*gwā-, also *gwem-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to go, come."

It forms all or part of: acrobat; adiabatic; advent; adventitious; adventure; amphisbaena; anabasis; avenue; base (n.) "bottom of anything;" basis; become; circumvent; come; contravene; convene; convenient; convent; conventicle; convention; coven; covenant; diabetes; ecbatic; event; eventual; hyperbaton; hypnobate; intervene; intervenient; intervention; invent; invention; inventory; juggernaut; katabatic; misadventure; parvenu; prevenient; prevent; provenance; provenience; revenant; revenue; souvenir; subvention; supervene; venire; venue; welcome.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit gamati "he goes," Avestan jamaiti "goes," Tocharian kakmu "come," Lithuanian gemu, gimti "to be born," Greek bainein "to go, walk, step," Latin venire "to come," Old English cuman "come, approach," German kommen, Gothic qiman.

Old English turf, tyrf "slab of soil and grass, sod," also "surface of grassland," from Proto-Germanic *turfa- (source also of Old Norse torf, Danish tørv, Old Frisian turf, Old High German zurba, German Torf), from PIE root *drebh- "to wind, compress" (source also of Sanskrit darbhah "tuft of grass").

Especially "the race course," hence the turf "the profession of racing horses" (1755). French tourbe "turf" is a Germanic loan-word. The Old English plural was identical with the singular, but in Middle English turves sometimes was used. Slang meaning "territory claimed by a gang" is attested from 1953 in Brooklyn, N.Y.; earlier it had a jive talk sense of "the street, the sidewalk" (1930s), which is attested in hobo use from 1899, and before that "the work and venue of a prostitute" (1860). Turf war is recorded from 1962.