vervex.

Uncertain. * Traditionally connected to Proto-Indo-European *wr̥h₁ḗn (“lamb”, acc. *wr̥h₁énm̥, gen. *wr̥h₁nós), but with unusual suffixation *-w-ēk- (for -ēx, compare -ex with a short vowel found in some other names of plants and animals), which along with other problems makes this derivation difficult to motivate. Possibly borrowed from another Indo-European language, which could also explain the alternation ⟨v ~ b⟩. Cognates would include Sanskrit उरण (úraṇa), Old Armenian գառն (gaṙn) and Ancient Greek ἀρήν (arḗn, “lamb”). * For an alternative, De Vaan suggests Proto-Indo-European *wérwos (“wool”, s-stem), whence Ancient Greek εἶρος (eîros, “wool; cottonweed; a type of fever”), which may be related to the above, or may be from a root *wer(H)- (“to spin”).