Cognate Set 328 – Meaning: tooth

IE-CoR reference form:
*Hd-ónt-
IE-CoR reference language:
Proto-Indo-European
Ideophonic:
no
Parallel derivation:
no
Justification:
Hellenic, Armenian, Indo-Iranic, Baltic, Germanic, Italic, and Celtic lexemes continuing an inherited word for 'tooth', widely considered to continue a participle *h₁d-ónt- to the verbal root *h₁ed- *'to bite' → 'to eat', lexicalised as 'tooth' already in PIE (NIL 208-220, LIV² 230-231, EIEC 594). Under this explanation the original Ancient Greek form would be continued by Aeolic ἔδοντ-, which underwent vowel assimilation in other dialects. The Leiden School of Indo-European reconstruction alternatively reconstructs a distinct root *h₃ed- 'to bite, sting' following Kortlandt 2003:77, who argues that it would better account for ὀδών much more straightforwardly, and it would also much better account for the Ancient Greek privative adjective νωδός 'toothless' < *n̥-h₃d-ó-, (expected †νηδός < *n̥-h₃d-ó-); as for Aeolic ἔδοντ-, it only occurs in late grammatical texts and could have itself been created on the basis of an analogy to Greek ἔδ- 'eat'. For individual branches, cf. Chantraine 1968–1980:776, Beekes 2010:1049, Martirosyan 2010:1049, EWAia I:693-694, ALEW 174-175, Derksen 2015:115, Ernout & Meillet 1985:169, de Vaan 2008:166-167, Vendryes et al. 1959–1996 D:62-63 Matasović 2009:90).
Found in clades:
Armenian, Balto-Slavic, Celtic, Germanic, Hellenic, Indo-Iranic, Italic
Revised by:
Matthew Scarborough
Found in 7 clades by 117 lexemes.
Language Lexeme Native script Phonetic Phonemic Notes
14   Armenian: Eastern atam ատամ ɑˈtɑm ɑtɑm
23   Bengali dām̐t দাঁত d̪ãt̪
140   Catalan dent den den
108   Danish tand ˈtanˀ
114   Dutch tand tɑnt
110   English tooth tuːθ
102   Faroese tonn tʰɔnː
115   Flemish tand
135   French dent dɑ̃ dɑ̃
120   German Zahn ˈt͜sʰaːn ˈt͜saːn
8   Greek: Modern Std dónti δόντι ˈðo̞ndi ˈðo̞nti
27   Hindi dām̐ta दाँत d̪ɑ̃t̪ d̪ɑ̃t̪
101   Icelandic tönn tʰœnː
127   Italian dente ˈdɛnte ˈdɛnte
32   Kashmiri dand دند d̪ɑnd̪ d̪ɑnd̪
129   Ladin dent ˈdent
74   Lithuanian dantìs dɐnʲˈtʲɪs danʲˈtɪs
31   Marathi dāta दात d̪at̪
29   Nepali dām̐ta दाँत d̪ãt̪
67   Persian: Tehran dandān دندان dændɒːn dændɒn
143   Portuguese dente ˈdẽntɨ ˈdẽntɨ
103   Norwegian: Bokmål tann tɑnː tɑnː
132   Sardinian: Logudoro dente ˈdɛntɛ ˈdɛntɛ
131   Sardinian: Nuoro (d)ente ˈɛntɛ ˈdɛntɛ
21   Sinhalese data දත
142   Spanish diente ˈdjen̪te ˈdjente
107   Swedish tand tand
49   Wakhi dundʉk dundʉk
136   Walloon dint dẽ dẽ
122   Latin dens dens dens G.sg. dentis
75   Old Prussian dantis EV
6   Greek: Ancient odoús ὀδούς o̞dúːs o̞dúːs G.sg. ὀδόντος
19   Vedic: Early dán दन् ˈdɐn dánt
24   Maithili daṅt दांत d̪ɑ̃t̪
28   Urdu dānt دانت d̪ɑ̃t̪
119   Luxembourgish Zant tsɑnt tsɑnt
112   Frisian tosk tosk Related to English tusk, both a different cognate subset within the same 'tooth' cognate set
54   Kurdish N.: Bahdini dɨdan dɨdɑn
128   Friulian dint ˈdint ˈdint
157   Old Irish dét ˈd̪ʲeːd̪ˠ ˈdʲeːd
63   Ossetic: Iron dændag дӕндаг dɜndɑɡ dɜndaɡ
64   Ossetic: Digor dændag дӕндаг dɜndɑɡ dɜndaɡ
13   Armenian: Classical atamn ատամն ɑˈtɑmən ɑtɑm-ɑn-
44   Avestan: Younger daṇtan 𐬛𐬀𐬧𐬙𐬀𐬥 dantan
153   Old Breton dant
105   Elfdalian tann tɑnː tɑnː
106   Old Swedish tan tanː tanː
20   Pali danta dɐntɐ danta
154   Middle Breton dant ˈdant
5   Greek: Mycenaean o-da-twe-we-ta 𐀃𐀅𐁌𐀸𐀲 odat-u̯ent- odat-u̯ent- variants o-da-twe-ta, o-da-tu-we-ta, o-da-ku-we-ta, o-da-ku-we-ta
47   Khotanese daṃdai dɐndɐi dandai̯ Pl. dandā, stem dandaa-
7   Greek: New Testament odoús ὀδούς o̞ˈdus oˈdus
66   Middle Persian dandān dndʾn dandɑːn dandaːn ZP dndʾn'
53   Parthian dandān dndʾn danˈdɑːn dandaːn
145   Oscan dunte(d) Native script: dunte[d (abl.sg. Cp 37)
11   Greek: Cypriot dóntin δόντιν ˈðɔndin ˈðɔntin
9   Greek: Cappadocian don(t) δoν(τ) ðon(t) ðon(d) also /zondʒ/
10   Greek: Pontic odónti(n) oδόντι(ν) o̞ˈðo̞ndi(n) o̞ˈðo̞nti(n)
12   Greek: Italiot dónti δόντι ˈðo̞ndi ˈðo̞nti Cal.; /ˈdo̞nti/ Ap.
25   Magahi dāṅt दांत d̪ɑt̪
26   Bhojpuri dām̐t दाँत d̪ɑ̃t̪
33   Palula dáand داند d̪aːn̪d̪ dáand
123   Romanian dinte ˈdinte ˈdinte
125   Dalmatian: Vegliote di̯ant djant
126   Neapolitan rente ˈrɛntə ˈrɛntə
133   Old French dent
134   Anglo-Norman dent
138   Franco-Provençal dë ˈdʌː ˈdʌ
141   Old Spanish diente ˈdjente
51   Yaghnobi díndak dindak
156   Breton: Treger dant ˈdãnːt ˈdãnːt
155   Breton: Gwened dant dɑ̃ːt sɡ, dɛn pl
150   Welsh: North daint, dant daint daint
149   Middle Welsh danned daneð
71   Kumzari dnān dnaːn dnaːn
121   German: Bernese Zang tsaŋ tsaŋ
60   Tati dandon dændon
46   Sogdian δantā dntʾ ðantaː
61   Mazanderani dandun dændun
68   Bakhtiari dendun dendun dendun
69   Delvari dændu dændu
70   Lari dezu dezu
62   Balochi: Sistani dantan dæntæn
55   Kurdish C.: Jafi diyan dijæn
137   Old Occitan dent
124   Megleno-Romanian dínti
139   Old Catalan dent den den
36   Khowar don دون d̪ɔn̪ dɔn
35   Gawarbati dant دنت d̪ɜn̪t̪ dant GM dant
22   Assamese dām̐t দাঁত dãt Beng.
30   Punjabi daⁿd ਦੰਦ
34   Gawri dan دن d̪ɔ̰n̪̥ dɒn H
37   Pashai: North-West daandə دانده ˈd̪aːn̪d̪ə daːndə
59   Raji: Barzoki dandun d̪and̪ũ d̪and̪un
56   Kurdish S.: Elami dınān dɘ̟nɒn
58   Hawrami diḏān dɨdɑn
117   Old High German zan tsan tsan
50   Sarikoli dhandun ðandun
111   Old Frisian tōth tɔːθ tɔːθ
118   Middle High German zan tsan tsan
109   Old English tōþ toːθ toːθ
116   Old Saxon tand tand tand
113   Middle Dutch tant tant tant
100   Old Icelandic tǫnn tɔnː tɔnː
99   Gothic tunþus 𐍄𐌿𐌽𐌸𐌿𐍃 ˈtunθus ˈtunθus
151   Middle Cornish dans dans
152   Late Cornish danz danz
104   Norwegian: Nynorsk tann tɑnː tɑnː
144   Portuguese: Brazilian dente
43   Vâsi-vari: Paṣki lat′am lətˈəm lɨtˈɨm lɨtˈɨm
38   Kamviri d′ut dˈut dˈut
39   Kâta-vari: Eastern d′ut dut dˈut dˈut
40   Kâta-vari: Ktivi d′ut dˈut dˈut
41   Kalaṣa-alâ: Nišeigrâm dũt dˈũt dˈũt
42   Saṇu-viri: Wâmâ d′õt dˈʊ̃t dˈʊ̃t
57   Kurdish S.: Qorveh diyān dijɑn
130   Milanese dén den
References
  • Beekes, Robert: 1049
    S.v. ὀδών 'tooth' < *h₃d-(o)nt- 'tooth'.
  • Chantraine, Pierre: 776
    S.v. AGk. ὀδών. Given the variation, two etymologies have been proposed: (1) Traditionally one considers a participle of *ed- 'manger' with a zero-grade, with an e-grade in ἔδοντες, like ἔων beside ὤν. The second hypothesis of Benveniste (BSL 1931 74ff.) considers the character of the vocalic alternation *ed-, the semantic difficulty of calling the tooth 'the eater' instead considering a prothesis to a base *den-t-, *don-t-, *dn̥t-, parallel to *den-k-, *dn̥k- in Greek δάκνω, Skt. dáśati.
  • Derksen, Rick: 115
    S.v. Lith. dantìs 'tooth' (OPr. dantis 'tooth'), from PIE *h₃d-(o)nt- (cf. Skt. dánt- 'tooth', Gk. ὀδών 'tooth', Arm. atamn 'tooth', Lat. dēns, 'tooth', OHG zan(d) 'tooth').
  • Ernout, Alfred and Meillet, Antoine: 169
    S.v. Lat. dēns, dentis 'dent de l'homme ou des animaux'. A pan Indo-European word. The Greek forms ὀδών, ὀδόντος (Aeolic ἔδοντες) indicate a connection with the group of words related to edō, etc., of which this is the participle.
  • Hock, Wolfgang and Fecht, Rainer and Feulner, Anna Helene and Hill, Eugen and Wodtko, Dagmar S.: 174-175
    S.v. OLith. dantìs, dantỹs, dañtis 'Zahn' (BSl. OPr. dantis 'Zahn', etc.), from PIE *h₁d-ont-, *h₁d-n̥t- 'Zahn' (cf. Ved. dánt- 'Zahn', Gk. ὀδών -όντος, ἔδοντες (Aeol.) 'Zähne', Mycen. o-da-twe-ta 'mit Zähnen versehen', Arm. atamn, Lat. dens, OIr. d´t, Goth. tunþus, etc.). Traditionally analysed as a early lexicalised derivative of the root *h₁ed- 'essen' (cf. NIL 210), cf. however Kortlandt (2003:77, 94) skeptical and suggests alternatively a derivation from *h₃ed-.
  • Kroonen, Guus: 509-510
    S.v. Proto-Germanic *tanϸ- ~ *tunϸ- 'tooth'. The ablaut of NWGerm. *tanϸ- and EGerm. *tunϸ- points to an original paradigm *tanϸ-, gen. tundiz < *h₃d-ónt-, *h₃d-nt-és, an archaic participle to the root *h₃ed- 'to bite, be sharp'.
  • Martirosyan, Hrach: 124
    S.v. Arm. atamn 'tooth', derived from PIE *h₃dont- (cf. Gk. ὀδών, ὀδόντος, Lat. dēns, dentis, Skt. dán, dántam, Lith. dant-ìs, etc.).
  • Matasović, Ranko: 90
    S.v. Proto-Celtic *danto- 'tooth', from PIE *h₁dont- 'tooth' (cf. Lat. dēns, Skt. dánt-, Gk. ὀδών, Lith. dantìs, OHG zand). The reconstruction of the initial laryngeal is uncertain. Some prefer to see an original participle of the verb 'to eat' *h₁ed-, but others reconstruct *h₃- from which Gk. ὀδών is derived more straightforwardly.
  • Mayrhofer, Manfred: I:693-694
    S.v. Ved. dant- 'Zahn', from PIE *h₁d-ónt- *'beißend' (~*h₁ed-) (cf. Gk. ὀδὠν, ὀδόντ- [Aeol. ἔδοντ-ες], Arm. atamn, Lat. dēns, dent-, OHG zan(d), Lith. dantìs 'Zahn', etc.).
  • Rix, Helmut: 230-231
    Cf. s.v. *h₁ed- '(beißen →) essen' (IEW 287-9), to which LIV² reconstructs a participle already in PIE *h₁d-ónt- 'Zahn'.
  • Scarborough, Matthew:
    Widely considered to continue a participle *h₁d-ónt- to the verbal root *h₁ed- *'to bite' → 'to eat', lexicalised as 'tooth' already in PIE ([NIL](src-274) 208-220, [LIV²](src-141) 230-231, [EIEC](src-657) 594). Under this explanation the original Ancient Greek form would be continued by Aeolic ἔδοντ-, which underwent vowel assimilation in other dialects. The Leiden School of Indo-European reconstruction alternatively reconstructs a distinct root *h₃ed- 'to bite, sting' following [Kortlandt 2003](src-549):77, who argues that it would better account for ὀδών much more straightforwardly, and it would also much better account for the Ancient Greek privative adjective νωδός 'toothless' < *n̥-h₃d-ó-, (expected †νηδός < *n̥-h₃d-ó-); as for Aeolic ἔδοντ-, it only occurs in late grammatical texts and could have itself been created on the basis of an analogy to Greek ἔδ- 'eat'. For individual branches, cf. [Chantraine 1968–1980](src-270):776, [Beekes 2010](src-66):1049, [Martirosyan 2010](src-79):1049, [EWAia](src-172) I:693-694, [ALEW](src-352) 174-175, [Derksen 2015](src-353):115, [Ernout & Meillet 1985](src-316):169, [de Vaan 2008](src-54):166-167, [Vendryes et al. 1959–1996](src-296) D:62-63 [Matasović 2009](src-50):90).
  • Wodtko, Dagmar S. and Irslinger, Britta and Schneider, Carolin: 208-220
    S.v. *h₁ed- '(beißen →) essen' (LIV² 230f., IEW 287ff.).
  • de Vaan, Michiel: 166-167
    S.v. Lat. dēns, -tis 'tooth', from PIE *h₃d-nt- 'tooth' (cf. OIr. dét 'tooth', Skt. dánt-, Gk. (Ion.) ὀδών, νωδός 'toothless' (< *n-h₃d-o-), Aeol. ἔδοντες 'teeth' (only in a 12th c. AD gloss in a grammatical text), Arm. atamn, OPr. dantis, Lith. dantìs, Lith. úodas, Latv. uôds 'gnat', Gk. ὀδυνή 'pain').