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Definition of "satem" [satem]

  • Designating those Indo-European languages, including the Indo-Iranian, Armenian, and Balto-Slavic subfamilies, in which original palatal velar stops became fricatives (as k' > s or š) and labiovelar stops became plain velars (as kw > k). (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "satem" in a sentence
  • "The Slavonic languages, like Persian and the Indo-European languages of the Indian sub-continent, are in the satem group, so the Russian word for hundred begins with an sound, its first vowel has disappeared, the corresponds to the in the middle of the"
  • "While the correct centum-satem correspondence between Greek -k- and Sanskrit -ś- is reassuring, it by no means validates the reconstruction."
  • "It's also pointless to eternally ponder on the vagueness of terms like "language" and "dialect" because in the end we're now refocusing our reconstruction efforts towards elucidating former feature boundaries eg. the satem area."
Words like "satem"