The words ‘power’, ‘host’, ‘potential’, ‘impotent’, ‘possible’, ‘posse’, and ‘to possess’ all contain the same Proto-Indo-European word: *pótis, meaning “master”.
Click my new graphic to learn how they evolved through derivatives in Latin, sound changes in Romance, and borrowings into English:
The Indo-European word *pótis (“master”) also became Lithuanian ‘pàts’ (“husband”), Ancient Greek ‘pósis’ (“husband”), and Sanskrit ‘páti’ (“husband; master; lord”).
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Moreover, the word can be found in a number of derivatives:
- Ancient Greek ‘despótēs’ (“master; owner; despot”, from *déms pótis, “master of the house”), whence English ‘despot’;
- Proto-Slavic *gȍspodь (cognate of Latin ‘hospes’, from *gʰóstipotis), which became Czech ‘Hospodin’ (“God”), Russian ‘Gospódʹ’ (“God”), and Slovene ‘gospod’ (“gentleman; sir; God”) and many others.
- Gothic ‘brūþfaþs’ (“bridegroom”, with ‘faþs’ from Proto-Germanic *fadiz, from *potís).
Yoïn van Spijk
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