NODE / 0656reconstructedProto-Germanic
*wurdam
TRANSLITERATION *wurdam
word; something spoken
- DATE
- Proto-Germanic horizon
- SENSE
- spoken unit noun
- FAMILY
- Indo-European / Germanic
- CANONICAL KEY
- node:5:wurdam:reconstructed:sense:spoken-unit-noun
American Heritage publishes the Germanic reconstruction under the zero-grade branch.
*This form is reconstructed by comparison. It is not directly attested in this exact written form.
01ANCESTRAL EDGES
ROOT OF THIS ROOT
02DIRECT DESCENDANT EDGES
THE NEXT HISTORICAL STEP
DESCENDANTinheritanceestablished
Old English · Old English · meaningful language unitword
word, utterance, speech
- SOUND
- Old English word continues reconstructed Germanic *wurdam through inherited West Germanic development.
- MEANING
- Something spoken remains a word or utterance.
- CHRONOLOGY
- The Germanic form is reconstructed, not a written donor token.
- SCHOLAR
- Calvert Watkins and American Heritage Dictionary Editors
- CONFIDENCE
- established
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
- 3
- REVIEWED EDGES
- 3
- DEEPEST PATH
- 3
- MODERN DOSSIERS REACHED
- 1
HISTORICAL STEP 011 EDGE
STEP 01inheritanceestablished
- SOUND
- Old English word continues reconstructed Germanic *wurdam through inherited West Germanic development.
- MEANING
- Something spoken remains a word or utterance.
Calvert Watkins and American Heritage Dictionary Editors2 CITATIONSEDGE 626 ↗ HISTORICAL STEP 021 EDGE
STEP 02continuationestablished
- SOUND
- Middle English word continues Old English word with no donor-language substitution.
- MEANING
- Word, utterance, and expression remain central.
Merriam-Webster Editors · American Heritage Dictionary Editors2 CITATIONSEDGE 625 ↗ HISTORICAL STEP 031 EDGE
STEP 03continuationestablished
- SOUND
- Modern English preserves the inherited spelling word while pronunciation continues the history of English vowel and rhotic systems.
- MEANING
- The core linguistic-unit sense continues alongside utterance, promise, news, command, and technical extensions.
Merriam-Webster Editors · American Heritage Dictionary Editors2 CITATIONSEDGE 624 ↗ “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