Cognate Set 209 – Meaning: earth

IE-CoR reference form:
*h₁er-
IE-CoR reference language:
Proto-Indo-European
Ideophonic:
no
Parallel derivation:
no
Justification:
Germanic lexemes from Proto-Germanic *erþō-, generally considered a dental-stem to a PIE root *h₁er- seen elsewhere in Ancient Greek ἔρα 'earth', Welsh erw 'field', cf. also the Old High German hapax ero 'earth' (Lehmann 1986:18, Kluge 2011:253-254, Kroonen 2013:118-119, cf. also Beekes 2010:449).
Found in clades:
Germanic
Revised by:
Matthew Scarborough
Found in 1 clade by 16 lexemes.
Language Lexeme Native script Phonetic Phonemic Notes
108   Danish jord ˈjoˀɐ̯
114   Dutch aarde ˈardə
110   English earth ɜːθ Middle English erthe, Old English eorthe
115   Flemish aerde
120   German Erde ˈʔɛɐdə ˈɛʁdə
103   Norwegian: Bokmål jord juːɾ juːr
107   Swedish jord juːɖ
106   Old Swedish iordh jorð jorð
121   German: Bernese Härd hæːrd̥ hæːrd̥
117   Old High German erda ˈerda ˈerda
111   Old Frisian ērthe ˈeːrθe ˈeːrθe
118   Middle High German erde ˈerdə ˈerdə
116   Old Saxon ertha ˈerða ˈerθa
113   Middle Dutch aerde ˈaːrdə ˈaːrdə
99   Gothic airþa 𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌸𐌰 ˈɛrθa ˈɛrθa
104   Norwegian: Nynorsk jord juːχ juːʁ
References
  • Beekes, Robert: 449
    Cf. s.v. Gk. ἔρα explained by grammarians as with γῆ 'earth'. A general resemblance is shown by a few Germanic and Celtic expressions for 'earth' (OHG ero 'earth', ON jǫrvi 'sand(bank)', MW erw 'field', all with a suffix -u̯-; with a suffix -t- (Goth. airϸa, ON jǫrðm MIr. ert 'earth'. Connections with Arm. erkir 'earth' are unclear.
  • Kluge, Friedrich: 253-254
    S.v. NHG Erde (MHG erde, OHG erda, OS ertha), from PGmc. *erϸō, also Goth. airϸa, ON jǫrð, OE eorϸe, OFr. erthe. Outside of Germanic in the same one compares in the same meaning Gk. ἔρα (gloss, more widely attested in ἔραζε 'to the earth, on the earth') and within Germanic OHG ero. Semantically deviating is Welsh erw 'Feld, Land'. Further connections are uncertain.
  • Kroonen, Guus: 118-119
    S.v. Proto-Germanic *erþō- f. 'soil, earth, land'. If the comparison with the Ancient Greek lexeme ἔρα f. 'earth' the forms may be respectively reconstructed *h₁er-t-eh₂- > PGmc. *erþō-, *h₁er-eh₂- > AGk. ἔρα, but this comparison is tenuous. Within Germanic the lexeme is probably cognate with *erwan- m. 'sand, soil'.
  • Lehmann, Winfred P.: 18
    S.v. Goth. A85. airϸa 'γῆ', 'earth', from PGmc. *erϸō, an extension of PGmc. *erō in the OHG hapax ero 'earth', cf. Gk. ἔρα 'earth', (Hom. ἔρα-ζε 'earthward'), Welsh erw 'field', OBret. ero 'furrow'.