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Celtic Pathways – Birches
In this episode we unearth the Celtic roots of words for birch (tree) in various languages.
The Proto-Celtic word *betuyā means birch tree, and comes from Proto-Indo-European *gʷetu-yo-s, from *gʷet- (resin, gum) [source].
Descendents in the modern Celtic languages include:
More details of words for birch in Celtic languages can be found in the Celtiadur post Birch (trees).
Words from the same Proto-Celtic roots, via Gaulish *bitu/betua and Latin *betius, include betulla (birch) in Italian, bouleau (birch) in French, βετούλη (vetoúli – birch) in Greek, and abedul (birch) in Spanish [source].
The botanical Latin name for the genus, Betula (birch), also comes from the same roots [source].
Incidentally, the English word birch comes from Middle English birche (birch), from Old English bierċe (birch), from Proto-West Germanic *birkijā (birch), from Proto-Germanic *birkijǭ (birch), from PIE *bʰerHǵos (birch), from *bʰerHǵ- (to shine, to gleam, whiten) [source].
Words from the same roots possibly include: bredh (fir tree) in Albanian, björk (birch) in Swedish, béržas (birch) in Lithuanian and březen (March) in Czech [source].
Radio Omniglot podcasts are brought to you in association with Blubrry Podcast Hosting, a great place to host your podcasts. Get your first month free with the promo code omniglot.
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By Simon Ager
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In this episode we unearth the Celtic roots of words for birch (tree) in various languages.
The Proto-Celtic word *betuyā means birch tree, and comes from Proto-Indo-European *gʷetu-yo-s, from *gʷet- (resin, gum) [source].
Descendents in the modern Celtic languages include:
More details of words for birch in Celtic languages can be found in the Celtiadur post Birch (trees).
Words from the same Proto-Celtic roots, via Gaulish *bitu/betua and Latin *betius, include betulla (birch) in Italian, bouleau (birch) in French, βετούλη (vetoúli – birch) in Greek, and abedul (birch) in Spanish [source].
The botanical Latin name for the genus, Betula (birch), also comes from the same roots [source].
Incidentally, the English word birch comes from Middle English birche (birch), from Old English bierċe (birch), from Proto-West Germanic *birkijā (birch), from Proto-Germanic *birkijǭ (birch), from PIE *bʰerHǵos (birch), from *bʰerHǵ- (to shine, to gleam, whiten) [source].
Words from the same roots possibly include: bredh (fir tree) in Albanian, björk (birch) in Swedish, béržas (birch) in Lithuanian and březen (March) in Czech [source].
Radio Omniglot podcasts are brought to you in association with Blubrry Podcast Hosting, a great place to host your podcasts. Get your first month free with the promo code omniglot.