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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
Appendix I Indo-European Roots |
| ENTRY: | ker-1 |
| DEFINITION: | Horn, head; with derivatives referring to horned animals, horn-shaped objects, and projecting parts. Oldest form * er-, becoming *ker- in centum languages. Derivatives include horn, unicorn, hornet, reindeer, migraine, cheer, rhinoceros, and cerebrum. I. Zero-grade form *k  -. 1. Suffixed form *k-no-. a. (i) horn, hornbeam, from Old English horn, horn; (ii) alpenhorn, althorn, flügelhorn, hornblende, from Old High German horn, horn. Both (i) and (ii) from Germanic *hurnaz. II. Extended o-grade form *koru-. 1. corymb, from Greek korumbos, uppermost point (< “head”). 2. coryphaeus, from Greek koruph  , head. 3. Suffixed form *koru-do-. corydalis, from Greek korudos, crested lark. 4. Suffixed form *koru-n -. corynebacterium, from Greek korun, club, mace.III. Extended e-grade form *keru-. 1. Suffixed form *kerw-o-, “having horns.” a. cervine, serval, from Latin cervus, deer; b. cervix, from Latin cerv  x, neck. 2. Suffixed form *keru-do-. a. hart, from Old English heorot, hart, stag; b. hartebeest, from Middle Dutch hert, deer, hart. Both a and b from Germanic *herutaz.IV. Italic and Celtic blend of (I) *k -no- and (II) *koru- yielding *kor-nu-. corn2, cornea, corneous, corner, cornet, corniculate, cornu; bicornuate, Capricorn, cornification, lamellicorn, longicorn, tricorn, unicorn, from Latin corn , horn.V. Extended zero-grade form *k  -. 1. charivari; cheer, from Greek kar, kar, head. 2. carotid, from Greek karoun, to stupefy, be stupefied (< “to feel heavy-headed”). 3. carrot, carotene, from Greek kar ton, carrot (from its hornlike shape).VI. Suffixed further extended form *k s-no-. 1. cranium; migraine, olecranon, from Greek krnion, skull, upper part of the head. 2. hornet, from Old English hyrnet, hornet, from Germanic *hurznuta-. VII. E-grade further extended form *ker s-. 1. carat, cerastes, kerato-; ceratodus, ceratopsian, chelicera, cladoceran, keratin, Monoceros, rhinoceros, triceratops, from Greek keras, horn. 2. sirdar, tarboosh, from Persian sar, head. 3. Suffixed form *kers-ro. cerebellum, cerebrum, saveloy, from Latin cerebrum, brain.VIII. Extended form *krei-. 1. reindeer, from Old Norse hreinn, reindeer, from Germanic *hraina-. 2. rinderpest, from Old High German hrind, ox, from Germanic *hrinda-. 3. Possibly extended form *kr -. criosphinx, from Greek kros, ram. (Pokorny 1. er- 574.) |
| 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. | |
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