Cognate Set 28 – Meaning: egg

IE-CoR reference form:
*h₂ōu̯ió-
IE-CoR reference language:
Proto-Indo-European
Ideophonic:
no
Parallel derivation:
no
Justification:
Hellenic, Armenian, Albanian, Iranic, Slavic, Germanic, Italic, and Celtic lexemes continuing PIE *h₂ōu̯ió- 'egg', which may be a vr̥ddhi-derivative to the Indo-European word for 'bird' *h₂eu̯-i- (EIEC 176, cf. cognate set 856); alternatively Schindler 1969 reconstructs an adpositional construction *ō-h₂uiom 'towards the bird'. For individual branches, cf. Beekes 2010:1681, Martirosyan 2010:439, Orel 1998:497, Holm 2011:60, Abaev 1959–1995 I:41, Bailey 1979:30, ESSJa 1:61-64, Derksen 2008:27, Kroonen 2013:17, de Vaan 2008:438, Matasović 2009:50.
Found in clades:
Albanian, Armenian, Balto-Slavic, Celtic, Germanic, Hellenic, Indo-Iranic, Italic
Revised by:
Matthew Scarborough
Found in 8 clades by 106 lexemes.
Language Lexeme Native script Phonetic Phonemic Notes
14   Armenian: Eastern jow ձու dzu dzu
77   Bulgarian âjce яйце jəjˈtsɛ jajˈtse
96   Belarusian âjka яйка ˈjajkɑ̈ ˈjajko An alternative lexeme is 'яйцо', with the same root.
140   Catalan ou ɔw ɔw
91   Czech vejce ˈvɛjtsɛ ˈvejtse
108   Danish æg ˈɛˀɡ
114   Dutch ei ɛi
102   Faroese egg ɛɡː
115   Flemish ei
135   French oeuf œf œf
120   German Ei ˈʔaɪ ˈaɪ
8   Greek: Modern Std aygó αυγό avˈɣo̞ avˈɣo̞
101   Icelandic egg ɛɡ̊ː
160   Gaelic: Irish ubh ˈʊvˠ ˈØˠəvˠ
127   Italian uovo ˈwɔːvo ˈwɔvo
129   Ladin uef ˈue̯f
93   Sorbian: Lower jajo ˈjɑ̈jɔ ˈjajo
92   Sorbian: Upper jejo ˈje.ɔ ˈje.ɔ
78   Macedonian ǰaǰce јајце ˈjɑ̈jtsɛ ˈjajtse
86   Polish jajko ˈjɑ̈jkɔ ˈjajko 'jajko' is a diminutive of 'jajo', but is more common in culinary contexts.
143   Portuguese ovo ˈovu ˈovu
103   Norwegian: Bokmål egg ɛɡː ɛɡː
95   Russian âjco яйцо jɪjˈtsɔ jajˈtso
132   Sardinian: Logudoro ou ˈoː.u ˈoː.u
131   Sardinian: Nuoro óu ˈɔː.uː ˈɔː.uː
81   Serbo-Croat jaje ˈjɑ̈̌ːjɛ ˈjǎːje
89   Slovak vajce ˈvɑ̈jtsɛ ˈvajtse
83   Slovene jajce ˈjɑ̈̀ːjtsɛ ˈjàːjtsɛ
142   Spanish huevo ˈweβo ˈwebo
107   Swedish ägg ɛɡː
97   Ukrainian âjce яйце jajˈtsɛ jajˈtsɛ
136   Walloon oû uː uː
122   Latin ōuum ˈoːwũ ˈoːwum G.sg. ōuī
76   Old Church Slavonic aice аицє ɑjɪ̆tsʲɛ ajɪtse
119   Luxembourgish Ee eː eː
6   Greek: Ancient ō̧ón ᾠόν o̞ːjó̞n o̞ːjó̞n G.sg. ᾠοῦ.
158   Gaelic: Scottish ugh u
128   Friulian ûf ˈuːf ˈuːf Deriv. ovat, ovon.
112   Frisian aai aːj
157   Old Irish og ˈɔɣˠ ˈoɣ
13   Armenian: Classical jow ձու dzu dzu-ɔ-
54   Kurdish N.: Bahdini hēk heːk
16   Albanian: Gheg vo < IE *eh3uiom, cf. Arm jvoj (gen.) and Cze vejce. Orel, however, claims it to be a loan from Latin. Both have same etymological origin, however.
63   Ossetic: Iron ajk айк ɑjk ajk
64   Ossetic: Digor ajkɜ айкӕ ɑjkʰɜ ajkɜ
17   Albanian: Standard ve(zë) -zë is diminutive, but almost stable element of the word in Standard Alb.Gheg shows vo ~ ve, which according to Orel speaks for a borrowing < Latin ovum 'id'.
44   Avestan: Younger aēm 𐬀𐬉𐬨 ai̯m acc. sg. (but nom. sg. would be identical), stem probably āiia-
159   Gaelic: Manx ooh uː uː ubh, ugh
105   Elfdalian egg ɛɡː ɛɡː
106   Old Swedish äg æɡː æɡː
154   Middle Breton uy, üi, vy, vuy ˈviː, ˈɥiː
47   Khotanese āha ɑːhɐ aːha Stem āhā- f.
7   Greek: New Testament ō̧ón ᾠόν (o̞)ˈo̞n o̞ˈo̞n 1x in Lk 11:12
88   Polabian joji jɔˈji joˈji
87   Kashubian jôjkò ˈjɛ̽jkwɛ ˈjɜjko
66   Middle Persian xāyag xʾyg xɑːˈjaɣ xaːjaɡ ZP hʾd(y)k'
11   Greek: Cypriot afkón αφκόν ɐˈfkɔn ɐˈvɣɔn
10   Greek: Pontic ōvó(n) ωβό(ν) o̞ˈvo̞(n) o̞ˈvo̞(n) also /o̞ˈvɣo̞(n)/
9   Greek: Cappadocian ōv(g)ó ωβ(γ)ό oˈv(ɣ)o oˈv(ɣ)o also /eˈv(ɣ)o/
12   Greek: Italiot aggouó αγγουό aˈɡʷo̞ aˈɣɣo̞ Cal.; /aˈk(v)o̞/ Ap.
123   Romanian ou ow ow
126   Neapolitan uovo ˈwovə ˈwovə
133   Old French uef
134   Anglo-Norman oef
138   Franco-Provençal oua ˈwa ˈua
141   Old Spanish (h)uevo ˈweβo
155   Breton: Gwened ui ɥi
156   Breton: Treger u (ui) ˈyː ˈyː
150   Welsh: North wy uːɨ uːɨ
85   Old Polish jajce, jejce, jaje, jajko ˈja̠jcɛ, ˈjɛjcɛ, ˈja̠jɛ, ˈjɒːjkɔ ˈjajce, ˈjejce, ˈjaje, ˈjaːjko 'jajko' is a diminutive of 'jajo', but is more common in culinary contexts.
149   Middle Welsh wy uɨ
90   Old Czech vajce ˈβɑ̈jtsɛ ˈvajtse
94   Old Novgorod jaice яице jæjɪˈtsʲɛ jæjɪˈtsɛ
71   Kumzari xāyg χaːjɡ χaːjɡ
98   Rusyn jajcé jæjˈts(ɛ/ɜ) jajˈtse
79   Macedonian: Suho icè iˈtse̞ iˈtse
80   Macedonian: Visoka icè iˈtse̞ iˈtse
84   Slovene: Kostel jajce ˈjɛːijtsɛ ˈjɛːjtsɛ
82   Slovene: Early Modern jeize
121   German: Bernese Ei ɛɪ ɛɪ
69   Delvari χɒg χɒɡ
70   Lari xow χow
55   Kurdish C.: Jafi helka helkæ
62   Balochi: Sistani āmorg ɑmorɡ compound ā-morg with ā for "egg", cf. Korn (2005: 346)
60   Tati karxā kærχa
137   Old Occitan uou
18   Albanian: Arbëresh ve ˈveː
139   Old Catalan ou ɔw ɔw
45   Khwarazmian yāk yʾk i̯aːk previously given "yʾc" is plural
48   Pashto agai اګئ aɡəi aɡəi identified as diminutive of hā by Morgenstierne (2003: 35)
56   Kurdish S.: Elami xā χɒ
58   Hawrami hēła heːlˠæ
124   Megleno-Romanian ou̯
125   Dalmatian: Vegliote juv juv
117   Old High German ei ei̯ ei̯
118   Middle High German ei ei̯ ei̯
109   Old English ǣġ æːj æːj
116   Old Saxon ei ˈe.i ˈe.i
113   Middle Dutch ei ɛi̯ ɛi̯
100   Old Icelandic egg eɡː eɡː
151   Middle Cornish oy oi
152   Late Cornish oi oi pl. oyow [ˈojow]
104   Norwegian: Nynorsk egg ɛɡː ɛɡː
144   Portuguese: Brazilian ovo
130   Milanese öf œf
57   Kurdish S.: Qorveh hilka hilkæ
References
  • Bailey, Harold Walter: 30
    S.v. Khot. āhā- 'egg' < *āvyā- (cf. Av. aēm [Yašt 13.2] 'egg'(?), Oss. D. ajkä, NPers. xāyah, Pašto hā, etc., from the PIE word for 'egg' (Gk. ᾠόν, Welsh wy, Lat. ōuum, ONor. egg, etc.).
  • Beekes, Robert: 1681
    S.v. ᾠόν 'egg' < PIE *h₂ōui-o- 'egg'.
  • Derksen, Rick: 27
    S.v. Proto-Slavic *ajьce 'egg', originally a diminutive of Proto-Slavic *aje 'egg' from PIE *h₂ōui-om (cf. Gk. ᾠόν, Lat. ōvum, OIc. egg, OHG ei, W wy).
  • Holm, Hans J.: 60
    Contra Orel (1998:497), considers the Alb. ve ~ vo inherited. (All other loans from Lat. ō- result in (h)u-.)
  • Kroonen, Guus: 17
    S.v. Proto-Germanic *ajja- 'egg' from PIE *h₂ōu-ió-, generally taken to be formed as a vr̥ddhi-formation to the Indo-European word for 'bird' *h₂éu-is, *h₂u-éi-s. Cf. entry in Kroonen for a relative chronology of the sound changes that led to the Proto-Germanic form.
  • Mallory, James P.: 176
    S.v. EGG *hₐō(u̯)iom 'egg' [[IEW](src-49) 783-784 *ō(u̯)i̯-om)]. Arm. ju 'egg' and OInd. aṇḍa- cannot be derived from this IE proto-form. It is quite possible that the word for 'egg' is a vr̥ddhi-derivative of the IE word for 'bird' *hₐeu̯ei-.
  • Martirosyan, Hrach: 439
    S.v. Arm. ju 'egg', derived from the PIE word for 'egg' (cf. Gk. ᾠόν, Lat. ōvum, Celt. *āwyo- 'egg', OCS aice, etc.), the Armenian form is usually explained from *i̯ō(w)i̯o- with assimilatory addition of *i̯-, but the initial j- remains unclear.
  • Matasović, Ranko: 50
    S.v. Proto-Celtic *āwyo- 'egg', from PIE *h₂ōu-io- 'egg' (cf. Lat. ōuum, Gk. ᾠόν, etc.).
  • Orel, Vladimir: 497
    S.v. Alb. ve ~ vo 'egg', considers the lexeme a loan from Lat. ōvum on the basis of Old Albanian voe (Buzuku, Bardhi) where the correspondence of Tosk va- ~ Gheg vo- is typical of Latin loanwords. [But cf. objections of Holm 2011:60.]
  • Scarborough, Matthew:
    Cf. Western Armenian hawkitʿ as a compound 'bird-produce' [cognate set 6057](cog-6057). Within PIE 'bird' and 'egg' must have been separate lexemes, therefore these classes have been separated.
  • Schindler, Jochem: 144-167
    Derives the IE word for egg from *ō-h₂uiom.
  • Trubačev, O. N.: 1: 61-64
    PS *aje < PIE *ōi̯om. Cf. also PS derivatives *ajĭce and *ajĭko.
  • de Vaan, Michiel: 438
    S.v. Lat. ōvum 'egg', from PIE *h₂ōuiom 'egg', preferring the explanation deriving 'egg' as a vr̥ddhi-derivative of 'bird', hence 'what belongs to a bird', against Schindler (1969), who reconstructs ō-h₂uiom with a preposition *ō, thus 'toward the bird'.