Father
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Root
potera
seek refuge, take shelter
Father traces to Shona potera on the PIE p t r frame
- Confidence
- 58/100
- Root language
- Shona
- Descent begins
- fatherEnglish
The consensus position
English father continues Proto-Germanic *fadēr from Proto-Indo-European *ph2tḗr; no accepted connection to Bantu or Shona roots.
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.
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