Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/wed-

Possibly related to Proto-Uralic *wete, the source of Finnish vesi and Hungarian víz. The nature of the relationship is unclear and controversial; the word may have been borrowed from Proto-Indo-European into Proto-Uralic, or the reverse. A minority of linguists suggests a common origin from an even earlier proto-language, Indo-Uralic, but this is not generally accepted.

In Proto-Indo-European, the active elemental *wed- (“water”) was contrasted with the passive *h₂ep- (“body of water”), similar to the opposition of the active "fire" *h₁n̥gʷnis with the passive *péh₂wr̥.

*wed-

1. to well
2. water

• *u-né-d-ti ~ *u-n-d-énti (nasal-infix present)[1]
  • Proto-Indo-Iranian: *unátˢti
    • Proto-Indo-Aryan: *unátti
      • Sanskrit: उनत्ति (unátti, “to wet”)
  • ⇒? Proto-Italic: *undā
    • Latin: unda (“wave”)
  • ⇒? Proto-Balto-Slavic: *wandō (“water”) (see there for further descendants)

• *wod-sḱé-ti (o-grade sḱe-present)
  • Proto-Germanic: *waskaną (“to wash”) (see there for further descendants)

• *wēd-o-s (“wet”)
  • Proto-Germanic: *wētaz

• *wód-r̥ ~ *wéd-n̥-s (“water”)

• *ud-ri-s
  • Proto-Italic: *udri-
    • Latin: uter (“leather bag”) (or via Etruscan from Ancient Greek ὑδρία (hudría))

• *wed-ro-m
  • Proto-Italic: *wedrom
    • Latin: vitrum (“glass”)

• *ud-ró-s (“otter”)

• *wéd-os ~ *wéd-es-os (“water”)
  • Old Armenian: գետ (get, “river”)

• Unsorted formations:
  • Illyrian: *adur
  • Indo-Aryan
    • Sanskrit: उद्र (udra, “water”)

• Sihler, Andrew L. (1995) New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin, Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, § 223.5