gʷhen- / Indo-European roots

Examples of words with the root gʷhen-: autobahn, bane, bezoar, defend, gonfalon, gun, offend, sangha.

gwhen-

To strike, kill.

Derivatives include bane, fence, offend.

1. O-grade form *gwhon-.
a. bane from Old English bana, slayer, cause of ruin or destruction;
b. autobahn from Middle High German ban, bane, way, road (< "strike" in a technical sense like "swath"). Both a and b from Germanic suffixed form *ban-ōn-.
2. Suffixed zero-grade form *gwhn̥-tyā-.
a. gun from Old Norse gunnr, war;
b. gonfalon from Italian gonfalone, standard, from Germanic compound *gund-fanōn-, "battle flag" (*fanōn-, flag; see pan-). Both a and b from Germanic *gundjō, war, battle.
3. Suffixed form *gwhen-do-.
a. defend, defense, fence, fend from Latin dēfendere, to ward off (dē-, away; see de-);
b. offend, offense from Latin offendere, to strike against, be offensive, offend (ob-, against; see epi).
4. Suffixed zero-grade form *gwhn̥-tro-. bezoar from Persian zahr, poison, from Old Iranian *jathra-.
5. Full-grade form *gwhen-. bonze, kalanchoe, sangha from Sanskrit hanti, he strikes.

[Pokorny 2. g̒ͧhen-(ə)- 491, bhen- 126.]



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