ger-2. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

Appendix I

Indo-European Roots

ENTRY:	ger-²
DEFINITION:	To cry hoarsely; also the name of the crane. Oldest form ger₂-. Derivatives include crack, cranberry,* and pedigree. I. Words meaning “to cry hoarsely”; also words denoting the crow. 1a. crow¹, from Old English crwe, a crow; b. crow², from Old English crwan, to crow; c. crack, from Old English cracian, to resound; d. cracknel, from Middle Dutch krken, to crack; e. crake, from Old Norse krka, a crow; f. croon, from Middle Dutch krnen, to groan, lament. a–f all from Germanic kr-. 2. Possibly from this root (but more likely imitative) is Germanic kur(r)-. cur, from Middle English curre, cur, akin to Old Norse kurra, to growl. II. Words denoting a crane. 1a. crane, from Old English cran, crane; b. cranberry, from Middle Low German kran, crane. Both a and b from Germanic kran-, crane. 2. Extended form gr-. Grus; pedigree, from Latin grs, crane. 3. Suffixed variant form gr-k-. grackle, from Latin grculus,* jackdaw. 4. Suffixed extended form ger-no-. geranium, from Greek geranos,* crane. (Pokorny 2. ger- 383.)


The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.