*gʰredʰ-

Reconstruction

*gʰredʰ- 'to step, walk' is the traditional reconstruction: Mallory and Adams give *ghredh- 'step, go',^[1] Sihler derives Latin gradior (“to step”) from *ghredh- 'walk',^[2] and ALEW writes *gʰredʰ- 'to stride'.^[3] LIV has no *gʰredʰ-: it sets up ?*gʰrei̯dʰ- 'to stride', with a question mark, for the Celtic, Slavic, Germanic and Baltic forms.^[4] Matasović writes *gʰreydʰ-,^[5] Kroonen derives the Germanic noun from *ghridh-i-,^[6] and Smoczyński follows LIV with *ghrei̯dh-.^[7]

Morphology

LIV reconstructs a nasal-infix present *gʰri-né/n-dʰ- for Old Irish and perhaps Old Church Slavonic, and possibly an s-desiderative in Old Irish.^[4] Smoczyński posits a Balto-Slavic paradigm Proto-Balto-Slavic *grindō, *gristi: Lithuanian generalised the stem without the nasal, Slavic the nasal present stem.^[7] De Vaan reconstructs Latin gradior as an i-present *g(h)rd(h)-(e)i-.^[8]

Evidence

Latin, Celtic, Germanic, Baltic and Slavic forms have been brought together.^[1][8] For an Avestan verb sometimes compared, Schrijver refers to Kellens.^[9] Smoczyński points out that Balto-Slavic has no forms in a full grade *grei̯d-.^[7]

Competing analyses

De Vaan notes that Walde–Hofmann, Pokorny and other earlier works derived Latin grad- from *ghredh-, with a Gothic noun for 'step', an Old Irish verb for 'to track, follow' and an Old Church Slavonic verb for 'to come'; but the Germanic and Balto-Slavic forms are now derived from *ghridh-, and LIV and Schumacher propose the same for the Celtic verb.^[8] Schrijver instead derives the Celtic verb from *g(h)rn(d)n-, which forces him to treat an Old Irish noun in *greid- as secondary.^[8][9] If Celtic had *grd-, de Vaan concludes, it would point with the Latin stem to an Italo-Celtic root *g(h)rd(h)-.^[8] Kaukienė starts from a root *g(h)redh- with a monophthong for the Balto-Slavic forms.^[7]

Meanings

1. to step, to walk,^[1][2] to stride^[4][3]

Old Irish developed 'to pursue, follow',^[4] Slavic 'to come',^[7] and Lithuanian 'to bring, transport'.^[3]

Derivatives

• Latin gradus (“step, pace”) and grassor (“to press on, march”).^[8]
• Germanic *gridi- (“step”), an i-stem beside the strong verb Proto-Germanic *grīdan-.^[6]

Reflexes

• Italic: Latin gradior (“to step, walk, proceed”), if from this root.^[8]
• Celtic: Old Irish do·greinn (“chases”), Proto-Celtic *gri-n-d-o- (“follow, drive”).^[5]
• Germanic: Proto-Germanic *gridi- (“step”).^[6]
• Baltic: Lithuanian atgrìsti (“to bring”), Lithuanian grìdyti (“to transport”).^[3]
• Balto-Slavic: Proto-Balto-Slavic *grindō, the source of the Slavic present stem.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c Mallory, J. P.; Adams, D. Q. (2006), The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World, Oxford: OUP, p. 397
2. ^ a b Sihler, Andrew L. (1995), New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin, New York: OUP
3. ^ a b c d Hock, Wolfgang, et al. (2015), Altlitauisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (ALEW), online and Hamburg: Baar, p. s.v. -grìsti
4. ^ a b c d Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert, p. s.v. ?*gʰrei̯dʰ-
5. ^ a b Matasović, Ranko (2009), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic, Leiden: Brill, p. 173
6. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 189
7. ^ a b c d e f Smoczyński, Wojciech (2018), Lithuanian Etymological Dictionary, Berlin: Peter Lang, p. 542
8. ^ a b c d e f g de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. gradior
9. ^ a b Schrijver, Peter (1991), The Reflexes of the Proto-Indo-European Laryngeals in Latin, Amsterdam: Rodopi