*su̯er-

Despite a strong resemblance to the root šuw- ‘to fill’, Luwian and Palaic šuwāru- do not belong to this root, but rather to a root of the shape šwār-, in which the plene spelling goes back to an o-grade of the root of an adjectival u-stem. A derivative *sou̯h_1/3-u̯r̥- + -u- from the root šuw- ‘to fill’ as suggested by Weitenberg 1984a:194 is not convincing, since it would not only have yielded a short -a-, but also constitute an unparalleled morphological chain. Furthermore, we adduce here new evidence from the Anatolian languages of the first Millennium BCE. in favor of a root šwār-, e.g. Lyc. A hberus- ‘?’, borrowed sberide ‘?’, Lyc. B sbirte- (a kind of priest) and Lyd. sfarwa- of debated meaning. Thus, the root involved can be reconstructed with confidence as *su̯er-. Based on Cuneiform šuwāru, Puhvel 1980b:57 already suggested a convincing Indo-European etymology, which speaks for the existence of an Indo-European root *su̯er- (see Part 2 below) (contra EDHIL:796).

An adjectival u-stem is reconstructed for Proto-Anatolian under the lemma PAnat. *su̯óru-. Since neither a root verb nor a root noun is attested, we cannot reconstruct any formation for the present lemma, although the Lyc. evidence (Lyc. B sbirte- and borrowed Lyc. A sberide) speaks for the Proto-Anatolian existence of another kind of formation apart from the u-stem.

For an overview of the literature on the etymological perspectives, see HEG S:1233f.

 [D.S.] [E.R.]

The Germanic and Baltic formations mentioned above sub Transmission clearly point to a PIE root *su̯er- ‘to weigh, be heavy’ vel sim. (cf. ALEW II:998: “Wurzel *su̯er(H)- ‘wiegen’”). Such a root would also fit the semantics of the Proto-Anatolian u-stem adjective *su̯ór-u- (> Hitt. šuu̯āru-, Pal. šuu̯āru-, CLuw. šuwāru-, Lyd. sfarw-a-, and Lyc. hberu-se), which could well have meant ‘heavy’ vel sim.

The reconstruction of a PIE root *su̯er- ‘to weigh, be heavy’ is backed by the Germanic and Baltic material listed above and would also fit the Anatolian forms mentioned above sub Semantic Reconstruction. If the Anatolian data is related to PIE *su̯er- ‘to weigh, be heavy’ as well, then both Anatolian and Baltic point to a perhaps already PIE u-stem adjective *su̯ór-u- ‘heavy’ (cf., e.g., Puhvel 1982a:181, 183, HED A:177 s.v. aru-, HEG S:1233f.). In Germanic, an adjective PGerm. *su̯ēra- ‘heavy’ can be reconstructed. It can be projected back to a thematic stem pre-PGerm. *su̯ēr-o-. For the derivational morphology of this stem, cf. the discussion in EDPG:499.

[T.S.] 

Goth. swers ‘dignified’, ON svárr ‘heavy, grave’, OS swār ‘heavy, glorious’, OHG swār(i) ‘heavy’, etc.< PGerm. *su̯ēra- ‘heavy’; cf., e.g., EDPG:499. 

Lith. sver͂ti (1sg. sveriù) ‘to weigh, balance’, Lith. svarùs adj. ‘heavy’, etc.Cf., e.g., ALEW II:998f. s.v. sver͂ti.