gʷʰen-

The root *gʷʰen- reconstructs a primary meaning of violent striking, with extensions to killing in most branches. The phonological development of the initial labialised voiced aspirate *gʷʰ- is a reliable diagnostic for branch classification. Greek theínō (θείνω, "I strike") shows the expected development *gʷʰ- > the- in Attic Greek. The noun phónos (φόνος, "murder, slaughter") derives from the o-grade *gʷʰón-os, with the semantic narrowing from striking to killing. The -phone suffix in telephone, microphone, and saxophone also derives (indirectly through phōnḗ, "voice, sound") from this root — the voice being that which "strikes" the ear. Sanskrit hánti ("strikes, kills") shows *gʷʰ- > h- (the regular Indo-Iranian treatment of labialised voiced aspirates). The past participle hatá- ("struck, killed") and the derivative ghāta ("killing") are productive in Sanskrit literature. The compound Mahā-ghāta ("great slaughter") appears in epic contexts. Hittite kuenzi ("kills") preserves the labialised velar without aspiration, as expected in Anatolian. This form provides crucial evidence for the PIE reconstruction, since Hittite is the earliest attested IE language. In Germanic, Old English bana ("killer, murderer," Modern English bane) continues the root with the regular Grimm's Law development. The word gun has been speculatively connected through the Old Norse feminine name Gunnhildr (containing gunn- "battle"), though this etymology remains contested. The Armenian janem ("I strike") and Old Church Slavonic žen̆ǫ ("I drive, I hunt") extend the attestation to those branches. The Slavic semantic shift from "striking" to "driving, hunting" reflects a plausible development: driving game by striking at it.