| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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Appendix I
Indo-European Roots |
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| ENTRY: |  ter- |
| DEFINITION: | Fire. 1. Suffixed zero-grade form *tr-o-. atrabilious, from Latin ter (feminine tra), black (< “blackened by fire”). 2. Suffixed zero-grade form *tr-yo-. atrium, from Latin trium, forecourt, hall, atrium (perhaps originally the place where the smoke from the hearth escaped through a hole in the roof). 3. Compound shortened zero-grade form *atro- kw-, “black-looking” (*kw-, “looking”; see okw-). atrocious, from Latin  tr x, frightful. 4. Basic form *ter. zircon, from Old Persian *tar, fire (stem ç- attested in month name  çiydiya, “(month) of fire-worship”), from Indo-Iranian *tar. 5. Possibly, but obscurely related to this root is Sanskrit atharv, atharvan-, priest (-van-, possessive suffix): Atharva-Veda. (Pokorny t(e)r- 69.) |
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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