Indo-European Lexicon

PIE Etymon and IE Reflexes

Below we display: a Proto-Indo-European (PIE) etymon adapted from Pokorny, with our own English gloss; our Semantic Field assignment(s) for the etymon, linked to information about the field(s); an optional Comment; and Reflexes (derived words) in various Indo-European languages, organized by family/group in west-to-east order where Germanic is split into West/North/East families and English, our language of primary emphasis, is artificially separated from West Germanic. IE Reflexes appear most often as single words with any optional letter(s) enclosed in parentheses; but alternative full spellings are separated by '/' and "principal parts" appear in a standard order (e.g. masculine, feminine, and neuter forms) separated by commas.

Reflexes are annotated with: Part-of-Speech and/or other Grammatical feature(s); a short Gloss which, especially for modern English reflexes, may be confined to the oldest sense; and some Source citation(s) with 'LRC' always understood as editor. Keys to PoS/Gram feature abbreviations and Source codes appear below the reflexes; at the end are links to the previous/next etyma [in Pokorny's alphabetic order] that have reflexes.

All reflex pages are currently under active construction; as time goes on, corrections may be made and/or more etyma & reflexes may be added.

Pokorny Etymon: 3. lei-   'slimy; to slip, glide'

Semantic Field(s): to Slip, Slide

 

Indo-European Reflexes:

Family/Language Reflex(es) PoS/Gram. Gloss Source(s)
Celtic  
Old Irish: ad-slig vb to persuade GED
English  
Old English: lām n.neut loam ASD/W7
līm n lime W7
sliht adj slight, simple, level GED
slīm n.masc/neut slime ASD/W7
slipor adj slippery W7
Middle English: lime n lime W7
liniment n liniment W7
lom n loam W7
oblivion n oblivion W7
slight, sleght adj slight GED
sliken vb to slick W7
slime n slime W7
slippen vb to slip W7
slipper adj slippery W7
English: limacine adj re: slug AHD/W7
lime n birdlime, sticky substance AHD/W7
limicoline adj shore-inhabiting AHD/W7
liniment n thin medicinal preparation for skin application AHD/W7
litotes n understatement having affirmative expressed by negative of contrary (not a bad...) AHD/W7
loam n soil mixture composed mainly of moistened clay AHD/W7
oblivion n forgetfulness, act/instance of forgetting AHD/W7
oubliette n dungeon with opening only at top AHD/W7
schlep vb to lug, carry clumsily; move slowly/laboriously AHD
slick vb to make sleek/smooth AHD/W7
slight adj slim, frail; sleek, smooth AHD/W2I
slime n soft moist clay/earth AHD/W7
slimy adj viscous, re: slime W7
slip vb to move with smooth sliding motion AHD/W7
slippery adj causing one to slide/fall AHD/W7
West Germanic  
Old Frisian: sliucht adj slight, even GED
Middle Dutch: slicht adj slight W7
Dutch: slijk n mud TLL
slijm n slime ASD
Old Low German: lēmo, leimo n loam ASD
Middle Low German: slecht adj slight, even, friendly GED
slippen vb to slip W7
slipper adj slippery W7
Old High German: leim n loam ASD
līm n lime W7
slefar adj slippery ASD
sleht adj slight, even, friendly GED
slīhhan vb.str to glide GED
slīmen vb to smooth W7
Middle High German: slepfer adj slippery ASD
slīm n.masc slime ASD
German: Lehm n loam ASD
Schleim n.masc slime ASD
schleimig adj slimy LRC
North Germanic  
Old Norse: leir n clay KNW
Old Icelandic: slēttr adj slight, even, smooth, gentle GED
slīur adj smooth GED
Icelandic: slím n.neut slime ASD
Danish: ler n clay TLL
slette n plain TLL
Swedish: lera n clay TLL
slät n plain TLL
East Germanic  
Gothic: *slaihts adj smooth GED
Italic  
Latin: levis adj light, smooth, mild W7
lima n.fem file W7
limax, limacis n slug W7
līmus n.masc mud W7
lino, linere vb to smear W7
oblivio, oblivionis n.fem oblivion W7
obliviscor, oblivisci, oblitus vb to forget W7
Late Latin: linimentum n.neut liniment W7
New Latin: limacinus adj of slugs W7
Middle French: oblivion n.fem oblivion W7
oublier vb to forget W7
oubliette n.fem oubliette, remote prison W7
French: oubliette n.fem remote isolated cell in medieval dungeon W7
Slavic  
Russian: slizkij adj slippery GED
Hellenic  
Greek: leios adj smooth W7
λίγδην adv scraping GED
λίσσομαι vb to pray LRC
litos adj simple W7
litotēs n.fem simplicity, litote (figure of speech) W7
olibros adj slippery W7

 

Key to Part-of-Speech/Grammatical feature abbreviations:

Abbrev. Meaning
adj=adjective
adv=adverb(ial)
fem=feminine (gender)
masc=masculine (gender)
n=noun
neut=neuter (gender)
str=strong (inflection)
vb=verb

Key to information Source codes (always with 'LRC' as editor):

Code Citation
AHD=Calvert Watkins: The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European Roots, 2nd ed. (2000)
ASD=Joseph Bosworth and T. Northcote Toller: An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary (1898)
GED=Winfred P. Lehmann: A Gothic Etymological Dictionary (1986)
KNW=Gerhard Köbler: Altnordisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed. (2003)
LRC=Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin
TLL=Frederick Bodmer: The Loom of Language (1944)
W2I=Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language, 2nd ed. (1959)
W7=Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963)

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