| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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Appendix I
Indo-European Roots |
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| ENTRY: | pet - |
| DEFINITION: | To spread. Oldest form *pet2-.
Derivatives include fathom, patent, and compass.
1. Suffixed o-grade form *pot()-mo-. fathom, from Old English fæthm, fathom, from Germanic *fathmaz, “length of two arms stretched out.” 2. Suffixed (stative) variant zero-grade form *pat- -. patent, patulous, from Latin patre, to be open. 3. Probably variant zero-grade form in remade nasalized form *pat-no-. pace1, pandy, pas, paseo, pass, passé, passim; compass, expand, pasqueflower, passacaglia, passage1, passage2, passport, repand, spawn, from Latin pandere (past participle passus < *pat-to-), to spread out. 4. Suffixed form *pet-alo-. petal, from Greek petalon, leaf. 5. Suffixed form *pet-ano-. paella, pan1, paten, patina1, patina2, from Greek patan (? < *petan -), platter, “thing spread out.” 6. petasos, from Greek petasos, broad-brimmed hat, from Greek suffixed form *peta-so-. (Pokorny 1. pet- 824.) |
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| 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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