ἀριθμόςarithmos

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Ancient Greek

Root

-ronga

to arrange, to set in order, to lay out in a row, to plan

Arithmos descends through PIE *h₂er- to Shona ronga, to arrange in order

Confidence
44/100
Root language
Shona
Descent begins
ἀριθμόςAncient Greek

The consensus position

Mainstream comparative linguistics derives ἀριθμός from a Greek stem ἀρι-/ἀρ- plus the deverbal suffix -θμος, connected to ἀραρίσκω "fit together" and ultimately to Proto-Indo-European *h₂er- "to fit, join", with cognates including Latin ritus and ars, Old English rīm and Old Irish rím. Beekes regards the connection as plausible but notes the -ι- is unmotivated and flags possible Pre-Greek reshaping; no relationship to Bantu is recognised.

The working behind this.

The full descent — 6 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