Rice
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Root
-virudza
to sprout, to send out shoots, of grain or seed germinating
Rice descends from Shona virudza, to sprout, to send forth grain
- Confidence
- 44/100
- Root language
- Shona
- Descent begins
- riceEnglish
The consensus position
Mainstream comparative linguistics derives English rice from Middle English rys, Old French ris, Italian riso, Latin oryza, Greek ὄρυζα, an eastern loanword ultimately from an Indo-Iranian form related to Sanskrit vrīhi- or possibly a Dravidian source such as Tamil arisi. No connection to Bantu or Shona is proposed in any standard handbook.
The working behind this.
The full descent — 10 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.