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On this general topic, I recently learned that the words undulate and water have the same origin in Proto-Indo-European: wódr̥ (PIE) → udōr (Proto-Italic) → un

On this general topic, I recently learned that the words undulate and water have the same origin in Proto-Indo-European: wódr̥ (PIE) → udōr (Proto-Italic) → unda (Latin) → undulātus (Late Latin) → undulate (English) wódr̥ (PIE) → watōr (Proto-Germanic) → *watar (Proto-West Germanic) → wæter (Old English) → water (Middle English) → water (English) In fact, I'm now noticing that the t in the Proto-Germanic line corresponds to the d in the Proto-Italic line, just as you said.

stavros 4y ago
Interesting about udor, as water in ancient Greek is ύδωρ.
ilaksh 4y ago
It's so interesting because now that I am looking for it, so many of these sounds that I did not realize were related now seem like just minor variations of tongue/mouth parts positioning.
euroderf 4y ago
In IE languages, the words for water basically follow either "aqua" or "water". Finnish (it's Ugric, not IE) follows the latter, with "vesi" (combining form "vete-").
- Contexti 4y ago
  To be pedantic, Finnish is not Ugric. Hungarian is Ugric, Finnish is Finnic. They both are Finno-Ugric, a.k.a Uralic. Many non-linguist Finns mix up Finno-Ugric and Ugric. The Proto-Uralic *weti "water" looks like it could come from IE *u̯ódr̥, *udén- "water", but that etymology is problematic because of irregular sound substitutions[0]: - why would Uralic have *e when it's not present in the IE original? - why would Uralic drop *r or *n at the end? [0] Simon, Z. (2020). Urindogermanische Lehnwörter in den uralischen und finno-ugrischen Grundsprachen. Indogermanische Forschungen, 125(1), 239–266. https://doi.org/10.1515/if-2020-011 https://doi.org/10.1515/if-2020-011
  - euroderf 4y ago
    A-ha, good to know. And sori on the "Ugric". As for irregular sound substitutions, well, water IS a very common concept & word, so I would think that anything goes.

stavros 4y ago

Interesting about udor, as water in ancient Greek is ύδωρ.

ilaksh 4y ago

It's so interesting because now that I am looking for it, so many of these sounds that I did not realize were related now seem like just minor variations of tongue/mouth parts positioning.

euroderf 4y ago

In IE languages, the words for water basically follow either "aqua" or "water". Finnish (it's Ugric, not IE) follows the latter, with "vesi" (combining form "vete-").

Contexti 4y ago
To be pedantic, Finnish is not Ugric. Hungarian is Ugric, Finnish is Finnic. They both are Finno-Ugric, a.k.a Uralic. Many non-linguist Finns mix up Finno-Ugric and Ugric. The Proto-Uralic *weti "water" looks like it could come from IE *u̯ódr̥, *udén- "water", but that etymology is problematic because of irregular sound substitutions[0]: - why would Uralic have *e when it's not present in the IE original? - why would Uralic drop *r or *n at the end? [0] Simon, Z. (2020). Urindogermanische Lehnwörter in den uralischen und finno-ugrischen Grundsprachen. Indogermanische Forschungen, 125(1), 239–266. https://doi.org/10.1515/if-2020-011 https://doi.org/10.1515/if-2020-011
- euroderf 4y ago
  A-ha, good to know. And sori on the "Ugric". As for irregular sound substitutions, well, water IS a very common concept & word, so I would think that anything goes.