After looking up the origin of "puppy" I learned that "pupa" and "puppet" are related to it. That led me to wonder what root word has spawned the most offspring?
That led me to wonder what root word has spawned the most offspring?
Well, you probably mean which Proto-Indo-European root has the most reflexes in the Indo-European daughter languages. Tough question. I guess you could look at Pokorny's dictionary and try to count which entry is the longest. Kind of strange.
"Best bet would probably be to ask American Heritage--they have their etymologies keyed to a list of IE roots, so if they don't know offhand they can probably generate the answer." -Jesse Sheidlower (U.S. editor OED)
"Best bet would probably be to ask American Heritage--they have their etymologies keyed to a list of IE roots, so if they don't know offhand they can probably generate the answer."
That'd work if you wish to limit the offspring to English. (The A-H dictionary of roots has page reference to Pokorny's dictionary.)
That's a bit belated, since I've been on here since 2004, but thanks all the same. :-) I mostly just look on and try to learn from the rest of you.
Wow that is impressive; only 19 posts since 2004. I have been here since 2000, but have yapped on a lot more than you. You win the watcher/reader/learner stakes.