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.

Proto-Italic

Alternative reconstructions

Etymology

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.[2]

Prefix

*wre-[2]

  1. re-, more specifically:
    1. back, backwards
    2. again
    *wre- + ‎*weidsō (to look at, go see) → ‎*wreweidsō (to check, revisit)

Derived terms

Proto-Italic terms prefixed with *wre-
  • *wre-kʷe pro-kʷe (back and forth)
    • Latin: reciprocus

Descendants

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

References

  1. ^ Dunkel, George E. (2014) Lexikon der indogermanischen Partikeln und Pronominalstämme [Lexicon of Indo-European Particles and Pronominal Stems] (in German), volume 2: Lexikon, Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter, →ISBN, page 664
  2. 2.0 2.1 De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “re-, red-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 516