✣ Word Garden

Proto-Indo-European · 12 October 2026

A word a day week

*ph₂tḗr

approximately ‘p-h₂-tēr’ · reconstructed kin term

  • father

Father, pater, patḗr, and pitṛ are close relatives whose sound changes became textbook examples.

Then → now

The family reunion

*ph₂tḗr → Proto-Germanic *fadēr → Old English fæder → English father; *ph₂tḗr → Latin pater → Latin paternus → English paternal; *ph₂tḗr → Ancient Greek patḗr → Greek patriárkhēs → English patriarch; *ph₂tḗr → Sanskrit pitṛ
Selected routes, not an exhaustive family tree. Intermediate forms are simplified for a readable first look.
  • GermanicEnglish fatherfather
  • ItalicEnglish paternalof a father
  • GreekEnglish patriarchruling father
  • Indo-AryanSanskrit pitṛfather

Tiny sentence

*ph₂tḗr stéh₂ti.

father.NOM stand.PRS.3SG

“The father stands.”

A schematic teaching reconstruction. The English translation is intentionally as small as the original.

Receipts

Sources and cautions

The Germanic form reflects regular sound changes rather than random drift; the diagram does not attempt to teach the full sequence.