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1. Word Family - Vet

   Introduction

   I've included (possibly) two families again in this one, Proto-Indo-European *wet-: "year, year-old" and Proto-Indo-European *wósr̥: "spring (season)". There's no formal connection, but it's not hard to imagine on either the phonetic or the semantic level.

   Acrostatic *ó-r̥ nouns like *wósr̥ are from very early PIE. You could imagine …

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2. Word Family - Middle

   Introduction

   The particle *me meaning "with, at, between" is probably the origin of *médʰyos: "middle"—in turn the origin of many, many words.

   I wonder if *meh₁-: "to measure" and *meh₁d-: "to consider, to give advice, to heal" isn't also from *me. Germanic *midlą for example sometimes means …

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3. Word Family - Mississippi

   Introduction

   In which the US states of Mississippi, Michigan, and Massachusetts all have a common ancestor in Algonquian *meʔši-: "large".

   But not Missouri. I checked 4 or 5 times because my mind kept rejecting the answer.

   Teaser

   Michigan, Mississippi, Massachusetts

   Full Text

   • Algonquian *-ʔči-

     • Central Algonquian

       • Ojibwe ᒋ- chi- big …

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4. Word Family - Cook

   Teaser

   cook, coach, quiche, cake, kitchen, culinary, apricot, Pepsi, biscuit, Budapest

   Full Text

   • Early Proto-Indo-European

     • Anatolian *pekʷ- to pound, to crack grain

       • Hittite pakkušš- to pound, to crack, to crush, to grind

         • Hittite 𒉺𒀝𒋗𒉿𒀭 pa-ak-šu-wa-an cracked? ground? (of grain)
         • Hittite 𒉺𒀝𒆪𒍑𒋗𒅈 pa-ak-ku-uš-šu-ar a tool for crushing grain
       • Lydian 𐤥𐤹𐤡𐤠𐤲𐤶𐤫𐤯 wćpaqẽnt tramples upon …

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5. Word Family - Elf

   Teaser

   albino, auburn, daub, oaf, elf, Alfred, Oberon, Elbe, Arpad, Alps

   Full Text

   • Proto-Indo-European *h₂elbʰós white

     • Anatolian *albós

       • Hittite 𒀠𒉺𒀸 alpas cloud
     • Hellenic *alpʰós

       • Classical Greek ἀλφός alphós alphos, leprosy with white lesions

         • Latin alphos

           • English alphos
     • Italic *alβos white

       • Latin albus white, bright, pale, gray, fortunate

         • Central …

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