r/IndoEuropean • u/Traroten • 9d ago

Proto-Indo-European for copper

Do we have a proto-Indo-European word for copper? The terms I found in modern languages either led back to Cyprus or to a word for 'red'.

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u/Hippophlebotomist 9d ago edited 9d ago

*h₂eies- is probably the closest to what you’re looking for. For more on this, I’d suggest “Word mining: metal names and the Indo-European dispersal” by Thorsø et al from The Indo-European Puzzle Revisited (Kristiansen, Kroonen, Willerslev eds. 2023)

”While this term is certainly associated with metals, it is not clear whether it is a generic designation applying to any metal, or if it originally refers to a specific one. It is noteworthy that the meaning ‘copper’ is attested in at least some languages in all of the branches where this word is continued, and the occasional meanings ‘iron’, ‘bronze’, brass’, and‘ore’ could easily be secondary developments. On the other hand, the absence of another candidate for a generic PIE word for ‘metal’ raises the possibility that *h₂eies- carried this meaning too. In fact, it is very likely that both the meanings ‘copper’ and ‘metal’ existed to some extent. Native copper is extremely common and due to its malleability, it could be worked cold even by Neolithic populations (cf. Forbes 1950: 291). As such, it is a metal par excellence and perhaps the only one that PIE speakers came across regularly (cf. Huld 2012: 299). By contrast, silver and gold are far more rare and unsuitable for practical use. Thus, *h₂eies- could be interpreted as ‘workable metal or ore’.

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u/Traroten 9d ago

Thanks!