Etymology
Roots, morphemes, sound changes and borrowings — the history behind words, as a set of records rather than a paragraph of prose.
Reconstructed forms are hypotheses, not attested words. Every entry carries its source; none is invented.
Roots
| Form | Proto-language | Meaning | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| *mata | Proto-Austronesian | eye | hypothesis |
| *-ntʊ̀ | Proto-Bantu | person | hypothesis |
| *méh₂tēr | Proto-Indo-European | mother | hypothesis |
| *ph₂tḗr | Proto-Indo-European | father | hypothesis |
| *swésōr | Proto-Indo-European | sister | hypothesis |
| *wódr̥ | Proto-Indo-European | water | hypothesis |
| *k-t-b | Proto-Semitic | to write | hypothesis |
| *s-l-m | Proto-Semitic | peace, wholeness | hypothesis |
| *sub | Proto-Turkic | water | hypothesis |
| *wete | Proto-Uralic | water | hypothesis |
Morphemes
| Form | Kind | Meaning | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|
| auto- | combining | self | Greek autos |
| bio- | combining | life | Greek bios |
| tele- | combining | far, distant | Greek tele |
| re- | prefix | again, back | Latin re- |
| un- | prefix | not, reverse of | Old English un- |
| -ly | suffix | in the manner of | Old English -lice |
| -ness | suffix | state or quality of | Old English -nes |
| -tion | suffix | act or state of | Latin -tio via French |
Sound changes
Great Vowel Shift hypothesis
Long vowels of Middle English raised and diphthongised
Middle English → Modern English · c. 1400-1700
Grimm's Law hypothesis
PIE voiceless stops became Germanic fricatives
Proto-Indo-European → Proto-Germanic · c. 500 BCE
High German consonant shift hypothesis
Distinguishes High German from other West Germanic
West Germanic → Old High German · c. 400-800
Verner's Law hypothesis
Explains exceptions to Grimm's Law conditioned by PIE accent
Proto-Indo-European → Proto-Germanic · c. 500 BCE
Borrowings
| From | To | When | Region | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arabic | Spanish | 711-1492 | Iberia | direct |
| French | English | 1066-1400 | Britain | direct |
| Greek | Latin | c. 200 BCE | Mediterranean | learned |
| Latin | French | None | Western Europe | inherited-then-borrowed |
| Sanskrit | Malay | None | Maritime Southeast Asia | direct |
| Spanish | English | 1500-1900 | Americas | direct |
Not yet built
Etymology entries (ETYM-*), cognate sets and semantic-change
events attach to a lexeme and a sense. Neither layer exists yet, so building
them now would collapse the word/concept distinction the domain
specification requires.