*gʷem-

Reconstruction

LIV and NIL reconstruct *gʷem- "to go (somewhere), to come";^[1][2] Beekes writes *gwem- and Adams *gʷem-,^[3][4] and de Vaan reconstructs the Latin present as *gwm-ie/o-.^[5] The zero grade *gʷm̥- underlies the presents in *-sk̑é- and *-i̯é-.^[1]

Morphology

LIV sets up a root aorist *gʷém-/gʷm-, in Sanskrit अगन् (ágan), Old Armenian եկն (ekn) and Homeric Greek, a sk̑é-present *gʷm̥-sk̑é-, in Sanskrit गच्छति (gácchati) and Ancient Greek βάσκε (báske), a zero-grade i̯é-present *gʷm̥-i̯é-, in Ancient Greek βαίνω (baínō) and Latin veniō, a perfect *gʷe-gʷóm/gʷm-, and a doubtful causative-iterative.^[1] Kümmel deletes LIV's zero-grade thematic present for Old Norse koma and its West Germanic match, and derives Gothic 𐌵𐌹𐌼𐌰𐌽 (qiman) from the subjunctive of the aorist, with Hoffmann.^[6] Against LIV he sets up no zero-grade present *kum-a- for Germanic, since the forms can everywhere come from *kʷem-a-, as the Old High German chronology shows.^[6] He takes the optative Old English cyme from the old aorist optative.^[6]

Evidence

LIV cites the root from Indo-Iranian, Armenian, Greek, Italic, Germanic, Tocharian and Albanian, and doubtfully from Baltic, with Lithuanian gemù (“to be born”).^[1] Its list has no Anatolian, Celtic or Slavic form.^[1] In Greek the non-present forms, such as Ancient Greek ἔβην (ébēn), come from another root, *gweh₂-;^[3] LIV, however, takes the Homeric aorist dual from *gʷem-, following Harðarson.^[1] Beekes compares the pair *gwem- and *gweh₂- with *drem- and *dreh₂-.^[3]

Competing analyses

For the Germanic present Kroonen weighs three origins: an athematic present *gwém-ti, *gwm-énti, a root aorist, which he thinks more likely, or a tudáti-present with the full grade restored in Gothic 𐌵𐌹𐌼𐌰𐌽 (qiman).^[7] De Vaan derives 𐌵𐌹𐌼𐌰𐌽 (qiman) from the subjunctive *gwem-e-.^[5]

Meanings

1. to go (somewhere), to come^[1][2]

Lithuanian "to be born" comes from "to come into the world", according to LIV.^[1]

Derivatives

• *gʷm̥-ti-: Ancient Greek βάσις (básis), Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌵𐌿𐌼𐌸𐍃 (gaqumþs, “assembly”).^[2]
• *gʷm̥-tó-: Ancient Greek ἀμβατός (ambatós).^[2]
• *gʷém-tu-: Sanskrit गन्तु (gántu), Latin adventus.^[2]

Reflexes

• Indo-Aryan: Sanskrit गच्छति (gácchati, “goes”).^[8]
• Iranian: Avestan gam- (“to come”).^[9]
• Greek: Ancient Greek βαίνω (baínō, “to go”).^[3]
• Armenian: Old Armenian եկն (ekn, “came”).^[10]
• Italic: Latin veniō (“to come”).^[5]
• Germanic: Gothic 𐌵𐌹𐌼𐌰𐌽 (qiman, “to come”), Old English cuman.^[7]
• Albanian: LIV cites Albanian n-gah (“sets off, hurries”).^[1]
• Tocharian: Tocharian B käm- (“to come”).^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rix, Helmut, et al. (2001), Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Reichert, p. s.v. *gʷem-
2. ^ a b c d e Wodtko, Dagmar S.; Irslinger, Britta; Schneider, Carolin (2008), Nomina im indogermanischen Lexikon, Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. *gʷem-
3. ^ a b c d Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. βαίνω
4. ^ a b Adams, Douglas Q. (2013), A Dictionary of Tocharian B, 2nd ed., Amsterdam: Rodopi, p. 170
5. ^ a b c 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. veniō
6. ^ a b c Kümmel, Martin Joachim, Addenda und Corrigenda zu LIV², online document, last change 16 June 2026, p. 31
7. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 316
8. ^ Mayrhofer, Manfred (1956–1980), Kurzgefasstes etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindischen, Heidelberg: Winter, p. 314
9. ^ Cheung, Johnny (2007), Etymological Dictionary of the Iranian Verb, Leiden: Brill, p. 123
10. ^ Martirosyan, Hrach K. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of the Armenian Inherited Lexicon, Leiden: Brill, p. 263