Christ
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Root
-gera (kugera)
to shave, to cut hair close, to scrape a blade across a surface
Christ from PIE *gʰrey-, to rub, matched to Shona -gera, shave
- Confidence
- 34/100
- Root language
- Shona
- Descent begins
- ChristEnglish
The consensus position
Christ comes through Old English and Latin from Greek Khristós 'anointed', the verbal adjective of khríō 'to rub, anoint', which was used to translate Hebrew māšîaḥ. The further link of khríō to PIE *gʰrey- is tentative.
The working behind this.
The full descent — 9 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.
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