ter- 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:	ter-
DEFINITION:	Fire. 1. Suffixed zero-grade form tr-o-. atrabilious, from Latin ter* (feminine tra), black (< “blackened by fire”). 2. Suffixed zero-grade form tr-yo-. atrium, from Latin trium,* forecourt, hall, atrium (perhaps originally the place where the smoke from the hearth escaped through a hole in the roof). 3. Compound shortened zero-grade form atro-k^w-, “black-looking” (k^w-, “looking”; see ok^w-). atrocious, from Latin trx, frightful. 4. Basic form ter. zircon, from Old Persian tar, fire (stem ç- attested in month name çiydiya, “(month) of fire-worship”), from Indo-Iranian tar. 5. Possibly, but obscurely related to this root is Sanskrit atharv, atharvan-,* priest (-van-, possessive suffix): Atharva-Veda. (Pokorny t(e)r- 69.)


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.