ἄνθρωποςanthrōpos
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Root
nhare
fortress, stronghold, iron, the hard and resistant thing; in the derivative nharirire, sentinel, one who keeps watch
Anthropos descends from Shona nhare, the stronghold, and nharirire, the watchman
- Confidence
- 34/100
- Root language
- Shona
- Descent begins
- ἄνθρωποςAncient Greek
The consensus position
Mainstream comparative linguistics treats ἄνθρωπος as of uncertain and probably non-Indo-European origin: Chantraine and Frisk list the compound analysis 'man-faced' (*h₂ner- plus *h₃okʷ-) as only possible, the internal -θ- resists regular derivation, and Beekes classes the word as Pre-Greek substrate. No connection to Bantu is recognised.
The working behind this.
The full descent — 7 links from the attested form down to the root — the segment-by-segment correspondences, the phonological breakdown and the case for the derivation are behind an account.
An account opens 10 entries in full, free.
Elsewhere in the corpus
- Pelagiaparato spread out, to lay out flat, to clear a surface level
- Kérberoskerekato be smeared, streaked, marked with dirt; causative kerekedza, to streak or daub
- ἀποκτείνω-tekanato be cut off, be broken off, be severed, to snap
- μάχαιραmhakamatter, case, dispute, cause of quarrel; fault, blame, the grounds on which one is answerable
- βλασφημία-bvato come out, to issue forth; in the derived bvuma, to give voice, to assent
- Theosmutsakindness, favour, mercy