gʷem-

A PIE verb of motion meaning "to come, to go," with the labialised velar *gʷ- producing distinctive ‍​‍​‍​‌​‌​‍​‌​‌​‌​‌​‍​‌​‍​‌​‌​‌​‌​‍​‌​‍​‍​‍​‍​‌​‌​‍​‌​‌​‍​‌​‍​‍reflexes: Latin venīre, Greek baínō, Sanskrit gácchati, English come, and Lithuanian gim̃ti ("to be born").

Discussion

The root *gʷem- ("to come, to go, to step") is reconstructed as a primary verb of motion in PIE, listed in Pokorny (IEW 463–464) and Rix (LIV² s.v.‍​‍​‍​‌​‌​‍​‌​‌​‌​‌​‍​‌​‍​‌​‌​‌​‌​‍​‌​‍​‍​‍​‍​‌​‌​‍​‌​‌​‍​‌​‍​‍ *gʷem-). The labialised velar *gʷ- undergoes distinct treatments in each branch, making this root a useful diagnostic for the phonological classification of IE languages. The semantic ambiguity between "coming" and "going" — resolved differently in different daughter languages — reflects the well-known deictic neutrality of certain PIE motion verbs, discussed by Benveniste (Problèmes de linguistique générale, 1966) and Watkins.

Latin venīre ("to come"), from the zero-grade *gʷm̥-ye/o-, shows the regular Italic development of *gʷ > v before a front vowel, with a nasal-infix present stem. The derivative vocabulary is extensive: adventus ("arrival"), conveniō ("I come together"), ēventus ("outcome"), inveniō ("I come upon, I find"), and praeveniō ("I anticipate"). The productivity of venīre in Latin and Romance has made its descendants (adventure, avenue, convention, event, invent, prevent, revenue, venue) a major component of the English lexicon. Sihler (1995) treats the Latin phonological development in detail.

Greek baínō (βαίνω, "I go, I walk, I step"), from the present stem *gʷm̥-ye/o- with *gʷ > b (the regular Greek treatment before a non-rounded vowel), preserves the "going" sense. The noun básis (βάσις, "step, base, pedestal") and the agent noun -bátēs (as in akrobátēs, "one who walks on tiptoe") are productive derivatives. Beekes (s.v. βαίνω) accepts the reconstruction and notes the zero-grade vocalism of the present stem.

Sanskrit gámati and the more common thematic present gácchati ("goes, comes") continue the root with the expected Indo-Iranian treatment *gʷ > g (loss of labialisation). The past participle gatá- ("gone") and the abstract noun gáti- ("going, way") are productive. The derivative jágat ("the moving world") illustrates the participial formation *gʷm̥-ó- > Sanskrit gata- with reduplication. Avestan jamaiti confirms the Iranian reflex.

In Germanic, Proto-Germanic *kwemaną (from *gʷem-) yields Gothic qiman, Old English cuman (Modern English come), Old High German queman (Modern German kommen), and Old Norse koma. The semantic narrowing to "come" (ventive rather than itive) distinguishes Germanic from Greek, which retained the itive sense. Lithuanian gim̃ti ("to be born," from "to come into being") shows a further semantic extension in Baltic, where the motion verb was metaphorically applied to the act of entering existence. Old Church Slavonic žęti preserves the Slavic reflex.

Laryngeal Analysis

No laryngeal.

Ablaut

Full grade *gʷem-, zero grade *gʷm̥-, o-grade *gʷom-.