devyni (Lithuanian)
Where does "devyni" come from?
The Lithuanian word 'devyni' traces back to the Proto-Indo-European *h₁néwn̥, a root shared by many languages including the English 'nine' and Latin 'novem'. Experts suggest the initial 'd' in Baltic and Slavic languages evolved through dissimilation or shifted pronunciation from the original root. It likely emerged as a 'new' number following an earlier counting system based on groups of four or eight.
Full etymology tree
- devyni (Lithuanian), 'nine'
- inherited *néwin (Proto-Balto-Slavic), 'nine'
- inherited *h₁néwn̥ (Proto-Indo-European), 'nine'
- influence *néwos (Proto-Indo-European), 'new'
- influence *en (Proto-Indo-European)
- inherited *h₁enu- (Proto-Indo-European)
- inherited *h₁new (Proto-Indo-European)
- inherited *déwn (Proto-Balto-Slavic)
- inherited *h₁néwn̥ (Proto-Indo-European), 'nine'
- influence *déśimt (Proto-Balto-Slavic), 'ten'
- inherited *déḱm̥t (Proto-Indo-European)
- inherited *néwin (Proto-Balto-Slavic), 'nine'
Ancestors
- *néwin (Proto-Balto-Slavic)
- *h₁néwn̥ (Proto-Indo-European)
Cognates and doublets
- ἐννέα (Ancient Greek)
- дзевяць (Belarusian)
- девет (Bulgarian)
- devět (Czech)
- nine (English)
- neun (German)
- novem (Latin)
- deviņi (Latvian)
- девѧть (Old Church Slavonic)
- newīnts (Old Prussian)
- фараст (Ossetian)
- dziewięć (Polish)
Updated July 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris