gʷhen-

To strike, kill.

Derivatives include bane, fence, and offend.

1. O-grade form *gʷhon-.

a. bane, from Old English bana, slayer, cause of ruin or destruction;

b. autobahn, from Middle High German ban, bane, way, road (< “strike” in a technical sense like “swath”). Both a and b from Germanic suffixed form *ban-ōn-.

2. Suffixed zero-grade form *gʷhn̥-tyā-.

a. gun, from Old Norse gunnr, war;

b. gonfalon, from Italian gonfalone, standard, from Germanic compound *gund-fanōn-, “battle flag” (*fanōn-, flag; see pan-). Both a and b from Germanic *gundjō, war, battle.

3. Suffixed form *gʷhen-do-.

a. defend, defense, fence, fend, from Latin dēfendere, to ward off (dē-, away; see de-);

b. offend, offense, from Latin offendere, to strike against, be offensive, offend (ob-, against; see epi).

4. Suffixed zero-grade form *gʷhn̥-tro-. bezoar, from Persian zahr, poison, from Old Iranian *jathra-.

5. Full-grade form *gʷhen-. bonze, from Sanskrit hanti, he strikes.

 

[Pokorny 2. gᵘ̯hen-(ə)- 491, bhen- 126.]

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