Look at the following list of reconstructed Indo-European words and
their supposed meanings. Given the typical sound changes of Grimm's Law,
what English words are probably descended from these Indo-European forms
(words that show the changes of Grimm's Law)? What English words are probably
borrowings from non-Germanic Indo-European languages (words that don't
show the changes of Grimm's Law)? (NOTE: Some words don't have any of the
sounds affected by Grimm's Law; for such words, just think about what English
words could be descended from them.)
| *gwou | "bull" | *agro | "field" |
| *kwon | "dog" | *medhu | "honey" |
| *pel | "skin" | *yeug | "to join together" |
| *reg | "to rule" | *med | "to measure" |
| *webh | "to weave" | *ar¶ | "to plow" |
| *bhreu | "to boil" | *su | "pig" |
| *bhugo | "male goat" | *gen¶ | "to give birth" |
| *bher | "to carry" | *se: | "to plant seeds" |
What does this list of words reveal about the possible lifestyle of the people who spoke the original Indo-European language?
Examine the vocabulary of the following language, which has probably
not been spoken in 1500 years. Would you say that this language was Indo-European?
Would you say that it was Germanic? Why or why not?
| áithei | "mother" | kuni | "lineage" |
| ibna | "equal" | dissitan | "to seize upon" |
| akrs | "field" | gaumjan | "to observe" |
| matjan | "to eat" | brothar | "brother" |
| fotus | "foot" | naus | "corpse" |
| fisks | "fish" | thiuda | "people" |
| menoths | "month" | twa | "two" |
| threis | "three" | fadrein | "parents" |
| atta | "father" | bairan | "to bear" |
| waurts | "root" | hairto | "heart" |
| saian | "to sow" | fraisan | "to tempt" |