Welcome nettie01. I found a good link on the Indo-European roots of words containing gen.

http://www.bartleby.com/61/roots/IE143.html

The entry itself doesn't copy and paste well, but here's the meat and potatoes of it:

ENTRY:gen

DEFINITION:Also gen-. To give birth, beget; with derivatives referring to aspects and results of procreation and to familial and tribal groups. Oldest form *gen 1-, becoming *gen 1- in centum languages.

Reading about the etymology of words always makes me wonder about the early people that first came up with these sounds to denote things. Did they evolve from grunts and hoots, or was there some divine intervention? If those early people could see us now, would they be amazed at how some arbitrary choice for a word is still in use in some form today? Ah, but I ramble. It's late. Time for bed...