σοφίαsophia
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Root
Sova
to ooze, to seep, to well up, to flow out from a source
Sophia descends from Shona sova, to well up from a hidden source
- Confidence
- 31/100
- Root language
- Shona
- Descent begins
- σοφίαAncient Greek
The consensus position
Mainstream comparative linguistics treats σοφία as a regular abstract in -ία formed on σοφός "skilled, wise", whose own origin is unknown; Frisk and Chantraine mark it obscure and Beekes assigns σοφός to the Pre-Greek substrate, with the proposed link to Latin sapiō rejected because Proto-Indo-European *p would give Greek π, not φ.
The working behind this.
The full descent — 5 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