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, Baltic, Celtic, Germanic, Hellenic, Indic, Iranic, Italic, Nuristani
Revised by:
Matthew Scarborough
Found in 9 clades by 118 lexemes.
Language Lexeme Native script Phonetic Phonemic Notes
16   Armenian: Eastern atam ատամ ɑˈtɑm ɑtɑm
25   Bengali dām̐t দাঁত d̪ãt̪
141   Catalan dent den den
110   Danish tand ˈtanˀ
116   Dutch tand tɑnt
112   English tooth tuːθ
104   Faroese tonn tʰɔnː
117   Flemish tand
136   French dent dɑ̃ dɑ̃
122   German Zahn ˈt͜sʰaːn ˈt͜saːn
8   Greek: Modern Std dónti δόντι ˈðo̞ndi ˈðo̞nti
29   Hindi dām̐ta दाँत d̪ɑ̃t̪ d̪ɑ̃t̪
103   Icelandic tönn tʰœnː
129   Italian dente ˈdɛnte ˈdɛnte
34   Kashmiri dand دند d̪ɑnd̪ d̪ɑnd̪
131   Ladin dent ˈdent
76   Lithuanian dantìs dɐnʲˈtʲɪs danʲˈtɪs
33   Marathi dāta दात d̪at̪
31   Nepali dām̐ta दाँत d̪ãt̪
67   Persian: Tehran dandān دندان dændɒːn dændɒn
144   Portuguese dente ˈdẽntɨ ˈdẽntɨ
105   Norwegian: Bokmål tann tɑnː tɑnː
134   Sardinian: Logudoro dente ˈdɛntɛ ˈdɛntɛ
133   Sardinian: Nuoro (d)ente ˈɛntɛ ˈdɛntɛ
23   Sinhalese data දත
143   Spanish diente ˈdjen̪te ˈdjente
109   Swedish tand tand
51   Wakhi dundʉk dundʉk
137   Walloon dint dẽ dẽ
124   Latin dens dens dens G.sg. dentis
77   Old Prussian dantis EV
6   Greek: Ancient odoús ὀδούς o̞dúːs o̞dúːs G.sg. ὀδόντος
21   Vedic: Early dán दन् ˈdɐn dánt
26   Maithili daṅt दांत d̪ɑ̃t̪
30   Urdu dānt دانت d̪ɑ̃t̪
121   Luxembourgish Zant tsɑnt tsɑnt
114   Frisian tosk tosk Related to English tusk, both a different cognate subset within the same 'tooth' cognate set
56   Kurdish N.: Bahdini dɨdan dɨdɑn
130   Friulian dint ˈdint ˈdint
158   Old Irish dét ˈd̪ʲeːd̪ˠ ˈdʲeːd
72   Ossetic: Iron dændag дӕндаг dɜndɑɡ dɜndaɡ
73   Ossetic: Digor dændag дӕндаг dɜndɑɡ dɜndaɡ
15   Armenian: Classical atamn ատամն ɑˈtɑmən ɑtɑm-ɑn-
46   Avestan: Younger daṇtan 𐬛𐬀𐬧𐬙𐬀𐬥 dantan
154   Old Breton dant
13   Tsakonian: Peloponnese ónta όντα ˈo̞nda ˈo̞nta
107   Elfdalian tann tɑnː tɑnː
108   Old Swedish tan tanː tanː
22   Pali danta dɐntɐ danta
155   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
49   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'
55   Parthian dandān dndʾn danˈdɑːn dandaːn
146   Oscan dunte(d) Native script: dunte[d (abl.sg. Cp 37)
11   Greek: Cypriot dóntin δόντιν ˈðɔndin ˈðɔntin
14   Tsakonian: Propontis (o)dónta (o)δόντα (o̞)ˈðo̞nda (o̞)ˈðo̞nta
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.
27   Magahi dāṅt दांत d̪ɑt̪
28   Bhojpuri dām̐t दाँत d̪ɑ̃t̪
35   Palula dáand داند d̪aːn̪d̪ dáand
125   Romanian dinte ˈdinte ˈdinte
127   Dalmatian: Vegliote di̯ant djant
128   Neapolitan rente ˈrɛntə ˈrɛntə
135   Anglo-Norman dent
139   Franco-Provençal dë ˈdʌː ˈdʌ
142   Old Spanish diente ˈdjente
53   Yaghnobi díndak dindak
157   Breton: Treger dant ˈdãnːt ˈdãnːt
156   Breton: Gwened dant dɑ̃ːt sɡ, dɛn pl
151   Welsh: North daint, dant daint daint
150   Middle Welsh danned daneð
71   Kumzari dnān dnaːn dnaːn
123   German: Bernese Zang tsaŋ tsaŋ
62   Tati dandon dændon
48   Sogdian δantā dntʾ ðantaː
63   Mazanderani dandun dændun
68   Bakhtiari dendun dendun dendun
69   Delvari dændu dændu
70   Lari dezu dezu
64   Balochi: Sistani dantan dæntæn
57   Kurdish C.: Jafi diyan dijæn
138   Old Occitan dent
126   Megleno-Romanian dínti
140   Old Catalan dent den den
38   Khowar don دون d̪ɔn̪ dɔn
37   Gawarbati dant دنت d̪ɜn̪t̪ dant GM dant
24   Assamese dām̐t দাঁত dãt Beng.
32   Punjabi daⁿd ਦੰਦ
36   Gawri dan دن d̪ɔ̰n̪̥ dɒn H
39   Pashai: North-West daandə دانده ˈd̪aːn̪d̪ə daːndə
61   Raji: Barzoki dandun d̪and̪ũ d̪and̪un
58   Kurdish S.: Elami dınān dɘ̟nɒn
60   Hawrami diḏān dɨdɑn
119   Old High German zan tsan tsan
52   Sarikoli dhandun ðandun
113   Old Frisian tōth tɔːθ tɔːθ
120   Middle High German zan tsan tsan
111   Old English tōþ toːθ toːθ
118   Old Saxon tand tand tand
115   Middle Dutch tant tant tant
102   Old Icelandic tǫnn tɔnː tɔnː
101   Gothic tunþus 𐍄𐌿𐌽𐌸𐌿𐍃 ˈtunθus ˈtunθus
152   Middle Cornish dans dans
153   Late Cornish danz danz
106   Norwegian: Nynorsk tann tɑnː tɑnː
145   Portuguese: Brazilian dente
45   Vâsi-vari: Paṣki lat′am lətˈəm lɨtˈɨm lɨtˈɨm
40   Kamviri d′ut dˈut dˈut
41   Kâta-vari: Eastern d′ut dut dˈut dˈut
42   Kâta-vari: Ktivi d′ut dˈut dˈut
43   Kalaṣa-alâ: Nišeigrâm dũt dˈũt dˈũt
44   Saṇu-viri: Wâmâ d′õt dˈʊ̃t dˈʊ̃t
59   Kurdish S.: Qorveh diyān dijɑn
132   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').