pet-

Also petə- (oldest form *petə₁-). To rush, fly. Variant *pteə₁-, contracted to *ptē-.

Derivatives include feather, compete, perpetual, ptomaine, symptom, and hippopotamus.

1. Suffixed form *pet-rā-. feather, from Old English fether, feather, from Germanic *fethrō, feather.

2. -petal, petition, petulant; appetite, compete, impetigo, impetuous, impetus, perpetual, repeat, from Latin petere, to go toward, seek.

3. Suffixed form *pet-nā-. panache, pen¹, penna, pennate, pennon, pin, pinna, pinnacle, pinnate, pinnati-, pinnule; empennage, from Latin penna, pinna, feather, wing.

4. Suffixed form *pet-ro- in compound *aku-petro- (see ōku-).

5. Suffixed form *pet-yo-. propitious, from Latin propitius, favorable, gracious, originally a religious term meaning “falling or rushing forward,” hence “eager,” “well-disposed” (said of the gods; prō-, forward; see per¹).

6. Suffixed zero-grade form *pt-ero-. -pter; acanthopterygian, aminopterin, apteryx, archaeopteryx, coleopteran, dipteral, mecopteran, orthopteran, peripteral, plecopteran, pteridology, pterygoid, sauropterygian, from Greek pteron, feather, wing, and pterux, wing.

7. Suffixed zero-grade form *pt-ilo-. coleoptile, from Greek ptilon, soft feathers, down, plume.

8. Suffixed variant form *ptē-no-. stearoptene, from Greek ptēnos, winged, flying.

9. Reduplicated form *pi-pt-. ptomaine, ptosis; asymptote, peripeteia, proptosis, symptom, from Greek piptein, to fall, with verbal adjective ptōtos (< *ptō-to-), falling, fallen, and nominal derivatives ptōsis (< *ptō-ti-), a fall, and ptōma (< *ptō-mn̥), a fall, fallen body, corpse.

10. O-grade form *pot-. hippopotamus, potamology, from Greek potamos “rushing water,” river (-amo-, Greek suffix).

11. Suffixed form *pet-tro-. talipot, from Sanskrit pattram, feather, leaf.

 

[Pokorny 2. pet- 825.]

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