RELATED WORDS

When a word of Indo-European origin has been traced back to the earliest language in which it is attested, words descended from the same Indo-European base in other languages (especially Old High German, Latin, Greek, and Sanskrit) are usually given:

Main Entry: na.vel
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English nafela; akin to Old High German nabalo navel, Latin umbilicus, Greek omphalos

Main Entry: ¹wind
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English; akin to Old High German wint wind, Latin ventus, Greek aenai to blow, Sanskrit vati it blows

Sometimes, however, to avoid space-consuming repetition, the expression "more at" directs the user to another entry where the cognates are given:

Main Entry: ho.ly
Function: adjective
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English halig; akin to Old English hal whole -- more at WHOLE

Besides the use of "akin to" to denote relatedness, some etymologies make special use of "akin to" as part of a longer formula "of __ origin; akin to __." This formula indicates that a word was borrowed from some language belonging to a group of languages whose name is inserted in the blank before the word origin, that it is impossible to say that the word in question is a borrowing of a particular attested word in a particular language of the source group, and that the form cited in the blank after the expression akin to is related to the word in question as attested within the source group:

Main Entry: ¹ba.nana
Function: noun
Etymology: Spanish or Portuguese; Spanish, from Portuguese, of African origin; akin to Wolof banäna banana

Main Entry: ²brier
Function: noun
Etymology: French bruyère heath, from Middle French bruiere, from (assumed) Vulgar Latin brucaria, from Late Latin brucus heather, of Celtic origin; akin to Old Irish froech heather; akin to Greek ereike heather

This last example shows the two contrasting uses of "akin to." The word cited immediately after "of Celtic origin; akin to" is an attested Celtic word descended from the same etymon as the unattested Celtic source of the Latin word. The word cited after the second "akin to" is evidence that the Celtic etymon has deeper relations within Indo-European.

[Back to top] [Back to Explanatory Notes main page]
[Back to Help main page]