| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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Appendix I
Indo-European Roots |
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| ENTRY: | dwo- |
| DEFINITION: | Two.
Derivatives include twilight, biscuit, between, combine, diploma, and doubt.
I. Variant form *duwo. 1a. two, from Old English tw , two (nominative feminine and neuter); b. twain; twayblade, from Old English tw gen, two (nominative and accusative masculine). Both a and b from Germanic *twa, two. 2. twelfth, twelve, from Old English twelf, twelve, and twelfta, twelfth, from Germanic compound *twa-lif-, “two left (over from ten),” twelve (*-lif-, left; see leikw-).
II. Adverbial form *dwis and combining form *dwi-. 1a. twibill, twilight, from Old English twi-, two; b. zwieback, zwitterion, from Old High German zwi-, twice. Both a and b from Germanic *twi-. 2. bi-1, bis; balance, barouche, bezel, biscuit, bistort, from Latin bis (combining form bi-), twice. 3. di-1, from Greek dis (combining form di-), twice. 4. twist, from Old English -twist, divided object, fork, rope, from Germanic *twis. 5. twice, from Old English twige, twiga, twice, from Germanic *twiyes. 6. twenty, from Old English twntig, twenty, from Germanic compound *twgentig, “twice ten” (*-tig, ten; see dek ). 7. twine, from Old English tw n, double thread, from Germanic *twhna, double thread, twisted thread. 8. between, betwixt, twixt, from Old English betwonum and betweox, betwix, between, from Germanic compounds *bi-twhna and *bi-twisk, “at the middle point of two” (bi, at, by; see ambhi). 9. twill, from Old English twilic, woven of double thread, from Germanic compound *twilic-, “two-threaded fabric.” 10. Suffixed form *dwis-no-. a. twin, from Old English twinn, getwinn, two by two, twin, from Germanic *twisnaz, double; b. bi-1, binal, binary; combine, pinochle, from Latin bn, two by two, two each. 11. Suffixed form *dwi-ko-. twig1, from Old English twigge, a branch, from Germanic *twig(g)a, a fork. 12. Compound *dwi-plo-, twofold (*-plo-, -fold; see pel-2). diplo-, diploe, diploid, diploma; anadiplosis, diplodocus, from Greek diploos, diplous, twofold. 13. Suffixed reduplicated form *dwi-du-mo-. didymium, didymous; epididymis, from Greek didumos, double, the testicles. 14. Suffixed form *dwi-gha. dichasium, dicho-, from Greek dikha, in two.
III. Inflected form *duw . 1. deuce1, dozen, dual, duet, duo, duo-; duodecimal, duumvir, from Latin duo, two. 2. duad, dyad; dodecagon, hendiadys, from Greek duo, du, two.
IV. Variant form *du-. 1. Compound *du-plo-, twofold (*-plo-, -fold; see pel-2). double, doublet, doubloon, duple, from Latin duplus, double. 2. Compound *du-plek-, twofold (*-plek-, -fold; see plek-). duplex, duplicate, duplicity; conduplicate, from Latin duplex, double. 3. Suffixed form *du-bhw-io-. doubt, dubious; redoubtable, from Latin dubius, doubtful (< “hesitating between two alternatives”), and dubit re, to be in doubt. (Pokorny d (u) 228.) |
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| 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. |
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