Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/wéh₁itis
Proto-Indo-European
Etymology
From *weh₁y- (“to twine, wind”) + *-tis (abstract or action suffix).
The reconstruction of the underlying root is heavily debated. Beekes, De Vaan, and Derksen all reconstruct *weh₁i-, each using the oblique, zero-grade stem (*uh₁i-ti-) as the etymon for the Hellenic, Italic, and Balto-Slavic branches respectively. Fortson agrees that the oblique, zero-grade stems of many nouns in *-tis and *-tus were generalized in Indo-Aryan, Hellenic, and many other branches. Other examples include:
- *bʰértis > *bʰŕ̥tis → Old Armenian բարդ (bard), Celtic *britis (Old Irish brith, Middle Welsh bryd), Germanic *burþiz, Italic *forts (Latin fors), Sanskrit भृति (bhr̥tí)
- *pértus > *pŕ̥tus → Celtic *ɸritus (Brythonic *rrɨd), Germanic *furduz, Iranian *pr̥tuš (Avestan 𐬞𐬆𐬭𐬆𐬙𐬎 (pərətu)), Italic *portus
Matasović instead reconstructs *weyh₁-, pointing out that, in Celtic, a laryngeal is lost after the diphthong -ey- and before a consonant (/eyHC/ → /eyC/) and also that -ey- regularly becomes -ē-. However, given the evidence of other Celtic nouns derived from *-tis and *-tus (*bʰértis > *britis, *ǵéwstus > *gustus, *pértus > *ɸritus), Celtic also appears to favor the zero-grade for these nouns, making the reconstruction *wéyh₁tis untenable. It is unclear whether *uh₁ítis regularly gives Celtic *wētis, but *wih₁-, the zero-grade of *weyh₁-, certainly would not.
The LIV in turn reconstructs *wyeh₁- for the verbs meaning “to wrap, twine” (Latin vieō, Sanskrit व्ययति (vyáyati), Slavic *viti); though De Vaan rejects this proposal.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]
Inflection
Athematic, proterokinetic | |||
---|---|---|---|
singular | |||
nominative | *wéh₁itis | ||
genitive | *uh₁itéys | ||
singular | dual | plural | |
nominative | *wéh₁itis | *wéh₁itih₁(e) | *wéh₁iteyes |
vocative | *wéh₁iti | *wéh₁itih₁(e) | *wéh₁iteyes |
accusative | *wéh₁itim | *wéh₁itih₁(e) | *wéh₁itims |
genitive | *uh₁itéys | *? | *uh₁itéyoHom |
ablative | *uh₁itéys | *? | *uh₁itímos |
dative | *uh₁itéyey | *? | *uh₁itímos |
locative | *uh₁itéy, *uh₁itḗy | *? | *uh₁itísu |
instrumental | *uh₁itíh₁ | *? | *uh₁itímis |
Related terms
- *uh₁itus[1]
Descendants
(From generalized zero-grade *uh₁ítis)
- Proto-Balto-Slavic: *wīˀtis[2][3]
- Proto-Celtic: *wētis[5] (see there for further descendants)
- Proto-Germanic: *wiþiz
- Proto-Italic: *wītis [8]
- Latin: vītis
- Ancient Greek: ἰτέα (itéa, “willow”)[9]
Unsorted formations:
- Armenian:[10]
- Proto-Indo-Iranian: *waytasás[11][10]
- Proto-Indo-Aryan: *waytasás
- Proto-Iranian: *waytaháh
References
- Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “ἴτυς”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), volume I, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 605
- Derksen, Rick (2008) chapter 523, in Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 4), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 522
- Derksen, Rick (2015) “vytis”, in Etymological Dictionary of the Baltic Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 13), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 508
- “§6.42. i- and u- stems” in Fortson, Benjamin W. (2010) Indo-European Language and Culture: An Introduction, second edition, Oxford: Blackwell, pages 112–113.
- Matasović, Ranko (2009) “*wēti-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 9), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 418
- Rix, Helmut, editor (2001), “*u̯i̯eh₁-”, in Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben [Lexicon of Indo-European Verbs] (in German), 2nd edition, Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, →ISBN, page 695
- De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “vieō”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 677
- De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “vītis”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 683-684
- Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “ἰτέα”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), volume I, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 604
- Martirosyan, Hrach (2010) Etymological Dictionary of the Armenian Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 8), Leiden and Boston: Brill, pages 211–212
- Mayrhofer, Manfred (1996) Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindoarischen [Etymological Dictionary of Old Indo-Aryan] (in German), volume II, Heidelberg: Carl Winter Universitätsverlag, page 578f