Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/péh₂wr̥

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

Often considered to contain the substantifying suffix *-wr̥.

Noun

*péh₂wr̥ n

1. fire

   Synonyms: *h₁n̥gʷnís, *h₂eh₁ter-

2. spelt (grain)

Usage notes

Two main terms for “fire” are reconstructible for Proto-Indo-European: *h₁n̥gʷnis and *péh₂wr̥. They are usually considered in semantic opposition. The term *h₁n̥gʷnis is usually masculine and refers to fire as something animate and active (compare Agni, the most prominent Old Indic deity), whereas the term *péh₂wr̥ is neuter and refers to fire as something inanimate and passive, i.e. as a substance.

Inflection

Synonyms

• *h₁n̥gʷnís

Descendants

• Proto-Anatolian: *páHʷr̥ (see there for further descendants)
• Armenian:
  • Old Armenian: հուր (hur) (< *puh₂r-)
  • Old Armenian: հն-ոց (hn-ocʿ, “furnace”) (< *ph₂wéns + -ոց (-ocʿ))
• Proto-Balto-Slavic:
  • Latvian: pūrs (“winter wheat”) but more often pūr̨i in analogy to kvieši, rudzi, mieži
  • Lithuanian: pū̃ras (“one corn of winter-wheat; used in the plural for winter-wheat”)
  • Old Prussian: panno (“fire”), pure (“bromegrass”)
  • Proto-Slavic: *pyrь (“cinder; couch grass; spelt”) (see there for further descendants)
  • → Proto-Finnic: *panu (“fire”) (see there for further descendants)
• Proto-Germanic: *fōr (see there for further descendants)
• Proto-Hellenic: *pāwər?
  • Ancient Greek: πῦρ (pûr), πῠρᾰ́ (purá)
  • Ancient Greek: πῡρός (pūrós, “wheat”)
    • →? Arabic: بُرّ (burr, “wheat”)
    • → Old Georgian: პური (ṗuri)
      • Georgian: პური (ṗuri, “wheat; bread”)
        • → Armenian: պուրի (puri)
    • → Sicilian: puru puru (“repeated interjection to call hens, now disconnected from the sense of 'wheat'”)
    • ⇒ Ancient Greek: πύρνον (púrnon, “wheaten bread; food, meat”) (compare the Arabic طَعَام (ṭaʕām) for the semantics)
• Proto-Italic: *pur (see there for further descendants)
• Tocharian:
  • Tocharian A: por
  • Tocharian B: puwar

References

Further reading

• Mallory, J. P., Adams, D. Q., editors (1997), Encyclopedia of Indo-European culture, London, Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, page 202