Proto-Indo-European Roots
Root/Stem: | *kwis |
Meanings: | who, what |
Cognates: | |
Hellenic | Greek tis 'who, what' |
Italic | Latin quis 'who', quid 'what', Oscan pis 'who', pid 'what' |
Celtic | Old Irish cid 'what' |
Indic | Sanskrit kis, kim 'who, what' |
Dardic & Nuristani | |
Iranian | |
Anatolian | Hittite & Luwian & Palaic kuis 'who, what', Lydian qi- 'something, whatever', Lycian ti 'which' |
Tocharian | |
Armenian | |
Balkan | |
Germanic | |
Baltic | |
Slavic | Common Slavic *ki-to 'what' > Russian chto 'what' |
Notes: | This is one of the derivatives of the Indo-European root *kw-, which formed a great lot of pronouns in the languages of the family. English when, where, who, what, which and other pronouns of this kind are all descendants of this *kw-, the same as pronouns of other Indo-European languages. The root was mainly used for forming interrogative and relative pronouns. |