Proto-Indo-European Roots

Proto-Indo-European Roots

*Root/Stem:*	*gwhen-

*Meaning:*	to beat

*Cognates:*
Hellenic	Greek *thein* 'I beat', *phonos* 'murder'
Italic	Latin *d-fend* 'I defend'
Celtic	Common Celtic gon 'I wound' > Old Irish gonim* 'I beat', Irish *gonadh* 'wounding', Scottish *gon* 'to wound'
Indic	Sanskrit *hanti* 'he kills'
Iranian	Avestan *jainti* 'he beats', Old Persian *ajanam* 'I chased'
Anatolian	Hittite *kwen-* 'to kill', Lydian qn 'to kill'
Armenian	Armenian *gan* 'beating'*, jnem* 'I beat'
Balkan	Old Macedonian *danos* 'death', *dann* 'murderer'; Albanian *gjanj* 'I chase', *gjah* 'hunt'
Germanic	Common Germanic gandaz 'a stick', gundiz 'struggle' > Old Icelandic *gandr* 'a stick', *gunnr* 'struggle', Old English g 'struggle', Old Saxon *gdea, Old High German gund* 'military'
Baltic	Lithuanian *genu* 'I chase', *ginti* 'to chase', Latvian *dzenu* 'I defend', *dzit* 'to defend', Old Prussian *guntwei* 'to chase', *gunnimai* 'we chase'
Slavic	Common Slavic gnati 'to chase', z'eno. 'I chase' > Russian *gonju* 'I chase', Ukrainian *gnati* 'to chase', *zhenu* 'I chase', Serbo-Croatian *gnati* 'to chase', Czech *hnati, Polish gnac', Upper Sorbian hnac'*

*Notes:*	This root seems to be very ancient, inherited from the times when Indo-Europeans were still hunters: the original meaning of it was obviously 'to chase wild animals, to hunt'. Some languages made derivatives from it to denote weapons for hunting.