Welcome, Kate! We don't mind your joining us at all; we're always looking for more AlphaAgorans. We come from all over. Some of us are hopeless monolinguals, others are bi-, tri-, and other forms of
polylingual (I'll bet Henri probably could speak to a parrot and have it understand him. . . )
A quick look at the etymology for
tooth in the Online Etymology Dictionary shows roots going back to PIE (Proto-Indo-European) roots, but also shows an Old Frisian word:
tooth
O.E. toð (plural teð), from P.Gmc. *tanth, *tunth (cf. O.S., Dan., Swed., Du. tand, O.N. tönn, O.Fris. toth, O.H.G. zand, Ger. Zahn, Goth. tunþus), from PIE *dont-/*dent- "tooth" (cf. Skt. danta, Gk. odontos, L. dens, Lith. dantis, O.Ir. det, Welsh dent). Application to tooth-like parts of other objects (saws, combs, etc.) first recorded 1523. Toothache is attested from 1377. Toothbrush is first recorded 1651; toothpaste first attested 1832; toothpick is from 1488. Toothsome "pleasant to the taste" is c.1565; the fig. sense of "attractive" (1551) is a bit older.
I'm not exactly sure how
toth comes down from the PIE
*dont-/*dent. I'm sure the professionals have an explanation somewhere.
According to
this Wikipedia article, Frisian is one of the closest relatives to English, and Old Frisian was very close to Old English. My guess is that that's probably when
tooth entered our vocabulary.
Also notice the Old English spelling:
toð (plural teð). The character
ð, eth, is pronounced like the "th" in "them," that is, it is voiced, unlike the character
þ, thorn, which can be either unvoiced as in "thick" or voiced as in "the."
Stick around, Kate; I think you'll like it here.
