Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/wed-

This Proto-Indo-European entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Proto-Indo-European

Etymology

Possibly related to Proto-Uralic *wete, the source of Finnish vesi and Hungarian víz. The nature of the relationship is unclear and controversial; the word may have been borrowed from Proto-Indo-European into Proto-Uralic, or the reverse. A minority of linguists suggests a common origin from an even earlier proto-language, Indo-Uralic, but this is not generally accepted.

In Proto-Indo-European, the active elemental *wed- (“water”) was contrasted with the passive *h₂ep- (“body of water”), similar to the opposition of the active "fire" *h₁n̥gʷnis with the passive *péh₂wr̥.

Root

*wed-

1. to well
2. water

Derived terms

Terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *wed- (69 c, 0 e)

• *u-né-d-ti ~ *u-n-d-énti (nasal-infix present)
  • Proto-Indo-Iranian: *unátˢti
    • Proto-Indo-Aryan: *unátti
      • Sanskrit: उनत्ति (unátti, “to wet”)
  • ⇒? Proto-Italic: *undā
    • Latin: unda (“wave”)
  • ⇒? Proto-Balto-Slavic: *wandō (“water”) (see there for further descendants)

• *wod-sḱé-ti (o-grade sḱe-present)
  • Proto-Germanic: *waskaną (“to wash”) (see there for further descendants)

• *wēd-o-s (“wet”)
  • Proto-Germanic: *wētaz

• *wód-r̥ ~ *wéd-n̥-s (“water”)

• *ud-ri-s
  • Proto-Italic: *udri-
    • Latin: uter (“leather bag”) (or via Etruscan from Ancient Greek ὑδρία (hudría))

• *wed-ro-m
  • Proto-Italic: *wedrom
    • Latin: vitrum (“glass”)

• *ud-ró-s (“otter”)

• *wéd-os ~ *wéd-es-os (“water”)
  • Old Armenian: գետ (get, “river”)

• Unsorted formations:
  • Illyrian: *adur
  • Indo-Aryan
    • Sanskrit: उद्र (udra, “water”)
  • Proto-Iranian:
    • Avestan: 𐬬𐬀𐬌𐬜𐬌 (vaⁱδi, “watercourse”)
    • Avestan: 𐬬𐬀𐬌𐬭𐬌 (vaⁱri, “lake”)
      • → Middle Persian: (/⁠war⁠/, “lake”)

        Book Pahlavi script: [Book Pahlavi needed] (wl)

    • Avestan: 𐬀𐬊𐬜𐬀 (aoδa, “water spring”)
      • → Middle Persian: (/⁠ōdāy⁠/, “water spring”) (just in some Zend texts)

        Book Pahlavi script: [Book Pahlavi needed] (ʾwdʾd)

    • Avestan: 𐬎𐬯𐬀 (usa, “well”)

Further reading

• Sihler, Andrew L. (1995) New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin, Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, § 223.5