From Proto-Baltic *wardas, a masculine parallel form to neuter *wardan, from Proto-Indo-European *werdʰh₁om (“word”), from the stem *werh₁- (“to speak, say, talk”) with an extra element -dʰo. Note the typical Baltic polysemy between “name” and “word”, since the Proto-Indo-European term for “name”, still conserved in Old Prussian emnes, emmens (< Proto-Indo-European *h₁nómn̥), was lost and replaced by *werdʰo-. Cognates include Lithuanian var̃das, Old Prussian wīrds, wirds, Sudovian ward, Russian врать (vratʹ, “to lie”), Belarusian вярзці́ (vjarzcí, “to lie”), Ukrainian верзти́ (verztý, “to lie”), Proto-Germanic *wurdą (Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌳 (waurd), German Wort, English word, Icelandic orð), Hittite ḫurt- (“to load, to charge”) (: weriya- “to say”), Sanskrit व्रत (vrata, “vow, command”), Ancient Greek εἴρω (eírō, “to say”) (< *weryō), Latin verbum.
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vārds m (1st declension)