h₂ówis
“sheep, domesticated ovine”sheep, ovine
Root for sheep, yielding Latin ovis, Greek ois, English ewe, Sanskrit avi-.
Discussion
The PIE form *h₂ówis represents an alternative reconstruction of the sheep-word, with a different laryngeal analysis from *h₃éwis (the standard notation for the same cognate set). The debate over the initial laryngeal — *h₂ versus *h₃ — reflects ongoing uncertainty about the precise phonological history of this root, though both reconstructions yield the same set of daughter-language reflexes: Latin ovis, English ewe, Sanskrit ávi-, Lithuanian avis, and Old Irish oí.
The significance of the sheep-word in PIE cultural reconstruction is substantial regardless of the laryngeal analysis. Sheep were one of the three principal domesticated animals of the PIE economy (alongside cattle and horses), providing wool, meat, and milk. The existence of dedicated vocabulary for sheep at the PIE level — alongside words for wool (*h₂wĺ̥h₁neh₂-), spinning (*spenH-), and weaving (*teks-) — points to a fully developed textile economy.
The English reflex ewe (OE ēowu, from PGmc *awiz) shows the narrowing of the generic sheep-word to the female of the species — a development peculiar to English. In most other branches the inherited word covers sheep generically.
See the main entry *h₃éwis for the full comparative treatment of the cognate set across the Indo-European family.
Notes
Pokorny 784. English ewe from Germanic *awi-.