NODE / 0184reconstructedProto-Indo-European
*dekm̥
ten
- DATE
- Proto-Indo-European prehistory
- SENSE
- ten cardinal
- FAMILY
- Indo-European
- CANONICAL KEY
- node:6:dekm:reconstructed:sense:ten-cardinal
American Heritage identifies Latin decem, English ten, December, decimal, and decimate in this family.
*This form is reconstructed by comparison. It is not directly attested in this exact written form.
01ANCESTRAL EDGES
ROOT OF THIS ROOT
*THE TRAIL ENDS HERE.No securely reviewed ancestor extends beyond this node. 5 evidence paths stop at this boundary.
INSPECT 5 CITED BOUNDARY CLAIMS
02DIRECT DESCENDANT EDGES
THE NEXT HISTORICAL STEP
DESCENDANTinheritedestablished
Latin · Latin antiquity · ten cardinaldecem
ten
- SOUND
- Latin decem regularly continues the centum-language form of Indo-European *dekm̥.
- MEANING
- The numeral meaning “ten” remains stable.
- CHRONOLOGY
- Proto-Indo-European prehistory to attested Latin.
- SCHOLAR
- American Heritage Indo-European Roots
- CONFIDENCE
- established — The Latin and Indo-European numeral relationship is securely comparative.
DESCENDANTinheritanceprobable
Proto-Germanic · Proto-Germanic reconstruction, c. 500 BCE–200 CE · cardinal number*tehun
ten
- SOUND
- Germanic *tehun continues Indo-European *deḱm̥ with the initial stop shift and branch-specific treatment of the following consonant cluster.
- MEANING
- The numeral meaning remains ten.
- CHRONOLOGY
- Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic.
- SCHOLAR
- Merriam-Webster Editors · American Heritage Dictionary Editors
- CONFIDENCE
- probable — Both references connect the Germanic and wider Indo-European numeral family; notation varies between *deḱm̥ and *dekm̥.
03TRANSITIVE DESCENDANT CLOSURE
EVERY REVIEWED BRANCH FROM HERE
This is the complete downstream closure currently supported by the canonical graph. Every displayed step is a real reviewed edge with its own sound claim, meaning claim, scholar, confidence, and citations.
- UNIQUE DESCENDANT NODES
- 18
- REVIEWED EDGES
- 19
- DEEPEST PATH
- 5
- MODERN DOSSIERS REACHED
- 5
HISTORICAL STEP 012 EDGES
STEP 01inheritedestablished
- SOUND
- Latin decem regularly continues the centum-language form of Indo-European *dekm̥.
- MEANING
- The numeral meaning “ten” remains stable.
American Heritage Indo-European Roots1 CITATIONEDGE 172 ↗ STEP 01inheritanceprobable
- SOUND
- Germanic *tehun continues Indo-European *deḱm̥ with the initial stop shift and branch-specific treatment of the following consonant cluster.
- MEANING
- The numeral meaning remains ten.
Merriam-Webster Editors · American Heritage Dictionary Editors2 CITATIONSEDGE 237 ↗ HISTORICAL STEP 024 EDGES
STEP 02ordinal derivationestablished
- SOUND
- Latin decimus is the ordinal formation corresponding to decem.
- MEANING
- The cardinal “ten” becomes ordinal “tenth.”
STEP 02derivationestablished
- SOUND
- Latin decima is a substantivized feminine form in the decimus/decem family.
- MEANING
- The cardinal “ten” supplies a named tenth part or tithe.
STEP 02compound derivationestablished
- SOUND
- Latin December is formed on decem “ten” as a month name.
- MEANING
- The numeral ten identifies the tenth month in the early Roman year.
STEP 02inheritanceprobable
- SOUND
- Old English tīen and tēn continue Germanic *tehun through West Germanic consonant loss and vowel development.
- MEANING
- The numeral meaning remains ten.
HISTORICAL STEP 036 EDGES
STEP 03derivationestablished
- SOUND
- Latin decimāre is derived from the tenth/ordinal family.
- MEANING
- “Tenth” becomes the action “take or select a tenth.”
STEP 03derivationestablished
- SOUND
- Medieval Latin decimālis is formed from Latin decima with an adjectival suffix.
- MEANING
- A tenth part or tithe becomes “pertaining to tenths.”
STEP 03borrowing via competing routesprobable
- SOUND
- The Latin month name reaches Middle English through Old English or Anglo-French transmission; the exact route is not resolved by the reviewed source.
- MEANING
- The named tenth month is retained as the last/twelfth month after calendar reordering.
STEP 03inheritanceestablished
- SOUND
- Middle English ten continues Old English tīen and tēn with vowel shortening and spelling convergence.
- MEANING
- The cardinal meaning remains ten.
STEP 03romance developmentestablished
- SOUND
- Anglo-French disme and dime continue Latin decima through regular Romance reduction and spelling change.
- MEANING
- The tenth-part and tithe meaning remains central.
STEP 03inflectional derivationestablished
- SOUND
- Latin decima is the feminine form of decimus.
- MEANING
- The ordinal adjective “tenth” is substantivized as a tenth part or tithe.
HISTORICAL STEP 045 EDGES
STEP 04borrowingestablished
- SOUND
- English decimate is formed on the Latin past-participial stem decimāt-.
- MEANING
- The exact selection or taxation of a tenth broadens within English to drastic reduction or destruction.
STEP 04borrowingestablished
- SOUND
- Medieval Latin decimālis passes into French décimal with Romance sound development.
- MEANING
- The learned mathematical and proportional sense remains tied to tenths.
STEP 04orthographic continuationestablished
- SOUND
- Middle English Decembre is respelled December under renewed Latin influence and standardized capitalization.
- MEANING
- The month identity remains while its calendar position is twelfth.
STEP 04historical continuationestablished
- SOUND
- Modern English ten continues the Middle English spelling with ordinary phonological stabilization.
- MEANING
- The cardinal value remains ten while later noun, rating, money, and idiomatic senses branch from it.
STEP 04borrowingestablished
- SOUND
- Middle English dime adapts Anglo-French disme or dime, including loss of the written consonant in the simplified form.
- MEANING
- The meaning remains a tenth part or tithe.
HISTORICAL STEP 052 EDGES
STEP 05borrowingestablished
- SOUND
- French décimal is adapted into English as decimal.
- MEANING
- The “of tenths/base ten” meaning remains transparent.
STEP 05semantic specializationestablished
- SOUND
- Modern dime preserves the older spelling while English pronunciation developed to /daɪm/.
- MEANING
- A general tenth-part or tithe word is applied specifically to a coin worth one tenth of a dollar.
“Every” means every descendant in the reviewed SET-U graph. It does not convert missing scholarship or missing ingestion into a claim of historical completeness. The coverage ledger remains the honest denominator.
04RECORDED EVIDENCE
ATTESTATIONS / FIRST KNOWN USE
NO RECORDED WITNESS ATTACHED.That is expected for a reconstructed form: the node is inferred from comparison, not quoted from a surviving occurrence.
05EDITORIAL REUSE
WORD DOSSIERS USING THIS NODE