<i>To die</i> is ‘to run (away)’

Abstract Proto-Germanic * daw-ja- , the ultimate source of English to die , is here argued to have originally been a polysemous verb meaning ‘to run; to die’, corroborating its current etymological analysis as a reflex of the Proto-Indo-European root * d h eu̯ - ‘to run’. The proposal is supported by both well-known and previously unnoticed reflexes of the verb * daw-ja- in Gothic, Old Icelandic, and Old English, as well as by further Germanic lexical items and figurative expressions. Further support is provided by a series of semantic parallels in several Indo-European traditions, which, together with the Germanic material, reflect a well-known conceptual metaphor rooted in universal human cognition.