Proto-Indo-European Roots

Proto-Indo-European Roots

Root/Stem:	*gwen-

Meanings:	a woman, a wife

Related to:	Greek *guné* (a woman, a wife) - from *guná
	Common Celtic ben- (a woman), gen. sg. *bnás* (of a woman) > Old Irish *ben, Irish Gaelic bean, Scottish Gaelic bean, Manx ben, Cornish benen, Welsh benyw*
	Common Anatolian gwana (a woman) > Luwian wanatti*
	Avestan *g@ná* (a woman); Persian & Tadjik *zan*
	Sanskrit *janis, gná* (a woman, a goddess), Singhalese *gani; Kashmiri zanana*
	Phrygian *bon-ekos* (a wife) - a suffix added
	Armenian *kin* (a woman, a wife), *gin*
	Tocharian A *s'än* (a woman), Tocharian B *s'ana*
	Common Germanic kwen- (woman) > Gothic qino* (a woman), *qéns* (a queen), Old English *cwén* (woman, wife, queen), Old High German *cwán, Old Norse kwaen;* English *queen, Scottish queyn* (a queen), Swedish *kvinna* (a woman), Icelandic *kona, kvennmaor,* Faroese *kona, Danish kvinde, Dutch kween* (old cow), Frisian *kwyn*
	Common Baltic gen- (a woman) > Old Prussian voc. sg. genno* (woman!), gená (a wife, a woman), Sudovian genâ (a woman, a wife)
	Common Slavic z'ena (a woman) > Belorussian z'ana, Bulgarian & Polish & Serbo-Croatian & Slovene & Czech & Slovak & Ukrainian & Russian z'ena, Sorbian z'ona*

Notes:	The stem must be rather archaic - the original meaning was not just "a woman", but "an honoured woman", which witnesses that it was born in ancient matriarchate times. Germanic meaning "queen" and Sanskrit "goddess" make this more than just a version. The gender is in most cases feminine, which is natural; however, Old English is neuter. In majority of languages this noun was of a-stems.