Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/tewtéh₂

Clear cognates are found only in Italo-Celtic, Baltic and Germanic, which may point to an old European substrate word,[1] geographically confined to the west and center of the IE world.

Persian توده‎ (tōda, “masses; heap; stack, hill, rick, tumulus”) is sometimes listed as a cognate but a large semantic divergence remains unexplainable.[2]

The supposed Hittite cognate 𒌅𒍖𒍣𒅖 (tuzziš, “army; camp”) with the semantic shift "people" > "army" > "camp" has been criticized to be unlikely (the normal development would be "camp" > "army").[3] Kloekhorst furthermore argues that the Hittite word can formally only reflect an i-stem tewt-i-, and finally endorses an alternative etymology proposed by Melchert, from PIE *dʰh₁-uti-.

Often a derivation from the roots *tewh₂- (“to be strong; swell”)[4] (referring to the strength of community) and *tewH- (“to look favorably; protect; observe”)[5] is considered, but the presence of a laryngeal renders that suspect.[6]

*tewtéh₂ f (non-ablauting) [7]

1. people, tribe

• *déh₂mos (“segment (of people)”)
  • Ancient Greek: δῆμος (dêmos)
• *h₁léwdʰis (“people”)
  • Old Church Slavonic: людиѥ (ljudije)
• *pleh₁dʰwéh₁s (“mass (of people)”)
  • Latin: plēbs

• *swe-tewtéh₂- (perhaps, + *swe- (“self”))
  • Germanic: *Swehanþeudō
    • Old English: Sweoþeod
    • Latin: Suethia, Suetia, Suecia

• Albanian: [Term?]
  • Albanian: tëtanë
• Anatolian: [Term?]
  • Hittite: 𒌅𒍖𒍣𒅖 (tuzziš, “army; camp”) (uncertain)
• Balto-Slavic: *t(j)autāˀ
  • Latvian: tàuta
  • Lithuanian: tautà
  • Old Prussian: tauto (“country”)
  • Slavic: *ťuďь (“foreigner, stranger”)
• Celtic: *toutā (see there for further descendants)
• Germanic: *þeudō (see there for further descendants)
• Indo-Iranian: *tawtáH (see there for further descendants)
• Italic: *toutā (see there for further descendants)
• Phrygian: τευτους (teutous, acc.pl.)

• Mallory, J. P.; Adams, D. Q., editors (1997) Encyclopedia of Indo-European culture, London, Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, page 417f
• Kloekhorst, Alwin (2008) Etymological Dictionary of the Hittite Inherited Lexicon (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 5), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 908
• Rix, Helmut, editor (2001) Lexikon der indogermanischen Verben [Lexicon of Indo-European Verbs] (in German), 2nd edition, Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, →ISBN, page 639