About the word ‘beaver’ *bebhrus (Part III)

In some cases these adjectival formations are based on verbs:

*h_aens -u- ‘spirit, god’ (Mallory-Adams 2006:556) < *h_aens-‘to breathe, live’ .

*H_aye-u-n- ‘young, full of life’ (Mallory-Adams 2006:564) < *H₄ey- ‘to live’: Sanskrit yúvā, Latin iuvenis. Lithuanian jáunas with falling tone indicates *H_ayeH₂u-no with an internal laryngeal. A derivative of a verb, hence not a true adjective.

*neǩ-u- ‘dead (corpse)’ (Mallory-Adams 2006:531) < *neǩ- ‘to die’ .

*wel-u- ‘round, spiral’ (Mallory-Adams 2006:561) < *wel- ‘to turn’. English waltz.

*wenH-u- ‘to desire, futuere’ (Mallory-Adams 2006:532 *wenH-): Sanskrit vanu ‘zealous, eager’, Hittite wen ‘futuere’. English to win, wish, ween.

*widh-eu- ‘widow’ (Mallory-Adams 2006:563) < *weidh- ‘to separate, divide’. English widow.

In the next post we'll see how nominal derivatives, very often in relationship with fauna and flora, can be derived from adjectives, as in the case of whelk < *wel-u-ka.

Best. A.