πνεῦμαpneuma
Sign in to saveAncient Greek
Root
-penyu (hupenyu)
life, the state of being alive; mupenyu, a living person
Pneuma traces through PIE *pnew to Shona hupenyu, breathing life.
- Confidence
- 42/100
- Root language
- Shona
- Descent begins
- πνεῦμα (pneûma)Ancient Greek
The consensus position
Mainstream comparative linguistics derives pneûma from Greek pnéō, from a Proto-Indo-European root *pnew- 'to breathe, snort', probably onomatopoeic, with cognates in Germanic such as Old English fnēosan. No connection to Bantu is recognised.
The working behind this.
The full descent — 6 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
- Pelagiaparato spread out, to lay out flat, to clear a surface level
- Kérberoskerekato be smeared, streaked, marked with dirt; causative kerekedza, to streak or daub
- ἀποκτείνω-tekanato be cut off, be broken off, be severed, to snap
- μάχαιραmhakamatter, case, dispute, cause of quarrel; fault, blame, the grounds on which one is answerable
- βλασφημία-bvato come out, to issue forth; in the derived bvuma, to give voice, to assent
- Theosmutsakindness, favour, mercy