*H₁n̥gʷnis

The archaic Proto-Indo-European language (ca.

4500–4000 BC) had a two-gender system which originally divided words between animate and inanimate, a system used to distinguish a common term from its deified synonym.

Therefore, fire as an animate entity and active force was known as *h₁n̥gʷnis, while the inanimate entity and natural substance was named *péh₂ur (cf.

Greek: πυρ, pyr; English: fire).

[1][2] In some traditions, as the sacral name of the dangerous fire may have become a word taboo,[3] the stem *h₁n̥gʷnis served as an ordinary term for fire, as in the Latin ignis.