Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂ówis

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

Alternative forms

*awis,[1] *owis,[2][3] *h₃éwis[4][5]

Etymology

Lycian and Tocharian reflexes necessarily point to *h₂ówis. However, this noun is usually reconstructed as *h₃éwis in order to "account for the Anatolian and Armenian h- and for pervasive o-vocalism, in spite of the Tocharian form, which then remains unexplained" (Lubotsky). Alternatively, acrostatic ablauting *h₂ówi- ~ *h₂éwi- paradigm can be reconstructed (such as the one presented here in the declension table), and then one can "assume that the attested forms have the o-vocalism of the former variant, and the h- of the latter" (Lubotsky). Compare with Hebrew כֶּבֶשׂ (“kéves”) and Arabic كَبْش (kabš).

R. A. Pooth argues that the word has the original meaning "one who produces clothing (from wool)". See *h₂éwis.

Noun

*h₂ówis f[6][7]

sheep

Inflection

Athematic, acrostatic
	singular
nominative	*h₂ówis
genitive	*h₂éwis
	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*h₂ówis	*h₂ówih₁(e)	*h₂óweyes
vocative	*h₂ówi	*h₂ówih₁(e)	*h₂óweyes
accusative	*h₂ówim	*h₂ówih₁(e)	*h₂ówims
genitive	*h₂éwis	*?	*h₂éwyoHom
ablative	*h₂éwis	*?	*h₂éwimos
dative	*h₂éwyey	*?	*h₂éwimos
locative	*h₂éwi	*?	*h₂éwisu
instrumental	*h₂éwih₁	*?	*h₂éwimis

Derived terms

*h₂ówi-leh₂ (“sheep, ewe”)[8]
- Proto-Indo-Iranian: *HáwilaH
  - Proto-Indo-Aryan: *HáwilaH
    - Sanskrit: अविला (ávilā, “ewe”)
- Lusitanian: oilam (“ewe”, acc.sg.)
*h₂owi-keh₂ (“sheep”)
- Proto-Indo-Iranian: *HawikaH
  - Proto-Indo-Aryan: *HawikaH
    - Sanskrit: अविक (avika, “sheep”)
- Proto-Balto-Slavic: *awikāˀ
  - Proto-Slavic: *ovьca (“sheep”) (see there for further descendants)
*h₂owi-gh₂ryos (“shepherd”)[9]
- Proto-Celtic: *owigaryos
  - Old Irish: oegaire
    - Middle Irish: áegaire
      - Irish: aoire
      - Scottish Gaelic: aoghaire

Descendants

Many languages (Germanic, Tocharian) show a semantic shift from "sheep" (male or female) to "ewe".

In Balto-Slavic, the PIE root was generalized to form both the nouns for sheep and ram via the usual derivative suffixes, but only the sheep sense is listed here for all of them except for Old Prussian in which the sheep word wasn't recorded. See further on the *ovьnъ.

Proto-Anatolian: *Hṓwis
- Hittite: 𒇻𒅖 (ḫāwis)
- Luwian:
  Cuneiform script: 𒄩𒀀𒌑𒄿𒅖 (/⁠ḫāwīs⁠/)
  
  Anatolian Hieroglyphs script: [Anatolian Hieroglyphs needed] (ha-wà/ì-i-śa)
- Lycian: 𐊜𐊀𐊇𐊙 (χawã)
- ⇒ Carian: κοῖον, κόον
  - → Ancient Greek: κῶας (kôas)
Armenian:
- Old Armenian: հովիւ (hoviw, “shepherd”) (< *h₃ewi-peh₂ < *h₃éwis + *peh₂- (“to protect”))
Proto-Balto-Slavic: *áwis (see there for further descendants)
Proto-Celtic: *owis (see there for further descendants)
Proto-Germanic: *awiz (see there for further descendants)
Proto-Hellenic: *ówis
- Ancient Greek: ὄϊς (óïs), οἶς (oîs)
Proto-Indo-Iranian: *Háwiš (see there for further descendants)
Proto-Italic: *owis (see there for further descendants)
Proto-Tocharian:
- Tocharian B: awi (pl.) (< *h₂ewéyes, base form *ā₍ᵤ₎w[10])

References

Aug. Schleicher, 1868, Eine fabel in indogermanischer ursprache; in: A. Kuhn & A. Schleicher (eds.), Beiträge zur vergleichenden Sprachforschung auf dem Gebiete der arischen, celtischen und slawischen Sprachen. Fünfter Band, Berlin, 1868, p. 206-208; also cited in: Bela Brogyanyi (ed.), Studies in Diachronic, Synchronic, and Typological Linguistics: Festschrift for Oswald Szemerényi on the Occasion of His 65th Birthday, 1979, p. 455-457
W. P. Lehmann & L. Zgusta, 1979, Schleicher's Tale after a Century; in: Bela Brogyanyi (ed.), Studies in Diachronic, Synchronic, and Typological Linguistics: Festschrift for Oswald Szemerényi on the Occasion of His 65th Birthday, 1979, p. 462
Hermann Hirt, 1939; cited in: Bela Brogyanyi (ed.), Studies in Diachronic, Synchronic, and Typological Linguistics: Festschrift for Oswald Szemerényi on the Occasion of His 65th Birthday, 1979, p. 457-459
Sihler, Andrew L. (1995) New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin, Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 313
Beekes, Robert S. P. (2011) Comparative Indo-European Linguistics: An Introduction, 2nd edition, revised and corrected by Michiel de Vaan, Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company, page 37
Ringe, Donald (2006) From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic (A Linguistic History of English; 1)‎, Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN
Clackson, James (2007) Indo-European Linguistics: An Introduction (Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, page 206
Witczak, Krzysztof T. (2003) “New Evidence for the Indo-European Terminology for sheep”, in Lingua Posnaniensis, volume XLV, pages 144-145
Matasović, Ranko (2009) “*owi-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 9), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN
Adams, Douglas Q. (2013) “āᵤw”, in A Dictionary of Tocharian B: Revised and Greatly Enlarged (Leiden Studies in Indo-European; 10), Amsterdam, New York: Rodopi, →ISBN, page 38