h₂erg-
“to shine, white, silver”shine, white, silver
Root for white/shining, yielding Latin argentum (silver), Greek argyros, Sanskrit rajata-.
Discussion
The PIE root *h₂ner- (vital force, man, vigour) produced the Indo-European word for man in the sense of "adult male, person of strength" — distinct from *wih₁rós (man as social person, warrior) and *dʰǵʰm̥-on- (human being as earthling). The root's semantic core is not gender but vitality: an *h₂ner- is a being possessed of life-force.
Greek anḗr (ἀνήρ, genitive andrós, "man, husband, warrior") is the most productive Hellenic reflex. The oblique stem andr- generated the most recognisable derivatives: Andrew (the personal name, from andreîos, "manly, brave"), Alexander (aléxandros, "defender of men"), android (andr-oeides, "man-shaped"), androgen (producing male characteristics), androgynous (having both male and female natures), misandry (hatred of men — parallel to misogyny), and polyandry (having many husbands). The medical term androgens (male sex hormones) and the botanical term androecium (the male parts of a flower) extend the root into biology.
Sanskrit nár- (man, hero) and the related nṛ- continue the root in Indo-Iranian. The Vedic hymns use nar- in compound epithets for heroes and gods (Narasimha, "man-lion," an avatar of Vishnu). The Avestan nā (man) provides the expected Iranian cognate.
Oscan ner (man) and Umbrian nefo- (possibly related) provide Italic attestation outside Latin, confirming the root's presence in the broader Italic branch. Latin itself appears to have replaced *h₂ner- with vir (man, from *wih₁rós) in ordinary usage, though the root may survive in Nero (the personal name, from Sabine nero, "strong, brave").
The Albanian reflex njeri (person, human) shows the expected Albanian treatment of the initial laryngeal and provides valuable evidence for the reconstruction.
The root's absence from everyday Germanic vocabulary — German Mann and English man come from a different root entirely — is notable. The PIE *h₂ner- vocabulary was lost in the Germanic branch (replaced by *mann-) but preserved in Greek and Indo-Iranian, a pattern of differential survival common in kinship and social terminology. English recovers the root only through Greek borrowings (android, androgyny, Alexander), making these words etymological imports from a PIE root that English's Germanic ancestors had already abandoned.
Notes
Pokorny 64. English argent, Argentina (land of silver).