day”.  That second meaning came to be the primary meaning, and was eventually standardized at the present value of 1/640 of a square mile, originally specifically defined as a rectangular piece of land one furlong (1/8 mile) long by 1 chain (1/10 furlong = 1/80 mile) wide, the rectangular definition being used due to the way land was divided in medieval farms (long narrow strips were easier to plow with oxen than squares).  The Old English word was descended from the Proto-Germanic *akraz meaning “field” or “open land”, in turn from the Proto-Indo-European *h2éǵros “field”, “pasturage”.

This root became Proto-Italic *agros and then Latin ager “field”, “farm”, “land”, “territory”, “country”.  This was combined with cultūra “cultivation” to form agricultūra, the source of English agriculture, and related words.  A derived form was the adverb peregē “to or from abroad” from the preposition per “through”, “during” + agrē, an obsolete locative form.  The change from /a/ to /e/ was due to a common sound change in Old Latin in which non-initial short vowels were raised.

The adjective suffix -īnus was added to peregrē to form peregrīnus “foreign”, “alien”, “exotic”, or as a noun “foreigner” or “traveler”.  This became Old French pelegrin (Modern French pèlerin), “pilgrim” (via the meaning “traveler”), with a dissimilation of the r ... r sequence to l ... r.  Pelegrin was then borrowed into Middle English as pilegrim, which became Modern English pilgrim.

[dailycognates]

“Dusk”, “Fumes”, “Dew”

The Modern English word dew is descended from Old English dēaw, which comes from Proto-Germanic *dawwaz “moisture” or “dew”, which in turn descends from the Proto-Indo-European *dʰowh2os, a nominal form of the root *dʰewh2- “mist”, “haze”, “smoke”.

Another derivative of this root was *dʰuskos, which became Proto-Germanic *duskaz, and thence, with metathesis, Old English dox “dark”, “swarthy”.  This then, with a second metathesis, became Modern English dusk.

Another Proto-Germanic descendant of this root was *dunstą “mist”, “haze”, “evaporation”, “dust”, which became Old English dūst “dust”, “powder”, the result of a sound change found in Old English and close relatives such as Old Frisian and Old Saxon in which nasals before voiceless fricatives were lost, with the preceding vowel being lengthened.  Dūst, in turn, became Modern English dust.

With the PIE suffix *-mós, which formed nouns denoting actions or results from verbs, the noun *dʰuh2mós “smoke” was formed.  This became Latin fūmus “smoke”, “steam”, “indication”, “sign”, which became Old French fum, and thence English fume.

[dailycognates]

“Canary”, “Canine”, “Hound”

Canary was originally an abbreviation of the name canary bird, which was named for the fact that they originated in the Canary Islands, whose name is an Anglicization of the Spanish Islas Canarias.

The Spanish name, in turn, is descended from the Latin insulae canāriae, where canāriae was the feminine plural of canārius, which was a derived adjective from the noun canis “dog”.  The usual explanation for why that name was used comes from the Roman historian Pliny the Elder who stated that the name (originally applied only to the largest island) was given because the island was filled with large dogs.

A different adjective formed from that noun was canīnus, which became the Modern English canine.  Canis is ultimately descended from the Proto-Indo-European *ḱwṓ “dog”, which had several different oblique forms, most cases built on *ḱwon- or the zero-grade *kwn̥-/kun-.  In the ancestor to Proto-Germanic, this was combined with the suffix *-tos forming *ḱwn̥tós which became Proto-Germanic *hundaz, ancestor of Old English hund, and thence Modern English hound, with the meaning having become more specialized after the word dog (or unclear etymology) replaced it as the general word.

The PIE root also became Ancient Greek kúōn “dog”, which produced the adjective kunikós “doglike”, which came to be used as a label for a philosophical school, borrowed into Latin as cynicus, the source of Modern English cynic.  It is said that they were called that for their rejection of conventional values, and their rejection of modesty and the habit of many Cynics of living on the streets.

It has been speculated that the PIE root might be distantly related in some way to the Proto-Sino-Tibetan *d-kʷəj-n- “dog”, the ancestor of, among others, Mandarin quǎn and the Sino-Japanese ken.  This is highly speculative, however, and would likely be a loan either from one family to the other, or both from a now-lost third language.

[dailycognates]

Arrive at the River

River was a borrowing from Old French riviere from Vulgar Latin *riparia “riverbank”, “river”, “shore”, from the feminine form of the Latin adjective rīpārius “pertaining to a riverbank”, from the noun rīpa “riverbank”, “shore”.

The Old French rivier was also borrowed into Italian as riviera “coast”, the source of the Modern English Riviera.

Another word formed from rīpa was the verb Vulgar Latin *arrīpō “I make landfall”, from the prefix ad- “to” + rīpa + verbal endings, with -dr- regularly assimilating to -rr-.  This became Old French ariver (Modern French arriver), which was borrowed into English as arrive.

[dailycognates]

Interstate Understanding

The English word understand is descended from Old English understandan, a transparent combination of the prefix under- and the verb standan “to stand”.  However, this under was not the same as the Modern English under.  As a prefix, under- had two meanings, “between” and “under”.  The “between” meaning is responsible for understandan, literally “stand between” or “stand in the midst of”, with the meaning “understand” originally being metaphorical.

Under descends from Proto-Germanic *under which represented the merger of two separate Proto-Indo-European roots *h1n̥tér “inside” and *n̥dʰér “under”.  The merger was the result of Verner’s Law, which changed *t to *d when following an unstressed syllable, while Grimm’s Law changed *dʰ to *d.  This merger is the reason for the double meaning of the prefix under in Germanic, which has been preserved by some Germanic languages.

The roots *h1n̥tér became Latin inter, while *n̥dʰér, via a derived adjective form *n̥dʰéros, became Latin īnferus “low”.  The ablative form īnferā was contracted to form the preposition īnfrā “under”.  Both inter and infra have been borrowed as prefixes in English.  īnferus is also the source of inferior and, via the related form īnfernus “of the lower regions”, the English infernal and inferno, both from the use of that adjective to refer to the Christian concept of Hell.

The second part of understand is descended from Proto-Germanic *standaną “to stand”.  Just as in Modern English, the past tense of *standaną lacked the /n/ of the present tense and infinitive.  The -n- in the present represents an infix *-n-/-né- used to form the present tense of some inherently perfective stems.  It is one of the few survivals in modern Indo-European languages of this infix.  Many older IE languages had other verbs like this, but in most cases the -n- either spread to the non-present forms, or was lost in the present forms.  An example of this is the Latin vincō “I win”, “I conquer”, whose perfect form was vicī, without the -n-.  However, in the Romance languages, the -n- is found in all forms.  For example, Spanish venzo “I win”, vencí “I won”.

The Germanic verb was descended from the PIE root *stéh2t-, an extension of the basic root *stéh2- “to stand (up)”.  A suffix *-éh1ye- was used to form stative verbs in PIE.  Added to this root produced *sth2éh1yeti “stand” which became Proto-Italic *staēō which became Latin stō “I stand”, “I stay”, “I remain”.  The past participle of this verb, status was used as an adjective meaning “set”, “fixed”, “regularly”, the direct source of Modern English status.  And via Old French estate it became Modern English estate and state.  The meaning of “political entity” developed in the 14th century.

Thus, interstate and understand are ultimately derived from the same PIE roots.

[dailycognates]

“Employ”, “flax”, “fold”, “imply”

Flax is descended from the Old English fleax, in turn from Proto-Germanic *flahsą with the same meaning.  The Proto-Germanic form is derived from Proto-Indo-European *pleḱsom, a derivative of the root *pleḱ “to fold”, “to plait”, “to weave”, named for the fact that it’s the source of linen.

This same root produced the Latin plexus “plaited”, “woven”, “twisted”, “folded”.  It often occurred in compound forms such as semplex “single”, “simple”, “plain”, “pure”, “unmixed”, added to the root sem- meaning “one”, thus literally “folded once”.  This became Old French simple, which was borrowed into English as simple.  Another compound, duplex “twofold”, “double”, was borrowed directly into English.

A verb pléḱeti became Latin plicō “I fold”, “I bend”,”I roll” (also “I arrive”).  The prefix multi- “many” was added to form the verb multiplicō “I increase”, “I augment”, “I multiply”, which became Old French multiplier, borrowed into English as multiply.  It was also the source, with the prefix in- “in”, of the verb implicō, meaning “I entangle”, “I entwine”, “I enfold”, “I embrace”, “I unite”, “I involve”, “I implicate”.  This is the direct source of implicate and the noun implication (via the derivative implicātiō).  This became Old French emplier “to fold”, “to make use of”, the source of Modern English imply.  A variant form emploier was the source of the English employ.

Finally, *pleḱ- itself was derived from the root *pel- "to fold”.  Many Indo-European roots sometimes had additional consonants added known as “extensions”, in this case, -ḱ-.  Extensions typically don’t seem to have changed the meaning much, though it’s likely that they originally did have some kind of meaning which has since been lost.  In addition, the -el- changed to -le-.  This was a phenomenon known as schwebeablaut.  Schwebeablaut was a process involving roots that contained a vowel followed by a “resonant” or vice versa.  The term resonant is used in Indo-European studies to refer to those consonants which had syllabic variants, namely, l, r, n, m, y, w.  The vowel and resonant often swapped places.  It is thought that this occurred due to the fact that the zero grade, e.g., *pl̥k could be interpreted as being from either *pelḱ or *pleḱ, and sometimes the “wrong” form was picked.

A different extension formed *pelt- which was the basis of the Proto-Germanic *falþaną “to fold”, which became Old English fealdan, and Modern English fold.

[dailycognates]

“Buddha”, “bid”, “bode”

The name Buddha is a Sanskrit term translating literally as “Awakened One” or “Enlightened One”, the past tense of the verb bhodati, “to wake”, “to understand”, “to know”.  This, in turn, is descended from the Proto-Indo-European *bʰéwdʰeti from the stem *bʰewdʰ- “to be awake”, “to be aware”.  The initial /b/ is the result of a sound change known as Grassman’s Law, which affected both Sanskrit and Greek.  When two voiced aspirates occurred in sequential syllables, the first lost its aspiration.  That is, in this case, the *bʰ became b because of the following dʰ.

In Proto-Germanic, this same verb became *beudaną “to offer”, “to bid”.  The connection between the two meanings was probably something like “be aware” → “make aware of” → “show” → “present”.  This verb became Old English bēodan “to offer”, “to give”, “to announce”, “to proclaim”.  Bēodan in turn became Modern English bid.  With the negative prefix for-, we have forbēodan “to forbid”, “restrain”, “stop (transitive)”, source of Modern English forbid.

A nominal form, *bʰudʰo- became Proto-Germanic *budą “offer”, “message”, with the same semantic shift as the verb.  From this came the verb *budōną “to proclaim”, “to announce”, “to instruct”, which became Old English bodian “to tell”, “to preach”, “proclaim”, “foretell”, which became Modern English bode.

[dailycognates]

Some Simulations Seem the Same

Seem is descended from Old Norse sœma “to honor”, “to put up with”, “to conform to”, from Proto-Germanic *sōmijaną “to fit”, “to unite”, “to make one”, which also produced the Old English sēman “to conciliate”.

The Proto-Germanic verb derives from an adjective *sōmiz “seemly”, “suitable”, ‘compatible”, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sem “one”, “together”.  This root also occurred in the adjective *somHós  “same”, “alike”, source of Proto-Germanic *samaz, which became Old English sama, and thence Modern English same.  It also produced Ancient Greek homós “same”, source of the English prefix homo-.

Ironically, another derivative, involving the zero-grade, was *sm̥teros which meant something like “one other”, the ancestor of Greek héteros  “other”, “second (usually of two)”, “different”, the source of the prefix hetero-.

A dual form of this PIE root *semh2 had the meaning “a couple”, and a further derivative *sm̥h1os with the suffix *-os and the zero grade form of the root, became Proto-Germanic *sumaz, which became Old English sum and Modern English some.

Finally, with the addition of the suffix *-elo, it became Latin similis “similar”, source of the English similar and simile.  A related form was simul (non-initial vowels became /u/ before l pinguis, namely, an /l/ not followed by i, ī, or l, thus the /i/ in similis, but /u/ in simul) an adverb meaning “at the same time as”, the root of the English simultaneous.  Also derived from similis was the verb simulō “I imitate”, “I act like”, “I pretend”, the ancestor of Modern English simulate.

[dailycognates]

“Second”, “Society”

Second and society are both borrowings from Latin, ultimately from the same PIE root.  Second is from Latin secundus “following” or “second” in the sense of “after first”.  The time meaning is an abbreviation of the phrase secunda pars minuta “Second small part”, i.e., the second division of an house (pars minuta being 1/60 of an hour, secunda pars minuta being 1/60 of a pars minuta).

Secundus in turn was derived from the verb sequor “I follow” plus the suffix -undus, which was used to form adjectives from verbs, in turn related to the present participle ending.  The verb sequor was also the source of sequence.  In turn, the verb derives from the Proto-Indo-European *sekʷetor, the mediopassive of the root *sekʷ- “to follow”.

Another derivative of this root was *sokʷ-yo- “companion” which became Latin socius “sharing”, “joining in”, “related”, “allied”, etc., which formed the basis of the noun societās “a union for a specific purpose”, “fellowship”, “partnership”, “society”, “union”, “community”, etc., which became English society.

[dailycognates]

The Candidate’s Candle

The word candidate is borrowed from Latin candidātus, originally an adjective meaning “dressed in white”.  It came to be used as a noun for “a person seeking office” from the fact that such persons would wear a pure white toga as a symbol of purity.  The adjective, in turn, was derived from the adjective candidus “shining white”, “clear”, “beautiful” (also borrowed into English as candid) with the suffix -ātus.  The suffix -ātus was used to form adjectives, typically from nouns.  It is descended from Proto-Indo-European *-eh2tos which became Proto-Germanic -ōdaz, and Modern English -ed, as in adjectives such as red-haired, and the past participle of class II weak verbs, and thus partly of the regular -ed past tense.

Candidus, in turn, was formed from the verb candeō “I shine” plus the suffix -idus, used to form adjectives meaning “tending to”.  This verb was also the origin of the noun candēla “candle” which was borrowed into Old English as candel, the source of Modern English candle.  The derivative candēlābrum became French chandelier, which was also borrowed into English.

[dailycognates]

“Kama”, “Charity”, “Cherish”

Kama, as in the famous Kama Sutra, is a borrowing from the Sanskrit kā́ma “desire”, “pleasure”, “love (especially sexual)”, which derives from Proto-Indo-Iranian *káHmas from Proto-Indo-European *kóh2mos, from the o-grade of the root *keh2- “desire”, “wish”.

Also based on this root was the PIE *kéh2ros, with the adjective ending *-ros.  This became Latin cārus “dear”, “belove”, “expensive”.  In French, this became cher.  A verb cherir (Modern French chérir) “to cherish” was formed from this adjective in Old French, which was borrowed into English as cherish.

An abstract noun cāritās “dearness”, “price”, “charity” was also formed from that root in Latin, which became Old French charité, the source of Modern English charity.

This root *kéh2ros developed a far more negative sense in Germanic.  The neuter form became Proto-Germanic *hōrą “adultery”, while the masculine and feminine forms became, respectively, *hōraz and *hōrǭ “adulterer” and “adultress”.  The feminine version gained even more negative connotations, developing the meaning “prostitute”.  This became Old English hōre, and thence Modern English whore (the initial w- has no etymological basis).  The same semantic shift occurred in Slavic as well.

[dailycognates]

The Junta practices Yoga

Junta is a borrowing from Spanish where it has a general meaning of “council”, “meeting”.  The English meaning comes from the fact that it was borrowed in relation to military governments in various Spanish-speaking nations.  The Spanish noun is the feminine of the adjective junto, descended from the Latin iūnctus, the past participle of the verb iungō “I join”.  This, in turn, is descended from the Proto-Indo-European *yunég-, from the root *yewg- “join” (in the zero grade), with the infix *-ne-.

A nominal form *yéwgos had the specialized meaning “team”, “pair of yoked animals”.  This became Proto-Indo-Iranian *yáwgas “team”, “yoke”, “yoking”, which became Sanskrit yóga, which had many meanings including “yoke”, “team”, “use”, “joining”, “undertaking”, etc.  One specialized meaning was a set of spiritual practices and meditation, in which meaning it was borrowed into English as yoga.

Another nominal derivative *yugóm became Proto-Germanic *juką “yoke”,  which became Old English geoc, source of Modern English yoke.  This was also the source of the Latin iugum which had “yoke” among it’s meanings.  A diminutive form iugulum came to mean “collarbone” (presumably from its shape resembling that of a yoke) or “neck”, the source of the adjective iugulāris, source of English jugular.  In Greek, this became zygón “yoke”, “scales”, “balance”.  From this noun a verb zygóō “I join” was formed, the past participle of which, zygōtós, is the source of the English zygote.

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“Hagiography”, “Dinner”

A hagiography is a biography of a saint, also used by extension to refer to an uncritical biography of a historical subject, from the idea of portraying them as a saint, ignoring the negative aspects of their life.  Hagiography is from Ancient Greek hágios “sacred”, “holy”, “saint” + graphía “writing”.  Hágios in turn is descended from Proto-Indo-European *Hyéh2gyos from the root *Hyeh2ǵ- “worship”, “sacrifice”, “holy”, “sacred”.

Another derivative became Proto-Italic *jagjūnos, which became Latin iēiūnus “fasting”, “abstinent”, from which was derived the verb iēiūnō “I fast”.  The connection between the two being the use of fasting as a religious practice.  With the prefix dis-, it became disiēiūnō “I break my fast” which became Old French disner “to dine”, “to eat the main meal of the day”, which had become the mid-day meal.  This was subsequently borrowed into English as dinner (and also the verb dine), initially also meaning the midday meal (the evening meal being supper).  It still has that meaning in some dialects, but most dialects of English have since shifted the meaning to the evening meal.  The same semantic shift has occurred in Modern French dîner, which as a noun also means “evening meal” or “midday meal” depending on dialect.