gʷerh₃-
“to swallow, to devour”Debatedbodysustenance
Swallow, eat greedily, consume
Reflected in Latin vorāre ("to devour"), English gorge, and Greek bibrōskō. The root also underlies English devour, voracious, and carnivore.
Phonological Notes
AblautFull grade *gʷerh₃-, zero grade *gʷr̥h₃-.
LaryngealsContains h₃ (o-colouring).
Discussion
The root *gʷerh₃- ("to swallow, to devour") generates vocabulary of consumption, with extensions to the physical anatomy of swallowing (the throat) and metaphorical devouring (greed).
Latin vorāre ("to devour, to swallow greedily") yields voracious, devour (dēvorāre), carnivore ("flesh-devourer"), herbivore ("plant-devourer"), omnivore ("all-devourer"), and insectivore.
Greek bibrṓskō (βιβρώσκω, "I eat, I devour") shows a reduplicated present formation. The derivative brōsis ("food, eating") and the compound ambrosia (ambrosía, "not mortal," the food of immortality — connected by popular etymology to "not devoured by death") are culturally significant.
English gorge (from Old French gorge, from Latin gurges, "whirlpool, throat") and throat (from a different root, but semantically parallel) show how the vocabulary of devouring extends to the anatomy of the passage. The word gurgle may also be connected through the Latin gurges.
Sanskrit giráti ("swallows") and the related gala ("throat") show the Indo-Iranian reflex with regular development.
Old Church Slavonic žĭrati ("to devour") and Lithuanian gérti ("to drink") continue the Balto-Slavic reflexes, with Lithuanian showing a semantic narrowing from general consumption to drinking specifically.