bhau- The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

Appendix I

Indo-European Roots

ENTRY:	bhau-
DEFINITION:	To strike. Oldest form bhe₂u-, colored to bha₂u-, contracted to bhau-. Derivatives include beat, buttock, halibut, button,* and refute. 1. beat, from Old English batan, to beat, from Germanic bautan. 2. beetle³; battledore, from Old English btl,* hammer, mallet, from Germanic bautilaz, hammer. 3. baste³, probably from a Scandinavian source akin to Old Norse beysta,* to beat, denominative from Germanic baut-sti-. 4. buttock, from Old English diminutive buttuc,* end, strip of land, from Germanic btaz. 5a.* halibut, from Middle Dutch butte, flatfish; b. turbot, from a Scandinavian source akin to Old Swedish but, flatfish. Both a and b from Germanic butt-, name for a flatfish. 6. bouton, butt¹, button, buttress; abut, rebut, sackbut, from Old French bo(u)ter,* to strike, push, from Germanic buttan. 7. Variant zero-grade form bh- (< bhu-, metathesized from bhu-). Suffixed form bh-t--. a. confute, from Latin cnftre,* to check, suppress, restrain (com-, intensive prefix; see kom); b. refute, from Latin reftre, to drive back, rebut (re-, back; see re-). 8. Possibly reduced suffixed form bhu-tu- (bhu-). footle; clafouti, from Latin futuere, to have intercourse with (a woman). (Pokorny 1. bhu- 112.)


The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.