Etymology

From Proto-Baltic *wardas, a masculine parallel form to neuter *wardan, from Proto-Indo-European *wordʰom, *werdʰom ‎(“word”), from the stem *wer- ‎(“to talk”) with an extra element -dʰo. Note the typical Baltic polysemy between “name” and “word”, since the Proto-Indo-European term for “name”, still conserved in Old Prussian emnes, emmens (< Proto-Indo-European *h₁nómn̥), was lost and replaced by *werdʰo-. Cognates include Lithuanian var̃das, Old Prussian wīrds, wirds, Sudovian ward, Russian врать ‎(vratʹ, “to lie”), Belarusian вярзці ‎(vjarztsí, “s/he lies”), Ukrainian верзти ‎(verztý, “s/he lies”), Proto-Germanic *wurdą (Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌳 ‎(waurd), German Wort, English word, Icelandic orð), Hittite ḫurt- ‎(“to load, to charge”) (: weriya- “to say”), Sanskrit व्रत ‎(vrata, “vow, command”), Ancient Greek εἴρω ‎(eírō, “to say”) (< *weryō), Latin verbum.^[1]

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [vàːɾds]