Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/gʷṓws

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

Noun

*gʷṓws m or f[1][2][3]

cattle

Inflection

Athematic, acrostatic
	singular
nominative	*gʷṓws
genitive	*gʷéws
	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*gʷṓws	*gʷówh₁(e)	*gʷówes
vocative	*gʷów	*gʷówh₁(e)	*gʷówes
accusative	*gʷṓm	*gʷówh₁(e)	*gʷówm̥s
genitive	*gʷéws	*?	*gʷéwoHom
ablative	*gʷéws	*?	*gʷéwmos
dative	*gʷéwey	*?	*gʷéwmos
locative	gʷéw, gʷéwi	*?	*gʷéwsu
instrumental	*gʷéwh₁	*?	*gʷéwmis

Reconstruction notes

Although this word is widely attested, there is no trace of the e-grade (*gʷéw-) (except perhaps in the oblique Indo-Iranian stem gav-, through the absence of Brugmann's law), which is unexpected. Because of this, and in order to connect it to the stem *gʷeh₃- (“to graze”) (βόσκω (bóskō)), it is reconstructed by some as a proterokinetic u-stem *gʷéh₃-u-s.[3][4]

Alternative reconstruction

*gʷéh₃-u-s ~ *gʷh₃-éw-s.

Derived terms

*gʷow-kʷólh₁-o-s (“cowherd”) (+ *kʷelh₁- (“to make a turn, turn around”))[1]
- Proto-Celtic: *boukolyos (see there for further descendants)
- Proto-Hellenic: *gʷoukólos (see there for further descendants)
*gʷow-io- or *gʷh₃ew-io-
- Armenian:
  - Old Armenian: կոգի (kogi, “butter”)
*gʷow-wr̥sen- (“male cow, bull”)[5]
- Sanskrit: गोवृष (govṛṣa)
- Proto-Tocharian: *kauwärṣän (see there for further descendants)

Descendants

Proto-Albanian: *gau
- ⇒ Proto-Albanian: *gauka
  - Albanian: gak (“boar”)
Proto-Albanian: *kē (from earlier *kʷē) (an early loanword from a different IE language)
- Albanian: ka (“ox”)
Proto-Anatolian:
- Luwian:
  Anatolian Hieroglyphs script: 𔑺𔗬𔗔 (^BOSwa/i-s(a) /⁠wawis⁠/)
Armenian:
- Old Armenian: կով (kov)
Proto-Balto-Slavic: *gaw-, *gōw-
- Latgalian: gūvs
- Latvian: govs
- ⇒ Proto-Slavic: *govędo < *gʷew-n̥d- (see there for further descendants)
- ⇒ Proto-Slavic: *gumьno (see there for further descendants)
- ⇒ Proto-Slavic: *gavęzь (see there for further descendants)
Proto-Celtic: *bāus (see there for further descendants)
Proto-Germanic: *kōz (see there for further descendants)
Proto-Hellenic: *gʷous (see there for further descendants)
Proto-Indo-Iranian: *gā́wš (see there for further descendants)
Proto-Italic: *gʷōs (see there for further descendants)
Thracian: bonassos (possibly)
Proto-Tocharian: *kew- [6] (see there for further descendants)
Proto-Tocharian:
- Tocharian B: kaiyye[7]

References

Pokorny, Julius (1959) “g^u̯ou-”, in Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume 2, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, pages 482-483
Ringe, Donald (2006) From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic (A Linguistic History of English; 1)‎, Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 198
Wodtko, Dagmar S., Irslinger, Britta, Schneider, Carolin (2008) Nomina im indogermanischen Lexikon [Nouns in the Indo-European Lexicon] (in German), Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter, page 189ff.
Kroonen, Guus (2013) “PGm. *kō- ~ *kū- f. ‘cow’”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN
Adams, Douglas Q. (2013) “kauᵤrṣe”, in A Dictionary of Tocharian B: Revised and Greatly Enlarged (Leiden Studies in Indo-European; 10), Amsterdam, New York: Rodopi, →ISBN, pages 222-223
Adams, Douglas Q. (2013) “keᵤ”, in A Dictionary of Tocharian B: Revised and Greatly Enlarged (Leiden Studies in Indo-European; 10), Amsterdam, New York: Rodopi, →ISBN, pages 201-202
Adams, Douglas Q. (2013) “kaiyye”, in A Dictionary of Tocharian B: Revised and Greatly Enlarged (Leiden Studies in Indo-European; 10), Amsterdam, New York: Rodopi, →ISBN, page 214