Wurdahuzdą: Proto-Germanic dictionary — *kweþuzScott K. ShayWardja Presshttps://protogermanic.org/pgmc_kweþuz
Single-entry extract from the dictionary. Cross-references to other entries point to their identifiers in the full dictionary.
*bitusworld*živòtъlife; belly
nounmasculineu-stembelly, stomachwombOf disputed origin.Orel, reconstructing the Germanic as *kwiþuz, prefers to derive the term from Proto-Indo-European *gʷih₃-tu-s (and thus formally identical to Proto-Celtic *bitus (‘world’)), from *gʷeyh₃- (‘to live’), with a similar semantic shift "life" > "belly" as seen in Proto-Slavic *živòtъ (‘life; belly’).Kroonen is skeptical of the putative semantic shift required, and leaves the origin open.Older theories deriving the word from a Proto-Indo-European *gʷet-, *gūt- (‘swelling, rounding; stomach, gut’), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷu-, *gū- (‘to bend, curve, bow, camber, vault, distend’), appear formally unconvincing.