Dictionary Indo-European Root *nau(ti-)

*nau(ti-)

Meanings

1.
death, exhaustion, collapsing
(In English (and also in the Slavic languages to an extend) the root shifted from the idea of "misery" to "need". )

Word Family

Root: *nau(ti-)

The original core of this root was a sense of:

death, exhaustion, collapsing

But this soon shifted toward the idea of “lack of something”.

In English to need , and also in the Slavic branch, the sense shifted further toward the idea of need.
In German, it is also about lack, but it kept more of a sense of emergency.

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