English
Phrygian
Phrygian comes from Latin Phrygiānus, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *bʰerǵʰ- ‘to rise up, ascend’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰerǵʰ-‘to rise up, ascend’root as named
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEPhrygiānus
- Englishearliest quotation 2022Phrygian
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰerǵʰ-‘to rise up, ascend’root as named
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEPhrygiānus
- Englishearliest quotation 2022Phrygian
Earliest quotation: 2022, R. F. Kuang, Babel: “‘Then one day one of the infants stretched out…”
The story
From Latin Phrygiānus + English -an (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’ forming adjectives). Phrygianus is derived from Phrygia + -ānus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’); and Phrygia is from Ancient Greek Φρῠγῐ́ᾱ (Phrŭgĭ́ā, “region in Anatolia”), from Φρῠ́ξ (Phrŭ́x, “person from Phrygia”) (further etymology unknown, possibly from Phrygian or related to Proto-Indo-European *bʰerǵʰ- (‘to ascend, rise up; to be elevated, up high’)) + -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā, suffix forming feminine abstract nouns).uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *bʰerǵʰ- ‘to rise up, ascend’
force, comfortable, fort, borough, berry, burgess, bourgeois, barrow, burglar, brie, burgh, forcible, brahmin, burg, borgo, bergh, bourguignon, broch, brahmana, 22 more
Today it means
adj Of or relating to Phrygia, its people, or their culture.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *bʰerǵʰ- / Phrygian