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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
Appendix I Indo-European Roots |
| ENTRY: | wer-2 |
| DEFINITION: | Conventional base of various Indo-European roots; to turn, bend. Derivatives include stalwart, weird, vertebra, wrath, wrong, wrestle, briar1, rhapsody, and worm. I. Root *wert-, to turn, wind. 1. Germanic *werth-. a. (i) –ward, from Old English -weard, toward (< “turned toward”); (ii) inward, from Old English inweard, inward, from Germanic *inwarth, inward (*in, in; see en). Both (i) and (ii) from Germanic variant *warth; b. perhaps Germanic derivative *werthaz, “toward, opposite,” hence “equivalent, worth.” worth1; stalwart, from Old English weorth, worth, valuable, and derivative noun weorth, wierth, value. 2. worth2, from Old English weorthan, to befall, from Germanic *werthan, to become (< “to turn into”). 3. Zero-grade form *w  t-. weird, from Old English wyrd, fate, destiny (< “that which befalls one”), from Germanic *wurthi-. 4. versatile, verse1, version, versus, vertebra, vertex, vertigo, vortex; adverse, anniversary, avert, bouleversement, controversy, converse1, convert, dextrorse, divert, evert, extrorse, extroversion, extrovert, introrse, introvert, invert, malversation, obvert, peevish, pervert, prose, retrorse, revert, sinistrorse, subvert, tergiversate, transverse, universe, from Latin vertere, to turn, with its frequentative vers re, to turn, and passive versr , to stay, behave (< “to move around a place, frequent”). 5. verst, from Russian versta, line, from Balto-Slavic *wirst-, a turn, bend.II. Root *wreit-, to turn. a. wreath, from Old English writha, band (< “that which is wound around”); b. writhe, from Old English wr than, to twist, torture; c. wrath, wroth, from Old English wrth, angry (< “tormented, twisted”). a–c all from Germanic *wrth-, *wraith-.III. Root *wergh-, to turn. 1. worry, from Old English wyrgan, to strangle, from Germanic *wurgjan. 2. Nasalized variant *wrengh-. a. wring, from Old English wringan, to twist, from Germanic *wreng-; b. (i) wrong, from Middle English wrong, wrong, from a Scandinavian source akin to Old Norse *vrangr, rangr, curved, crooked, wrong; (ii) wrangle, from Middle English wranglen, to wrangle, from a Low German source akin to wrangeln, to wrestle. Both (i) and (ii) from Germanic *wrang-. IV. Root *werg-, to turn. 1. Nasalized variant form *wreng-. a. wrench, from Old English wrencan, to twist; b. wrinkle, from Old English gewrinclian, to wind (ge-, collective prefix; see kom). Both a and b from Germanic *wrankjan. 2. verge2; converge, diverge, from Latin vergere, to turn, tend toward. V. Root *wreik-, to turn. 1a. wry, from Old English wr gian, to turn, bend, go; b. wriggle, from Middle Low German wriggeln, to wriggle. Both a and b from Germanic *wrg-. 2a. wrist, from Old English wrist, wrist; b. gaiter, from Old French guietre, gaiter, from Frankish *wrist-. Both a and b from Germanic *wristiz, from *wrihst-. 3. wrest, wrestle, from Old English wr stan, to twist, from secondary Germanic derivative *wraistjan. 4. Possibly o-grade form *wroik-. briar1, brusque, from Late Latin br cus, heather, from Gaulish *brko-.VI. ribald, from Old French riber, to be wanton, from Germanic root *wrib-. VII. Root *werb-, also *werbh-, to turn, bend. 1. warp, from Old English weorpan, to throw away, from Germanic *werp-, *warp-, “to fling by turning the arm.” 2. reverberate, from Latin verber, whip, rod. 3. verbena, vervain, from Latin verb  na, sacred foliage. 4. Zero-grade form *wb-. rhabdomancy, rhabdovirus, from Greek rhabdos, rod. 5. Nasalized variant form *wrembh-. rhombus, from Greek rhombos, magic wheel, rhombus. VIII. Root *werp-, to turn, wind. 1. Metathesized form *wrep-. wrap, from Middle English wrappen, to wrap, from a source akin to Danish dialectal vravle, to wind, from Germanic *wrap-. 2. Zero-grade form *w p-. raphe, rhaphide; rhapsody, staphylorrhaphy, tenorrhaphy, from Greek rhaptein, to sew. IX. Root *w mi-, worm; rhyme word to kwmi-. 1. worm, from Old English wyrm, worm, from Germanic *wurmiz. 2. vermeil, vermi-, vermicelli, vermicular, vermin, from Latin vermis, worm. (Pokorny 3.  er- 1152.) |
| 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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