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1. Word Family - Anthology

   Introduction

   Proto-Indo-European *h₂endʰ-: "to bloom" is represented almost entirely by Greek ἄνθος ánthos, but there's just enough smattering across other branches to demonstrate that it's not something the Greeks picked up after they split from the rest of IE.

   Teaser

   anthology, chrysanthemum, Ianthe

   Full Text

   • Proto-Indo-European *h₂endʰ- to bloom Late …

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2. Word Family - Barrel

   Teaser

   barrel, metaphor, Veronica, amphora, offer, Lucifer, ferret, wheelbarrow, tidal bore, birthday

   Full Text

   • Proto-Indo-European *bʰer-

     • Proto-Indo-European *bʰers- top, tip, point

       • Proto-Indo-European *bʰars *bʰores *bʰr̥es spiky leaves

         • Albanian bar
         • Balto-Slavic *buras
         • Celtic *bar- grain?

           • Celtic *bargos *barginā bread, cake
         • Germanic *baraz spiky leaves, awn, barley

           • Germanic *barizaz barley

             • East …

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3. Word Family - Mercury

   Introduction

   Latin Mercury is fairly mysterious. Mercury as a god of commerce seems obviously related to merx: "merchandise, commodity", and in Faliscan and possibly Oscan votive tablets, a cognate to merx (or rather its dative mercii as expected in context) appears as a divine name: Mercui, Mirikui. But in Latin …

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4. Word Family - Autism

   Introduction

   Proto-Indo-European *h₂ew: "away from, since, again" cannot be formally tied to *h₂epó: "off, away", but the similarity is suggestive. Perhaps Pre-Proto-Indo-European *b became either *p (by fortition) or *w (by lenition) in almost all cases, accounting for the paucity of *b in PIE.

   In any case, the later (re …

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5. Word Family - Hawaii

   Introduction

   Dr. Melenaite Taumoefolau makes a compelling and intriguing argument: that Nuclear Polynesian *sawaiki: "traditional/mythological homeland"—whence Hawaii—may be a cognate of *sau ʔariki borrowed from the Tongic branch into Nuclear Polynesian. (Note that *sawaiki can only be reconstructed to NP, it is not present in Tongic or …

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6. Word Family - Odin

   Teaser

   Odin, Wednesday, Vatican

   Full Text

   • Proto-Indo-European *weh₂t- excited, inspired, possessed, raging

     • Proto-Indo-European *woh₂tos inspired, excited, possessed, raging verbal adjective

       • Old Armenian գութ gutʿ prayer, entreaty, compassion, pity

         • Armenian գութ gutʿ pity, compassion
       • Germanic *wōdaz

         • East Germanic *wōdas

           • Gothic 𐍅𐍉𐌳𐍃 wōds possessed (as by a demon)
         • North Germanic *wōdaʀ

           • Old …

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7. Word Family - Fee

   Introduction

   Peculiar fellow, that cyclops.

   Teaser

   fee, feudal, peculiar, fellow, cyclops, fight, Shadowfax

   Full Text

   • Proto-Indo-European *peḱ- wool, livestock, wealth

     • Proto-Indo-European *péḱu

       • Old Armenian ասու asu fleece, wool

         • Armenian ասր asr fine fleece
       • Balto-Slavic *péku

         • East Baltic

           • Lithuanian pekus
         • West Baltic

           • Old Prussian pecku cattle
       • Germanic *fehu wealth, cattle, the …

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8. Word Family - Justice

   Introduction

   June is for Justice. Justice is Life. ✊🏿✊🏽✊🏼 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

   Teaser

   Ayurveda, hygiene, forever, not, age, eternal, medieval, young, June, jury, injury, prejudice, justice

   Full Text

   • Proto-Indo-European *h₂ey- life, age, vital, eternal

     • Proto-Indo-European *h₂óyu

       • Old Armenian այո ayo yes "on my life??"

         • Armenian այո ayo yes
       • Indo-Iranian *Hā́yu lifetime, life

         • Indo-Aryan …

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9. Word Family - Wheel

   Introduction

   This is quite a large family with a number of borrowings into other language families. Because, it turns out, the Indo-European speakers' relationship with wheels is pretty important in a lot of people's history, like the Sumerians' relationship with reeds.

   There is also a root *wel(h₁)-: "to turn …

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10. Word Family - Lion

    Introduction

    Note: significantly updated 2026-08

    Teaser

    lion, leopard, chameleon, dandelion, Aaron, Ariel

    Full Text

    • Afro-Asiatic *labiwʾ- *libawʾ- lion

      • Semitic *labiʾ- *libaʾ- lion

        • East Semitic

          • Akkadian 𒊊 lābu lion

            • ?

              • Kartvelian

                • Old Georgian ლომი lom lion Asomtavruli ^[2]

                  • Georgian ლომი lom lion

                    • Chechen лом lom lion
                  • Svan ლო̈მ löm lion ^{[2 …}

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11. Word Family - Bleak

    January theme: 98 … 99 … 100! 💯

    Teaser

    bleach, blank, black, blue, beluga, flame, Baltic, pool

    Full Text

    • Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- to shine

      • Proto-Indo-European *bʰoltós

        • Balto-Slavic

          • Baltic

            • East Baltic

              • Lithuanian báltas white
            • Latin Balthae

              • Medieval Latin Balticus

                • English Baltic
        • Illyrian *balta swamp

          • Albanian baltë mud
          • Balto-Slavic *balta

            • Latin Balthae

              • Medieval Latin Balticus

                • English …

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12. Word Family - Arbiter

    December theme: Pre-Classical Mediterranean 🏝

    Teaser

    Europe, Maghreb, Arabia, Erebus

    Full Text

    • Semitic *ʿrb *ġrb to depart, to set ^[1]

      • Central Semitic

        • Arabic غ ر ب ġ r b

          • Arabic غرب ġaraba to depart, to withdraw, to set
          • Arabic غرب ġaruba to be a stranger, to be strange, to be difficult …

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13. Word Family - Egypt

    December theme: Pre-Classical Mediterranean 🏝

    Introduction

    Tying Minoan (Cretan) Phaistos and Greek Hephaestus in to this family is speculative, but not as wild a reach as it first looks like.

    Hephaestus and Phaistos, Crete:

    We usually represent the name as Hephaestus in the Roman alphabet, after Roman transliteration traditions, but (as …

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14. Word Family - Venom

    November theme: Spiders 🕷️

    Teaser

    win, wish, Venus, Darwin, vanadium, venom, wonder, winsome

    Full Text

    • Proto-Indo-European *wenh₁- to love, to want

      • Proto-Indo-European *wn̥h₁néwti? variant ne imperfective

        • Germanic *winnaną *gawinnaną to strive, to work, to gain, to win

          • East Germanic

            • Gothic 𐍅𐌹𐌽𐌽𐌰𐌽 / 𐌲𐌰𐍅𐌹𐌽𐌽𐌰𐌽 winnan gawinnan to suffer
          • North Germanic

            • Old Norse …

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15. Word Family - Witch

    Introduction

    Bonus word family for Halloween by special request from my 4 year old: witch from *weyk-: "to separate, to choose, to consecrate".

    *weyk- looks like an extended root implying *wey-, but I can't find any clear evidence for that root. If it is an extension of *wey-, a zero-grade …

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16. Word Family - Hall

    July theme: Architecture 🏛️

    Teaser

    hall, cellar, eyelid, color, hell, apocalypse

    Full Text

    • Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- to cover

      • Proto-Indo-European *ḱel-dʰh₁-? place under cover??

        • Proto-Indo-European *ḱeldʰh₁eti?

          • Germanic *haldaną to hold, to keep

            • East Germanic

              • Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌻𐌳𐌰𐌽 haldan to hold, to tend
            • North Germanic

              • Old Norse halda to hold

                • Danish holde to hold, to …

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17. Word Family - Mother

    May theme: Kinship Terms 👨‍👩‍👧‍👧

    Teaser

    mother, material, Manchester, mammal

    Full Text

    • Proto-World? *ma

      • Bantu *mààmá mother

        • Swahili mama mother
        • Zulu úm̤áma my mother
      • Basque ama mother, origin
      • Mon-Khmer *meeʔ mother

        • Khmer ម៉ែ mae mother
        • Vietnamese mẹ mother
      • Old Japanese 母 omo mother

        • Japanese 母 / あも amo mother (archaic …

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18. Word Family - Wind

    February theme: Weather ⛈️

    Teaser

    wind, window, nirvana, vent, vent, weather, athlete, fan, atmosphere

    Full Text

    • Proto-Indo-European *h₂weh₁- to blow (of wind) ^[1]

      • Proto-Indo-European *h₂weyd-? to speak?, to sing?

        • Proto-Indo-European *h₂weydeti

          • Hellenic *awéidō I sing

            • Classical Greek ἀείδω aeídō I sing
            • Hellenic *awoidā́

              • Classical Greek ἀοιδή aoidḗ song, ode, story, legend …

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19. Word Family - Taran

    February theme: Weather ⛈️

    Teaser

    stun, tornado, detonate, Thor, thunder, blunderbus

    Full Text

    • Proto-Indo-European *stenh₂- *tenh₂- thunder, to be loud, to resound ^[1]

      • Proto-Indo-European *sténh₂eti thunders, resounds

        • Balto-Slavic

          • East Baltic

            • Lithuanian steneti
          • Slavic *stenàti to groan, to moan

            • East Slavic стенати stenati

              • Russian стенать stenatʹ to groan, to moan (archaic)
            • South …

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20. Word Family - Rex

    December theme: Religion 📿

    Introduction

    This is the family that no matter how long I work on it, it's never done. That's what I get for trying to explore the possibility that two extremely important and productive roots may be connected: *h₂er-, related to cosmic order, and *h₃reǵ-, related to societal …

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21. Word Family - Bid

    December theme: Religion 📿

    Introduction

    *bʰewdʰ- vs. *gʷʰedʰ-: two families that end up being super confusing in Germanic languages, since *bʰ and *gʷʰ merge at the beginning of a word. In English, they end up being homophones with complementary/opposite meanings: "offer" vs. "ask for".

    I had to do these two …

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22. Word Family - Diurnal

    December theme: Religion 📿

    Introduction

    We start religion words with *dyḗwos ph₂tḗr, Old Father Shining-Sky himself.

    Interestingly English "day" is not from this root, despite similarity to many IE words for "day", e.g. Latin diēs, etc. Germanic *d corresponds to Latin f (PIE *dʰ); Latin d corresponds to Germanic *t …

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23. Word Family - Tepid

    September theme: Fire 🔥

    Teaser

    Tbilisi, tepid

    Full Text

    • ?

      • Afro-Asiatic *dVp- heat, fire, steam ^[1]

        • Chadic

          • Hausa dafa to cook
        • Cushitic *daf- steam, sweat

          • Gedeo daffa sweat
          • Oromo damfa steam

            • Oromo damfisa boil, heat in water
        • Semitic *d-p-ʔ- heat, be warm

          • Central Semitic

            • Arabic دفئ dāfiʾ warm
      • Kartvelian *ṭep- ^[1]

        • Georgian …

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24. Word Family - Brew

    September theme: Fire 🔥

    Teaser

    brew, broil, breed, ferment, burn, bourbon whiskey, broth, bread

    Full Text

    • Proto-Indo-European *bʰrewh₁- to bubble, to boil, to brew

      • Proto-Indo-European *bʰrewh₁ti primary verb

        • Albanian mbruaj to knead
        • Celtic

          • Old Irish bruithid boils, seethes, cooks

            • Irish bruith to boil, to bake, to burn
        • Germanic *brewwaną to brew …

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25. Word Family - Easter

    Introduction

    The root *h₂ews-: "sunrise" may be connected to *h₂ew-: "away from, since, again" and *h₂ewg-: "to increase, to enlarge", compare for example *h₂éwgeh₂: "sunrise, dawn" (literally, "the increase") from *h₂ewg-.

    Teaser

    Eärendil, Easter, air, soar, east, Austria, Australia, early

    Full Text

    • Pre-Proto-Indo-European *qʷ:eb-??

      • Proto-Indo-European *h₂ew away from, since …

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26. Word Family - Equus

    March theme: March of Horses 🐎

    Teaser

    hippopotamus, equestrian, zebra, alfalfa, Azores

    Full Text

    • Early Proto-Indo-European

      • Proto-Indo-European *h₁eḱ- swift, fast ^[1]

        • Proto-Indo-European *Heḱu-péth₂r̥ swift-winged?, sharp-winged?, hawk

          • Balto-Slavic

            • Slavic *àstrę̄bъ hawk

              • East Slavic ꙗстрѧбъ jastrębŭ

                • Russian ястреб jastreb hawk
              • South Slavic

                • Serbo-Croatian јастреб / јастријеб / jastreb / jastrijeb hawk
              • West Slavic

                • Czech jestřáb …

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