Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/ferhuz

From Proto-Indo-European *pérkus (“oak”), from the root *perkʷ- (“oak”).^[1]

The semantic development from “(oak) tree” to “life; the universe”, assuming they are indeed related, is somewhat puzzling, but may be paralleled in part by such abstractions as Ancient Greek ὕλη (húlē, “wood”, later “substance”), Latin māteria (“timber; material, source, essence”) and Old Armenian տարր (tarr, “elementary substance”, from *dru- (“wood, tree”)); the sense “body” (compare Punjabi ਕਾਠ (kāṭh, “timber; body, physique”)) would be intermediate and abstractify to “life”. However, the explanation may be more spiritual; as Kroonen describes, “the oak-tree symbolized vitality in Germanic mythology.” Note also the concept of the world tree, pervasive in Eurasian mythology, which to the Indo-Europeans was a large oak at the center of the world, and perhaps the axis around which the Earth or heavens spun (axis mundi).

• IPA^(key): /ˈɸer.xuz/

*ferhuz m^[1]

1. (originally and in North Germanic) tree; oak tree?

   Synonyms: *aiks, *bagmaz, *ferhwą, *trewą

2. body
3. life, being, existence

   Synonyms: *ferhwą, *lībą

   1. (East Germanic) the world

      Synonym: *weraldiz

• *fergunniz, *fergunją
• *firhwijaz
• *ferhwą
• *fermō
• *furhō

• Proto-West Germanic: *ferh
  • Old English: feorh, feorg, ferh
    • Middle English: fere, vore
  • Old Frisian: ferch
  • Old Saxon: ferh, ferah
  • Old High German: fërah
    • Middle High German: vërch
      • German: Ferch (obsolete)
• Old Norse: fjǫrr (< *ferhwaz)
  • Icelandic: fjör
• Gothic: 𐍆𐌰𐌹𐍂𐍈𐌿𐍃 (fairƕus)