dem-
“house, household”House, dwelling, domestic unit
Reconstructed as "house, household," with reflexes in Latin domus, Greek dómos, Sanskrit dáma, and Old Church Slavonic domŭ. The compound *dem-poti- ("house-master") is preserved in Greek despótēs and Sanskrit dámpati.
Discussion
The root *dem- is reconstructed with the meaning "house, household" and is treated in Pokorny (IEW 198–199), Mallory and Adams (1997), and Benveniste (1969). The root generates both concrete vocabulary relating to domestic architecture and abstract terms for social authority derived from headship of the household. The semantic extension from "house" to "lord" to "dominion" constitutes one of the more instructive developments in IE cultural vocabulary and has been discussed by Benveniste in his treatment of PIE social terminology.
Latin domus ("house, home") preserves the root meaning directly and is the source of a large derivative family: domesticus ("of the household"), dominus ("master of the house," from *dom-no-), dominium ("lordship"), and through Romance transmission, English domestic, domain, domicile, and dominant. The social elevation of dominus from "householder" to "lord" and eventually to a title of address (> French dame, don) reflects a pattern whereby household authority serves as the model for political authority. Greek dómos (δόμος, "house") and the related verb démō (δέμω, "I build") confirm the root in that branch, though Greek oîkos largely supplanted dómos in ordinary usage.
The PIE compound *dem-pot(i)- ("master of the house," literally "house-master") is one of the most important reconstructable social terms. Its independent survival in Sanskrit dám-pati-, Greek des-pótēs (δεσπότης), and Latin dominus (if from *dom-no-, a related formation) establishes the compound for the proto-language. Benveniste (1969) analyses this compound at length, arguing that *poti- ("master, self") combined with *dem- to denote a specific social role: the male head of a patriarchal household with authority over persons and property.
In Germanic, the expected reflex appears not in a word for "house" but in Old English timber ("building material," Modern English timber), from Proto-Germanic *timrą, derived from *dem- via *dm̥-ro-. The semantic shift from "house" to "building material" is a specifically Germanic innovation. German Zimmer ("room") preserves a different extension, from "building" to "built space." Old Church Slavonic domŭ ("house") continues the root without semantic shift in Slavic.
The cultural implications of *dem- have received sustained attention. The reconstructability of both *dem- ("house") and the compound *dem-poti- ("house-master") for PIE suggests a social organisation centred on the patriarchal household. Mallory and Adams (1997) situate this within the broader evidence for PIE kinship structures, noting that the household (*dem-) and the lineage (*ǵenh₁-) represent distinct but intersecting social units in the reconstructed vocabulary.
Laryngeal Analysis
No laryngeal.
Ablaut
Full grade *dem-, zero grade *dm̥-.