Appendix:Proto-Indo-European/wer-

This entry contains Proto-Indo-European reconstructed words 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

Root

*wer- (several different PIE roots with the same form, need to be grouped by sense)

1. high, raised area.
2. to bind, hang on the scale; heavy.
3. to turn, bend.
4. to perceive, watch out for.
5. to cover.
6. to speak.
7. water.
8. wide, broad.
9. to burn.
10. squirrel.
11. to find.

Derived terms

• (from the sense "to speak" (*werh₃-)): *werdʰo- "word"

Descendants

of the sense "to burn":

• Anatolian:
  • Hittite: 𒉿𒊏 (wa-ar) ("to burn")
• Baltic:
  • Lithuanian: vírti, vérdu ("to cook")
• Slavic: *variti
  • Old Church Slavonic: варити (variti)
  • Czech: vařit ("to cook")
  • Russian: варить (varit') ("to cook")
  • Serbo-Croatian: варити (variti) ("to cook")
  • Slovak: variť ("to cook")

of the sense "to turn":

• Iranian:
  • Kurdish:
    • Kurmanji: zi-virrîn (to turn), gerrîn (to wander; to travel)

of the sense "to speak":

• Hellenic:
  • Ancient Greek: εἴρω (eirō)
• Slavic:
  • Russian: врать (vrat’)

of the sense "squirrel", often with reduplication:

• Proto-Balto-Slavic: *wēwer, *waiwer, *wāwer
  • Baltic:
    • Latvian: vāvere
    • Lithuanian: vaiverìs ("male polecat or marten"), voverė, vaiverė, voverìs (dialectical), vėverìs (dialectical)
    • Old Prussian: weware
    • Samogitian: vuoverie
  • Slavic: *věverica, *věverъka
    • Aromanian: viviritsã
    • East Slavic: вѣверица (věverica)
      • Belarusian: вавёрка (vavjorka)
      • Russian: веверица (veverica)
      • Ukrainian: вивірка (vyvirka), вiвериця (viverycja)
    • Romani: viaveritsa
    • Romanian: veveriță
    • South Slavic:
      • Old Church Slavonic: вѣверица (věverica)
        • Bulgarian: веверица (veverica)
        • Macedonian: верверица (ververica)
          • Greek: βερβερίτσα (ververítsa)
      • Serbo-Croatian:

        Cyrillic: вjе̏верица (Ijekavian), ве̏верица (Ekavian)

        Latin: vjȅverica (Ijekavian), vȅverica (Ekavian)

      • Slovenian: veverica
    • West Slavic:
      • Czech: veverka, veveřice
      • Polish: wiewiórka
      • Slovak: veverica
      • Sorbian:
        • Lower Sorbian: njewjericka
        • Upper Sorbian: wjewjerčka
    • Yiddish: וועוורקע (veverke), וועווריק (vevrik)
• Celtic:
  • Brythonic:
    • Breton: gwiñver
    • Welsh: gwiwer
• Germanic: *aikwernô (with prefixed *aik- from *h₂eig-)
• Indo-Iranian:
  • Iranian:
    • Old Persian: varvarah
• Italic:
  • Latin: viverra ("ferret")
    • Dalmatian: viala ("squirrel, hamster")
    • Translingual: Viverra (genus of civets)
      • Russian: виверра ("civet, genet")

References

Watkins, Calvert. Indo-European and the Indo-Europeans. 1969.