Reconstruction:Proto-Italic/wre-

This Proto-Italic 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.

Of uncertain origin. While the root carries a general sense of "back" or "backwards", its precise sense is not always clear, and its great productivity in classical Latin has the tendency to obscure its original meaning.

Watkins proposes a metathesis of Proto-Indo-European *wert- (“to turn”), (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?) while de Vaan suggests a derivation from a Proto-Indo-European *wre- (“back”), which may be found in Proto-Slavic *rakъ (“crayfish, lobster”) (tentatively, in an original sense *"looking backwards") and Albanian rrë- (“back”, preverb), unless the latter is borrowed from Latin.^[1]

*wre-^[1]

1. re-, more specifically:
   1. back, backwards
   2. again

   ‎*wre- + ‎*weidsō (“to look at, go see”) → ‎*wreweidsō (“to check, revisit”)

• *wre-kʷe pro-kʷe (“back and forth”)
  • Latin: reciprocus

• Latin: re- (see there for further descendants)
• Umbrian: 𐌓𐌄- (re-)