< Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European

Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/n̥bʰrós

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

Etymology

From *nebʰ- (“to become damp, cloudy”) +‎ *-rós.

Noun

*n̥bʰrós or *n̥bʰrís m[1]

  1. rain-cloud, with semantic narrowing to rain, cloud

Reconstruction notes

PIE *n̥bʰrós/*n̥bʰrís "rain-cloud, rain, cloud" is probably a zero-grade derivative of *nebʰ-, the root that also gave *nébʰos. However, that derivative remains a bit problematic because beside clearly matching Sanskrit, Avestan, Latin and Armenian cognates there are formal problems with Ancient Greek ὄμβρος (ómbros) with problematic initial ο- and the cluster -μβ- (proper Greek reflex after the expected assimilation of *n to *m to the following labial would be -μφ-), as well as with ἀφρός (aphrós, “foam”), which does formally provide a perfect match, but is usually dropped from consideration due to heavy semantical mismatch (cf. Beekes, Frisk 1960:197 etc.).[2][3]

Descendants
  • Proto-Armenian: < *m̥bʰrós
  • Proto-Celtic:
    • Proto-Brythonic:
      • Middle Welsh: Amir, Amyr
  • Proto-Indo-Iranian: *abʰrás (see there for further descendants)
  • Proto-Italic: *emβros, *emβris[4]
    • Latin: imber
    • Oscan: 𐌀𐌍𐌀𐌚𐌓𐌝𐌔𐌔 (anafríss)
  • Proto-Tocharian: *eppre[5]
  • → Proto-Samic: *ëprē (via some Indo-European language) (see there for further descendants)

References
  1. Wodtko, Dagmar S., Irslinger, Britta, Schneider, Carolin (2008) “*nebʰ-”, in Nomina im indogermanischen Lexikon [Nouns in the Indo-European Lexicon] (in German), Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter, pages 499-504
  2. Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “ὄμβρος”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), volume II, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 1075
  3. Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) “ἀφρός”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), volume I, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 179
  4. De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “imber”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 299
  5. Adams, Douglas Q. (2013) “iprer (~ ipprer ~ eprer)”, in A Dictionary of Tocharian B: Revised and Greatly Enlarged (Leiden Studies in Indo-European; 10), Amsterdam, New York: Rodopi, →ISBN, page 70
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