Other articles

1. Word Family - Millenial

   Introduction

   In each Hellenic, Indo-Iranian, and Italic the word for "thousand" is derived from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰéslo-—apparently "handful"?—but in different forms.

   Greek χίλιοι khílioi (kilo-) seems to derive from *ǵʰesliyoy, possibly a plural adjective form?

   In Indo-Iranian it's prefixed with *sem- as *sm̥-ǵʰéslom, which could be translated as …

   read more

2. Word Family - Column

   July theme: Architecture 🏛️

   Teaser

   column, excel, hill, Celsius, Stockholm, Sherlock Holmes

   Full Text

   • Proto-Indo-European *kelH- to rise, to be tall

     • Proto-Indo-European *kl̥néHti

       • Italic *kelnezi

         • Italic *eɣs-kelnezi

           • Latin excellere to elevate, to raise up, to rise, to exult, to excel

             • Italian eccellere to excel
             • French exceller to excel

               • English excel …

   read more

3. 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 …

   read more

4. 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 …

   read more

5. Word Family - Smile

   Teaser

   mirror, admire, miracle, Miranda, smile

   Full Text

   • Proto-Indo-European *smey- to laugh, to be glad

     • Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm smey- smile with, smile at

       • Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm smis

         • Italic *komsmis

           • Latin cōmis courteous, kind, polite, gracious, elegant

             • Latin cōmitās / cōmitātem courtesy, kindness, politeness, elegance

               • English comity
     • Proto-Indo-European *sméyeti primary verb

       • Balto-Slavic

         • Baltic

           • East …

   read more