NODE / 0226reconstructedProto-Indo-European
*h₃ekʷ-
catch sight of, envisage
- DATE
- Proto-Indo-European prehistory
- SENSE
- catch sight envisage
- FAMILY
- Indo-European
- CANONICAL KEY
- node:6:h3ekw:reconstructed:sense:catch-sight-envisage
Graph-only rival reconstruction reported by Merriam-Webster from the Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben.
*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. 1 evidence path stops at this boundary.
INSPECT 1 CITED BOUNDARY CLAIM
02DIRECT DESCENDANT EDGES
THE NEXT HISTORICAL STEP
DESCENDANTcompeting reconstructionproposed
Old Persian · Achaemenid Old Persian · king sovereignxšāyaθiyā
king, sovereign
- SOUND
- The Old Persian verbal base xšāy- is alternatively derived from reconstructed *h₃ekʷ- rather than *tkeH-.
- MEANING
- A proposed “catch sight of, envisage” base develops toward power or rule.
- CHRONOLOGY
- Indo-European prehistory to Old Iranian.
- SCHOLAR
- Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, as summarized by Merriam-Webster
- CONFIDENCE
- proposed — Merriam-Webster says the traditional comparison is problematic and records this materially different analysis.
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
- 16
- REVIEWED EDGES
- 16
- DEEPEST PATH
- 9
- MODERN DOSSIERS REACHED
- 4
HISTORICAL STEP 011 EDGE
STEP 01competing reconstructionproposed
- SOUND
- The Old Persian verbal base xšāy- is alternatively derived from reconstructed *h₃ekʷ- rather than *tkeH-.
- MEANING
- A proposed “catch sight of, envisage” base develops toward power or rule.
Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben, as summarized by Merriam-Webster1 CITATIONEDGE 222 ↗ HISTORICAL STEP 021 EDGE
STEP 02historical continuationestablished
- SOUND
- The substantially shorter Middle Persian šāh continues Old Persian xšāyaθiyā; the reviewed record does not invent every unattested intermediate sound change.
- MEANING
- The meaning “king, sovereign” remains stable.
Rüdiger Schmitt · Merriam-Webster Editors2 CITATIONSEDGE 191 ↗ HISTORICAL STEP 031 EDGE
STEP 03historical continuationestablished
- SOUND
- New Persian šāh continues Middle Persian šāh with the long vowel and final consonant retained.
- MEANING
- The title “king” remains stable across the Iranian language stages.
Rüdiger Schmitt · Merriam-Webster Editors2 CITATIONSEDGE 190 ↗ HISTORICAL STEP 042 EDGES
STEP 04borrowingestablished
- SOUND
- Persian šāh is borrowed into Arabic chess vocabulary with the initial /ʃ/ and long vowel substantially retained.
- MEANING
- The sovereign title is specialized as the chess call naming the threatened king.
STEP 04borrowingestablished
- SOUND
- Persian šāh is borrowed into English as shah with its pronunciation approximated and transliteration simplified.
- MEANING
- The sovereign title remains a sovereign title.
HISTORICAL STEP 052 EDGES
STEP 05borrowingprobable
- SOUND
- Arabic /ʃ/ is adapted as Old French /tʃ/ with an added initial vowel; direct borrowing versus Spanish mediation remains uncertain.
- MEANING
- The word “king” is reinterpreted as the chess warning or the pieces/game surrounding that warning.
STEP 05borrowingprobable
- SOUND
- Arabic /ʃ/ is adapted as Old French /tʃ/ with an added initial vowel; an alternate šatranj route remains separately graphed.
- MEANING
- The chess “king” call becomes a plural name for pieces and then the game.
HISTORICAL STEP 062 EDGES
STEP 06historical continuationprobable
- SOUND
- Anglo-French eschec continues continental Old French eschac / eschés with vowel leveling.
- MEANING
- The king-in-danger chess call remains the core sense.
STEP 06historical continuationestablished
- SOUND
- Anglo-French plural forms continue continental Old French eschés with dialectal spelling differences.
- MEANING
- Chess pieces or checks become the name of the game as a whole.
HISTORICAL STEP 073 EDGES
STEP 07borrowingestablished
- SOUND
- Anglo-French eschec loses its initial unstressed vowel as it enters Middle English chek.
- MEANING
- The chess warning expands toward assault, obstruction, and adverse event.
STEP 07borrowingestablished
- SOUND
- Anglo-French escheks / eschez enters Middle English as chesse, ches, and esches.
- MEANING
- The formally plural French game name becomes an English mass/singular game name.
STEP 07compound memberestablished
- SOUND
- Anglo-French eschec mat retains eschec as its first member before English reduction to check.
- MEANING
- The threatened king or check supplies the first half of the terminal chess announcement.
HISTORICAL STEP 083 EDGES
STEP 08semantic continuationestablished
- SOUND
- Middle English chek stabilizes as check; the core consonants remain while spelling standardizes.
- MEANING
- A chess attack produces stop and restraint, then verification, marks, tokens, and the anti-forgery counterfoil behind the bank sense.
STEP 08historical continuationestablished
- SOUND
- Middle English chesse / ches stabilizes as modern chess with final spelling simplification.
- MEANING
- The board-game meaning remains stable.
STEP 08borrowing and derivationestablished
- SOUND
- Anglo-French eschec mat is borrowed as Middle English chek mat and supplies the derived verb chekmaten.
- MEANING
- The announcement that a king cannot escape becomes both a chess result and complete frustration.
HISTORICAL STEP 091 EDGE
STEP 09historical continuationestablished
- SOUND
- Middle English chekmaten / chekmat stabilizes as modern checkmate.
- MEANING
- Chess defeat and complete frustration continue together into modern English.
“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