*gʷʰen-

Reconstruction

The root is *gʷʰen- 'to hit' in LIV,^[1] *gʷʰen-, *gʷʰn- 'slay, kill' in Beekes,^[2] and *gʷʰen- 'to smite; to slay, to pursue' in Kloekhorst.^[3] Mallory and Adams write *gʷhen-.^[4]

Pokorny set up a second root *gʷhen- 'to swell, abound', for words such as Sanskrit घन (ghaná, “dense, thick”);^[5] it is not in LIV.^[1]

Morphology

LIV reconstructs an amphidynamic root present *gʷʰén-/gʷʰn-, an i-reduplicated thematic present *gʷʰi-gʷʰn-é-, an sḱé-present *gʷʰn̥-sḱé-, a reduplicated thematic aorist *gʷʰé-gʷʰn-e-, an iterative *gʷʰon-éi̯e- and a reduplicated desiderative *gʷʰi-gʷʰn̥-sé-; the perfects of Vedic, Avestan, Greek and Old Irish are innovations, since striking leaves no resulting state on the subject.^[1] Beekes and Kroonen give the root present as third singular *gʷhén-ti, third plural *gʷhn-énti.^[6][7] Kloekhorst explains the imperfective Hittite kuu̯aške/a- as the regular outcome of *gʷʰn-sḱé/ó-.^[3]

Evidence

The root is attested in Anatolian, Indo-Iranian, Armenian, Greek, Italic, Celtic, Germanic, Baltic, Slavic and Tocharian, and perhaps Albanian.^[1][8][7] Kloekhorst calls the etymology of the Hittite verb clear since Hrozný, with a striking match between the Hittite and the Sanskrit paradigms.^[3] Kümmel adds a Lydian form meaning 'destroyed'.^[9]

Meanings

1. to strike,^[1] to slay^[6][3]

LIV takes the present to have been iterative in origin, which best explains the Balto-Slavic meaning 'to drive' from 'to strike repeatedly', while 'to slay' may come from the reduplicated aorist.^[1] Fortson notes that the descendants of *gwhen- were used for killing a monstrous adversary, or for killings that were themselves monstrous, as in the dragon-slaying formula *(e-)gwhen-t ogwhim 'killed the serpent'.^[10] Lithuanian developed 'to defend' in Lithuanian gìnti, and Latin 'to ward off' in Latin dēfendō.^[1]

Derivatives

• *gʷhón-o-, a verbal noun: Greek φόνος (phónos, “murder”), as an agent noun Sanskrit घन (ghaná, “striking down”).^[11]
• *gwʰń-tih₂-, a feminine noun: Proto-Germanic *gunþī- (“fight”).^[7]
• *gʷhn-to-, the verbal adjective: Greek -φατος (-phatos).^[6]

Reflexes

• Anatolian: Hittite kuenzi (“kills”);^[3] Lycian qãñti (“they destroy”), as LIV cites it.^[1]
• Iranian: Avestan jaiṇti (“kills, slays”).^[12]
• Armenian: Old Armenian գան (gan, “beating, blow”), with a verb 'to beat, strike'.^[13]
• Greek: Ancient Greek θείνω (theínō, “I strike”), aorist Ancient Greek ἔπεφνον (épephnon).^[6]
• Italic: Latin dēfendō (“to ward off, defend”), from *gʷhen-dh-.^[14]
• Celtic: Old Irish gonaid (“wounds, kills”), Proto-Celtic *gʷan-o- (“strike, kill”).^[15]
• Baltic: Lithuanian genù (“I drive”).^[16]
• Slavic: Proto-Slavic *gъnati (“to chase, persecute”).^[17]
• Tocharian: Tocharian B käsk- (“to scatter by force”).^[1][8]

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. *gʷʰen-
2. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2011), Comparative Indo-European Linguistics: An Introduction, 2nd ed., revised by Michiel de Vaan, Amsterdam: Benjamins, p. 124
3. ^ a b c d e Kloekhorst, Alwin (2008), Etymological Dictionary of the Hittite Inherited Lexicon, Leiden: Brill, p. 485
4. ^ Mallory, J. P.; Adams, D. Q. (2006), The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World, Oxford: OUP, p. 278
5. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke, p. s.v. gʷhen-1
6. ^ 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. θείνω
7. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 196
8. ^ a b Adams, Douglas Q. (2013), A Dictionary of Tocharian B, 2nd ed., Amsterdam: Rodopi, p. 189
9. ^ Kümmel, Martin Joachim, Addenda und Corrigenda zu LIV², online document, last change 16 June 2026, p. 32
10. ^ Fortson, Benjamin W., IV (2010), Indo-European Language and Culture: An Introduction, 2nd ed., Malden, MA / Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, p. §2.31
11. ^ 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. φόνος
12. ^ Cheung, Johnny (2007), Etymological Dictionary of the Iranian Verb, Leiden: Brill, p. 249
13. ^ Martirosyan, Hrach K. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of the Armenian Inherited Lexicon, Leiden: Brill, p. 212
14. ^ 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. -fendō
15. ^ Matasović, Ranko (2009), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic, Leiden: Brill, p. 148
16. ^ Smoczyński, Wojciech (2018), Lithuanian Etymological Dictionary, Berlin: Peter Lang, p. 445
17. ^ Derksen, Rick (2008), Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 4, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 197