Proto-Indo-European Roots

Proto-Indo-European Roots

*Root/Stem:*	*bhú-

*Meanings:*	to be

*Cognates (33):*	Greek *phuomai* (I am becoming) - lit. 'I turn to be'
	Latin *fuí* (I was) - the Aorist-Perfect from the verb *esse* 'to be'; *futurum* (the future); Oscan *fust* (he will be) French *futur* (future)
	Common Celtic bei- (to be, to live), bovet (he was); > Gaulish *bitu* (being), Old Irish *bi'u* (I am), *boi* (I was), Old Welsh *bit* (if he were), Middle Breton *bezaff* (if I were), Scottish & Irish Gaelic *bi'm* (I am)
	Sanskrit *bhutis* (being)
	Avestan *bú-* (to be, to become), *bavainti* (he becomes, he appears to be) - a wonderful analogue of Russian "byvat'" with the same meaning
	Old High German *bim* (I am), *bist* (thou art), Old English *béon* (to be), Middle English *ben* (to be); German *bin* (I am), Dutch *ben*
	Common Baltic bú- (to be); > Lithuanian bu'ti* (to be), *bu'na* (he happens to be), Old Prussian & Latvian *bu't* (to be), Sudovian *bu'tun, bu't*
	Common Slavic byti (to be); > Ukrainian buti,* Serbo-Croatian & Slovene *biti, Czech býti,* Polish *byc', Sorbian bys', Russian byt'* (to be), *byvat'* (to be often somewhere)

Notes:	This stem is the other of the couple, the first of which was es-. It is believed to have been used in Proto-Indo-European as an "inactive" verb, for inanimate things only. Later two stems coincided with each other, and modern languages often have both of them - bhú- for infinitive forms, *es- for personal ones. Both remain very widespread within the Indo-European family. Maybe this very word was the first word invented by ancient Indo-Europeans.