English

Root

vereva

to speak, to talk, to converse; standard Shona -reva, to say, to mean, to signify

Word descends from Shona vereva, to speak, to say, to mean

Confidence
72/100
Root language
Shona
Descent begins
wordEnglish

The consensus position

Mainstream comparative linguistics derives English word from Old English word, from Proto-Germanic *wurda-, from Proto-Indo-European *wr̥dhh1om, a derivative of the root *werh1- "to speak, say", with cognates Latin verbum and Lithuanian vardas. No connection to Bantu 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