*arwīts
Runic: ᚨᚱᚹᛁᛏᛊ Pronunciation: /ˈɑr.wiːts/noun · feminine · consonant stem
Meanings
pea; a pea plant or its edible seed
Etymology
Probably a loan from a pre-Indo-European agricultural substrate. The worid is a feminine root noun whose irregular correspondences with Latin ervum, Ancient Greek ὄροβος (órobos), and especially Ancient Greek ἐρέβινθος (erébinthos) favor parallel adaptation of a non-Indo-European crop name rather than inheritance from Proto-Indo-European. Proto-Germanic *-īt- has been compared with pre-Greek -ινθ- and analyzed as a reflex of a substrate suffix *-ṼD- ~ *-VⁿD-; the divergent vocalism and w ~ b correspondence provide further support for borrowing (Kroonen 2012b: 242–44; Kroonen 2013: 37; Šorgo 2020: 434, 457–61). More recent work strengthens the comparison with Middle Armenian առուոյտ (aṙowoyt) and Proto-Iranian *H(a)rab⁽ʰ⁾anTa-, (reconstructed from Shughni rivand, Roshani ravand, and Yazghulami raván (Palmér 2025: 227, 261), suggesting related prehistoric agricultural substrate languages across Europe rather than a reconstructible PIE word (Kroonen 2024: 324–27; Thorsø 2024: 346–49).
Declension
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nom. | arwīts | arwītiz |
| Acc. | arwītų | arwītunz |
| Gen. | arwītiz | arwītǫ̂ |
| Dat. | arwīti | arwītumaz |
| Inst. | arwītē | arwītumiz |
| Voc. | arwīt | arwītiz |
Descendants
-
*arwīt, arwait (Proto-West Germanic)
-
*erwit, *erewit (Old Dutch)
-
erwete (Middle Dutch)
-
erwt (Dutch)
- ertjie (Afrikaans)
-
erwt (Dutch)
-
erwete (Middle Dutch)
-
*erwit, *erewit (Old Dutch)
-
*arwīt, arwait (Proto-West Germanic)
-
*erit (Old Frisian)
- Aate (Saterland Frisian)
- eart (West Frisian)
-
*erit (Old Frisian)
-
*arwīt, arwait (Proto-West Germanic)
-
arawīz, araweiz, arawez, areweiz, arewez, arewiz, arewurz, ariwez, arwiz, arwuz, erewiz, erit, erivit, eriwiz, erwez, erwiz, harviz, hereviz (Old High German)
-
erweiz, erbeiz, arwīs, arwīz, areweiz (Middle High German)
- Erbse (German)
- Arbaiß (Bavarian)
- אַרבעס (arbes) (Yiddish)
-
erweiz, erbeiz, arwīs, arwīz, areweiz (Middle High German)
-
arawīz, araweiz, arawez, areweiz, arewez, arewiz, arewurz, ariwez, arwiz, arwuz, erewiz, erit, erivit, eriwiz, erwez, erwiz, harviz, hereviz (Old High German)
-
*arwīt, arwait (Proto-West Germanic)
-
erit, eriwit (Old Saxon)
-
erwete, erwitte, arwete, erwte, erfte, arfte, arvete, ērte (Middle Low German)
- Arvte, Arvt (Low German)
-
erwete, erwitte, arwete, erwte, erfte, arfte, arvete, ērte (Middle Low German)
-
erit, eriwit (Old Saxon)
-
ertr (Old Norse)
- ært (Danish)
- ertur (Faroese)
- erta (Icelandic)
- ert (Norwegian Bokmål)
- ert (Norwegian Nynorsk)
-
ertr (Old Norse)
-
ært (Old Swedish)
- ärt, ärta (Swedish)
-
ært (Old Swedish)