I have just made the most shallow research, but in Swedish (and other Scanian languages) cattle are called "boskap". The etymology is shared with "bo", meaning

I have just made the most shallow research, but in Swedish (and other Scanian languages) cattle are called "boskap". The etymology is shared with "bo", meaning dwelling (animal or human house). The original meaning of "boskap" is that which belongs to the house. I'm wonder if it might be shared with the other languages, that cows and sheep share the name of the dwelling because they are part of it? Looking further at the etymology of (Swedish) "bo", it seems it comes from the Proto-Indo European "bhuh", to become, to grow into being, sharing the same etymology as English' "be". In Swedish, "bo" is also a verb meaning "to live (some place)", e.g. "I live here": "jag bor här". Edit: Actually, "be" has a mixed history it seems. Indeed it is mixed with "to reside". See here for more etymology: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/be#Etymology https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/be#Etymology Edit II: After a bit more of Wiktionary, "bo" has the exact same meaning as in Swedish in Cuiba, a language with less than 3000 speakers in Colombia and Venezuela. Wow! When it comes to the cows though, my original research might have been misguided. Looking at the etymology for Latin "bos", it comes from a different Indo European root: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bos#Latin https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bos#Latin