tongue
The muscular organ in the mouth used for tasting, licking, swallowing, and speech.
PIE *dn̥ǵʰwéh₂
Etymology
From Old English tunge, from Proto-Germanic *tungō. This traces back to PIE *dn̥ǵʰwéh₂, meaning "tongue." The root is one of the most stable words across Indo-European languages, preserved almost unchanged for millennia.
The Journey: *dn̥ǵʰwéh₂ → tongue
PIE~4500 BCE
*dn̥ǵʰwéh₂
Proto-Germanic~500 BCE
*tungō
Old English~500 CE
tunge
Modern English~1500 CE
tongue
Cognates Across Languages
These words in other languages descend from the same PIE root *dn̥ǵʰwéh₂. They are not borrowings but independent inheritances from a common ancestor.
| Language | Word |
|---|---|
| Greek | glōssa |
| Latin | lingua |
| Welsh | tafod |
| Sanskrit | jihvā |
| Old Irish | teng |
| Lithuanian | liežuvis |
Did You Know?
The word "language" itself comes from Latin lingua meaning "tongue," showing how closely speech and this organ are linked across cultures.