Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/gʷʰegʷʰóne

This Proto-Indo-European entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Proto-Indo-European

Etymology

    Reduplicated stative of *gʷʰen- (to strike, slay, kill).

    Verb

    *gʷʰegʷʰóne (stative)[1][2][3][4]

    1. to have slain

    Conjugation

    Stative
    3rd singular *gʷʰegʷʰóne
    3rd plural *gʷʰegʷʰnḗr
    Active voice Indicative Imperative Subjunctive Optative
    1st singular *gʷʰegʷʰónh₂e *gʷʰegʷʰénoh₂ *gʷʰegʷʰnyéh₁m̥
    2nd singular *gʷʰegʷʰónth₂e *gʷʰegʷʰón, *gʷʰegʷʰndʰí *gʷʰegʷʰénesi *gʷʰegʷʰnyéh₁s
    3rd singular *gʷʰegʷʰóne *gʷʰegʷʰóntu *gʷʰegʷʰéneti *gʷʰegʷʰnyéh₁t
    1st dual *gʷʰegʷʰnwé *gʷʰegʷʰénowos *gʷʰegʷʰnih₁wé
    2nd dual *? *gʷʰegʷʰntóm *gʷʰegʷʰénetes *gʷʰegʷʰnih₁tóm
    3rd dual *? *gʷʰegʷʰntā́m *gʷʰegʷʰénetes *gʷʰegʷʰnih₁tā́m
    1st plural *gʷʰegʷʰnmé *gʷʰegʷʰénomos *gʷʰegʷʰnih₁mé
    2nd plural *gʷʰegʷʰné *gʷʰegʷʰnté *gʷʰegʷʰénete *gʷʰegʷʰnih₁té
    3rd plural *gʷʰegʷʰnḗr *gʷʰegʷʰnéntu *gʷʰegʷʰénonti *gʷʰegʷʰnih₁ént
    Participle *gʷʰegʷʰnwṓs

    Reconstruction notes

    Lundquist and Yates provide the transitive meaning "has slain".[1] However, according to the linguist Martin Joachim Kümmel, it is unlikely that an old perfect could possess a transitive meaning, perhaps indicating that these terms are all post-PIE innovations. Kümmel suggests that it may constitute a "Core Indo-European" innovation, meaning that it perhaps emerged after the Anatolian languages split from the rest of the Indo-European family.[5] The linguist Jay Jasanoff counters the perspective of Kümmel, arguing that the original function of the perfect remains unclear in PIE.[6] Though, Jasanoff does also suggest that the root did possess an originally intransitive meaning "lie slain".[2][7] According to the linguist Ian Hollenbaugh, it is unlikely that the term originally possessed an original passive or intransitive meaning, as the daughter languages largely attest to active semantics.[8]

    Descendants

    • Proto-Celtic: *gʷegʷone[9]
      • Old Irish: geguin (pret.)
    • Proto-Hellenic:
    • Proto-Indo-Iranian: *ǰʰagʰā́na ~ *ǰʰagʰnŕ̥š
      • Proto-Indo-Aryan: *ȷ́agʰā́na ~ *ȷ́agʰnŕ̥ṣ
        • Sanskrit: जघान (jaghā́na) ~ जघ्नुर् (jaghnúr)
      • Proto-Iranian: *ǰagā́na ~ *ǰagnŕ̥š
        • Younger Avestan: 𐬘𐬀𐬖𐬥𐬎𐬎𐬁𐬵 (jaγnuuāh, part.)[10]

    References

    1. 1.0 1.1 Lundquist, Jesse; Yates, Anthony D. (2017–2018), “Chapter XX: Proto-Indo-European”, in Klein, Jared S., Joseph, Brian D., Fritz, Matthias, editors, Handbook of Comparative and Historical Indo-European Linguistics: An International Handbook (Handbücher zur Sprach- und Kommunikationswissenschaft [Handbooks of Linguistics and Communication Science]; 41.2), Berlin; Boston: De Gruyter Mouton, →ISBN, § The morphology of Proto-Indo-European, page 2167:*gʷʰe-gʷʰón-e 'has slain'
    2. 2.0 2.1 Jay H. Jasanoff (4 June 2025), “A Retrospective on the Hittite and the Indo-European Verb since HIEV”, in Jamison, Stephanie W, Vine, Brent, Goldstein, David M., editors, Proceedings of the 30th Annual UCLA Indo-European Conference: November 9th and 10th, 2018[1], Helmut Buske Verlag, →ISBN, page 105:*gʷʰegʷʰón-e 'lies stricken/slain'
    3. ^ Griffith, Aaron (2009), “The Old Irish deponent suffixless preterite*”, in Keltische Forschungen, volume 4, Institut fur Sprachwissenschaft, Universitat Wien, pages 169-187:·geguin “he slew” < *gu̯he-gu̯hon-e
    4. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), “θείνω”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 536-537:Skt. 3sg. ja-ghā́n-a < IE *gʷʰe-gʷʰon-; πέ-φα-ται and Skt. 3pl. ja-ghn-úḥ < *gʷʰe-gʷʰn-.
    5. ^ Kümmel, Martin Joachim (2 September 2020), “The development of the perfect within IE verbal systems: An overview”, in Perfects in Indo-European Languages and Beyond[2], John Benjamins Publishing Company, →DOI, →ISBN, pages 23-24:Vedic ja-ghā́n-a “has slain” = Old Irish geguin < CIE (?) *gʷʱe-gʷʱón-e (because of the strongly transitive meaning, PIE age is doubtful)
    6. ^ Jasanoff, Jay (2017), “The Two Faces of *gʷʰen-”, in 15th Fachtagung of the Indogermanische Gesellschaft[3], page 2:*gʷʰegʷʰ(ó)n-
    7. ^ Jasanoff, Jay (2018), “What happened to the perfect in Hittite? A contribution to the theory of the h2e-conjugation”, in Rieken, Elisabeth, editor, 100 Jahre Entzifferung des Hethitischen. Morphosyntaktische Kategorien in Sprachgeschichte und Forschung. Akten der Arbeitstagung der Indogermanischen Gesellschaft[4], Reichert Verlag, page 146:*gʷʰegʷʰ(ó)n-
    8. ^ Hollenbaugh, Ian (24 October 2025), “A state filter: Reconsidering the semantics of the perfect”, in Thirty-Sixth Annual UCLA Indo-European Conference[5], page 13:*gʷʰegʷʰóne
    9. ^ Schumacher, Stefan; Schulze-Thulin, Britta (2004), “Urkelt. *gan-e/o-”, in Die keltischen Primärverben: ein vergleichendes, etymologisches und morphologisches Lexikon [The Celtic Primary Verbs: A comparative, etymological and morphological lexicon] (Innsbrucker Beiträge zur Sprachwissenschaft; 110) (in German), Innsbruck: Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Meid, →ISBN, page 362:*g-e-g-on-
    10. ^ Cheung, Johnny (2007), “*ǰan”, in Etymological Dictionary of the Iranian Verb (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 2), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 224-225

    Further reading