Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/bʰréh₂tēr
 | This Proto-Indo-European entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence. |
Proto-Indo-European
Reconstruction
Both Sanskrit and Ancient Greek reflexes have a radical stress throughout the paradigm, which indicates that this accentuation was original, and that the PIE word for "brother" had an acrostatic inflection. Archaicity of the paradigm is furthermore indicated by the fact that the rest of the inherited kinship terms in Sanskrit have suffixal and desinential accent, so the pattern for the word for "brother" couldn't arise by analogy. The hysterokinetic inflection of other kinship terms (e.g. for *ph₂tḗr (“father”) and *dʰugh₂tḗr (“daughter”), both of which end in *-tḗr) did exert influence in the two, which is evident by the absence of zero-grade in the suffix syllable (Sanskrit forms with -tā, -taram etc., Greek with -τηρ, -τερος etc.).
The root vowel is short in all of the reflexes, and no trace of lengthened grade can be found: in no language did Eichner's law operate (which predicts non-coloration of the *ē in **bʰrḗh₂-tr). Furthermore, in Balto-Slavic one can find an acute vowel (reflecting *bʰréh₂) instead of a circumflex vowel (which would reflect **bʰrḗh₂).
Etymology
This lexeme is widespread, though absent from Albanian[1][2] and rare in Anatolian.[1] Because it means "kinsman" in Greek,[1][2] and meant both "brother" and "kinsman, cousin" (or "comrade") in Celtic (e.g. Old Irish bráthair) and Baltic (e.g. in Latvian and Old Prussian),[2] some suspect it had similarly wider meaning in PIE (even in English "brother" is often used to refer to socially-affiliated non-relatives).[2]
Pronunciation
- (Ringe 2006): IPA(key): /ˈbʰrex.teːr/, [ˈb̤rax.tɛːr][3]
Noun
*bʰréh₂tēr m
- brother
Inflection
| Athematic, acrostatic | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| singular | |||
| nominative | *bʰréh₂tēr | ||
| genitive | *bʰréh₂tr̥s | ||
| singular | dual | plural | |
| nominative | *bʰréh₂tēr | *bʰréh₂terh₁(e) | *bʰréh₂teres |
| vocative | *bʰréh₂ter | *bʰréh₂terh₁(e) | *bʰréh₂teres |
| accusative | *bʰréh₂term̥ | *bʰréh₂terh₁(e) | *bʰréh₂term̥s |
| genitive | *bʰréh₂tr̥s | *? | *bʰréh₂troHom |
| ablative | *bʰréh₂tr̥s | *? | *bʰréh₂tr̥mos |
| dative | *bʰréh₂trey | *? | *bʰréh₂tr̥mos |
| locative | *bʰréh₂tr̥, *bʰréh₂tri | *? | *bʰréh₂tr̥su |
| instrumental | *bʰréh₂tr̥h₁ | *? | *bʰréh₂tr̥mis |
Coordinate terms
- *átta
- *dʰugh₂tḗr
- *méh₂tēr
- *ph₂tḗr
- *suHnús
- *swésōr
Descendants
- Anatolian:
- Lydian: 𐤡𐤭𐤠𐤱𐤭𐤳𐤦𐤳 (brafrsis) (brafrsis; stem brafr-)
- Armenian:
- Old Armenian: եղբայր (ełbayr), genitive եղբաւր (ełbawr)
- Proto-Balto-Slavic: *brā́ˀtē (see there for further descendants)
- Proto-Celtic: *brātīr (see there for further descendants)
- Proto-Germanic: *brōþēr (see there for further descendants)
- Proto-Hellenic: *pʰrā́tēr (see there for further descendants)
- Proto-Indo-Iranian: *bʰráHtā (see there for further descendants)
- Proto-Italic: *frātēr (see there for further descendants)
- Mysian: βρατεραις (braterais, dat.pl.)
- Phrygian: βρατερε (bratere, dat.sg.)
- Proto-Tocharian: *procer (see there for further descendants)
References
- James Clackson, Indo-European Linguistics: An Introduction, page 200 (2007, →ISBN)
- J. P. Mallory, D. Q. Adams, The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European (2006, →ISBN), page 214
- Ringe, Donald (2006) From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic (A Linguistic History of English; 1), Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 14