θηρίονthērion

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Ancient Greek

Root

gwara

path, trail, spoor; the track a wild animal beats through the bush; by extension custom, way, manner

Greek theriion descends from Shona gwara, the spoor of the wild beast

Confidence
57/100
Root language
Shona
Descent begins
θηρίονAncient Greek

The consensus position

Mainstream comparative linguistics derives θηρίον from Ancient Greek θήρ "wild beast" plus the diminutive suffix -ιον, and θήρ from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰwēr- "wild animal", cognate with Latin ferus, Lithuanian žvėris and Russian зверь. No relationship to Shona or any Bantu language is recognised.

The working behind this.

The full descent — 7 links from the attested form down to the root — the segment-by-segment correspondences, the phonological breakdown and the case for the derivation are behind an account.

An account opens 10 entries in full, free.

Elsewhere in the corpus