Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂éyos

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

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Alternative reconstructions

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Etymology

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If a native formation, possibly from a root *h₂ey- (to burn; fire) found also in *h₂ey-dʰh₁- (to set fire, literally *put to fire)[2] and perhaps *h₂ey-er- (day, morning).

Noun

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*h₂éyos n[3][2][4]

  1. a metal, copper, bronze

Usage notes

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This is the only word in Proto-Indo-European that unequivocally refers to a metal. There is no word for iron and the words for gold and silver seem to mean “that which shines”, or “the golden” and “the silvery”, respectively. In the early Indo-European languages, this word refers to copper (and bronze), and the Proto-Indo-European word refers with absolute certainty to one of these metals, or both. This shows that the Indo-European language was spoken during a time when copper was used.

Inflection

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Athematic, acrostatic
singular
nominative *h₂éyos
genitive *h₂éyesos
singular dual plural
nominative *h₂éyos *h₂éyesih₁ *h₂éyōs
vocative *h₂éyos *h₂éyesih₁ *h₂éyōs
accusative *h₂éyos *h₂éyesih₁ *h₂éyōs
genitive *h₂éyesos *? *h₂éyesoHom
ablative *h₂éyesos *? *h₂éyesmos, *h₂éyesbʰos
dative *h₂éyesey *? *h₂éyesmos, *h₂éyesbʰos
locative *h₂éyes, *h₂éyesi *? *h₂éyesu
instrumental *h₂éyesh₁ *? *h₂éyesmis, *h₂éyesbʰis

Derived terms

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  • *h₂éyesnos
    • Proto-Italic: *aeznos (see there for further descendants)

Descendants

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  • Proto-Germanic: *aiz (see there for further descendants)
  • Proto-Indo-Iranian: *Háyas (see there for further descendants)
  • Proto-Italic: *aos

References

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  1. ^ Ringe, Donald (2006) From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic (A Linguistic History of English; 1)‎[1], Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN
  2. 2.0 2.1 Guus Kroonen (2013) “*aiza-”, in Alexander Lubotsky, editor, Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11)‎[2], Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 16–17
  3. ^ Wikander, Ola (2008) Ett träd med vida grenar: de indoeuropeiska språkens historia (in Swedish), Stockholm: Prisma, →ISBN
  4. ^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7)‎[3], Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN