ter-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:	ter-²
DEFINITION:	To cross over, pass through, overcome. Oldest form ter₂-, with variant tre₂-, colored to tra₂-, contracted to tr-. Derivatives include thrill, nostril, and trench. I. Zero-grade form t()-. 1. thrill; nostril, from Old English thyr(e)l,* threl, a hole (< “a boring through”), from Germanic suffixed form thur-ila-. 2. Suffixed form t-k^we. thorough, through, from Old English thurh, thuruh, through, from Germanic thurh. 3. Greek nektar* (see nek-¹). 4. Zero-grade form t- and full-grade form ter()-. avatar, from Sanskrit tirati, tarati, he crosses over. II. Variant form tr- (< tra-). 1. trans-, transient, transom, from Latin trns, across, over, beyond, through (perhaps originally the present participle of a verb trre, to cross over). 2. Suffixed form tr-yo-. seraglio, serai; caravansary, lamasery, from Iranian thrya-, to protect. III.* Possible extended form tru-. 1. Suffixed form tru-k-. truculent, from Latin trux (stem truc-), savage, fierce, grim (< “overcoming,” “powerful,” “penetrating”). 2. Suffixed nasalized zero-grade form tru-n-k-o-. trench, truncate, trunk, from Latin truncus,* deprived of branches or limbs, mutilated, hence trunk (? < “overcome, maimed”). (Pokorny 5. ter- 1075.)


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.