Skin

The fact that so many roots can be reconstructed for SKIN is undoubtedly due to the wide variety of associations this concept has with other points in semantic space: human, animal, and vegetable. The notion of outer covering is equally applicable to the skin of humans, the hide of animals, the bark of trees, the rind of fruits, the husks of corn, or the shells of nuts.¹ Since several sub-parts of the body have their own skin-like coverings, morphemes for SKIN appear in many compound words for such specialized body-parts as eyelids, lips, and foreskins. A further semantic chain leads from the body-part to the associated verb, TO SKIN/REMOVE THE SKIN. Semantic flowcharts provide a visual representation of SKIN and related concepts; the associations with SKIN are in fact so complex that two flowcharts are given.

Etyma in this semantic area are reconstructed with widely different degrees of certitude, ranging from the rock-solid to the shaky. They are presented below roughly in the order of the strength of their attestations.