July theme: Architecture 🏛️

Introduction

For the end of my architecture theme month, I've put together a collection a few small-but-interesting families with architecture words that I did preliminary research on, before concluding each was too small to a weekly family on its own.

Teaser

minaret

adobe

arrow, arch

Full Text

• Afro-Asiatic *ŋaw- to burn, to blaze

  • Egyptian nwḫ to heat, to scorch

    • Egyptian snwḫ to boil causative
  • Afro-Asiatic *ŋiwr- fire, firelight substantive

    • Chadic *ŋurŋ- ash

      • Central Chadic

        • Gude ŋira-ḍu ash, coal
      • West Chadic

        • Boghom nwur-ǝŋ ash
    • Cushitic *ŋuur-

      • Somali nal light, lamp
    • Semitic *nūr- fire, light

      • Central Semitic *n-w-r

        • Arabic نُور nūr light

          • Arabic نَار nār fire

            • Maltese nar fire
        • Northwest Semitic

          • Aramaic 𐡍𐡅𐡓𐡀 nūrā
          • Canaanite

            • Hebrew נוּר nūr shining fire, light

              • Hebrew נֵר ner candle, single-wick lamp
          • Ugaritic 𐎐𐎗 nīru fire
        • Central Semitic *m-n-w-r noun of place or instrument

          • Arabic مَنَارَة manāra lighthouse, beacon, minaret

            • Persian مناره menâre minaret

              • Ottoman Turkish مناره minare

                • Turkish minare minaret
                • French minaret

                  • English minaret
          • Northwest Semitic

            • Aramaic 𐡌𐡍𐡓𐡕𐡀 mənārəṯā candlestick, lighthouse
            • Canaanite

              • Hebrew מְנוֹרָה m'norá light, lamp, menorah

                • English menorah
            • Ugaritic 𐎎𐎐𐎗𐎚 mnrt candlestick, candelabra
      • East Semitic

        • Akkadian 𒉡𒌨(𒌝) nūru(m) light, fire, lamp
      • South Semitic

        • Old South Arabian 𐩬𐩥𐩧 nwr

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• Egyptian 𓅙-𓃀:𓏏*𓊌 ḏbt brick, block, ingot ^[1]

  • Demotic Egyptian tb brick

    • Coptic ⲧⲱⲃⲉ tobǝ brick

      • Arabic طُوب ṭūb brick, backed brick, adobe

        • Amharic (እ)ጡብ (ʾə)ṭub brick, tile
        • French toub mud brick, adobe
        • Spanish adobe adobe from the definite الطُوب aṭ-ṭūb

          • English adobe

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• Unknown substrate

  • Balto-Slavic

    • Latvian ẽrcis juniper
    • Slavic

      • East Slavic

        • Russian раки́та rakíta willow, sallow, broom
      • South Slavic

        • Serbo-Croatian српски rakita purple willow
  • Hellenic

    • Classical Greek ἄρκευθος árkeuthos juniper, cedar
  • Celtic *wareka?? ^[2]

    • Brythonic *gwarɨg bow, arc

      • Breton gwareg bow, arc, arch

        • Breton Gwareg placename: Arc possibly referring to a bend in the Blavezh River
        • French Gouarec
      • Cornish gwarak arc, arch, bow, crescent, yoke
  • Northwest Indo-European *h₂érkʷo- bow, arrow

    • Celtic *wareka?? ^[2]

      • Brythonic *gwarɨg bow, arc

        • Breton gwareg bow, arc, arch

          • Breton Gwareg placename: Arc possibly referring to a bend in the Blavezh River
          • French Gouarec
        • Cornish gwarak arc, arch, bow, crescent, yoke
    • Germanic *arhwō arrow

      • East Germanic

        • Gothic *arƕa

          • Gothic 𐌰𐍂𐍈𐌰𐌶𐌽𐌰 arƕazna dart, missile
      • North Germanic

        • Old Norse ǫr arrow

          • Icelandic ör arrow, directed edge (graph theory)
          • Old Norse Ǫrvar Arrows (personal name)

            • Icelandic Örvar
            • Swedish Orvar
      • West Germanic

        • Old English earh arrow

          • English arrow
    • Italic

      • Latin arcus arc, bow, rainbow

        • Central Romance

          • Italian arco bow, arc, arch

            • Italian arcata arcade, span (of a bridge)

              • French arcade arcade

                • English arcade
        • Eastern Romance

          • Aromanian arcu bow
          • Romanian arc bow, arch
        • Western Romance

          • Old French arc bow, arch

            • French arc bow, arc, arch
            • English arc
          • Old French arche bow, arch

            • French arche
            • English arch
          • Spanish arco bow, arc, arch
        • Latin arcuārius of bows, bowyer, archer

          • Vulgar Latin *arcārius

            • Eastern Romance

              • Romanian arcar bowyer, bowmonger archaic
            • Western Romance

              • Old French

                • French archier
                • English archer
                • Italian arciere
              • Spanish arquero archer, goalkeeper

Visual

Collected English words

minaret, menorah, adobe, arrow, arcade, arc, arch, archer

Footnotes

1. ^

   Egyptian 𓅙-𓃀:𓏏*𓊌 ḏbt: "(clay) brick" is interestingly similar to Sumerian 𒁾 dub: "(clay) tablet".

2. ^

   There is an apparently Late Northwest Indo-European word *h₂érkʷo-, meaning "arrow" in Germanic *arhwō and "bow, arc" in Latin arcus. This is probably a substrate borrowing, and probably the same substrate as gives words for trees suitable for making bent-branch objects like bows in Balto-Slavic—Latvian ẽrcis: "juniper", Russian раки́та rakíta: "willow, broom"—and Greek ἄρκευθος árkeuthos: "juniper, cedar".

   Brythonic *gwarɨg: "bow, arc" (apparently something like Celtic *wareka) is a fairly poor sound match to *h₂érkʷo- and the others, but it is an exact semantic match to the Latin, and just close enough in sound to wonder about. Perhaps it was a separate borrowing from the substrate.

   Brythonic *gwarɨg replaced by bwa in Welsh (a borrowing from Old English), but is preserved in Cornish and Breton. There is even a placename in Brittany named Gwareg (Gouarec in French), possibly referring to an arc in the Blavezh (Blavet) River.