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: ansu-, ṇsu- 'ghost, spirit, demon'
Semantic Field(s): Demon, Evil Spirit
Indo-European Reflexes:
| Family/Language | Reflex(es) | PoS/Gram. | Gloss | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | ||||
| Old English: | ōs | n.str.masc | god; (name for) O-rune | GED/IEW |
| English: | Aesir | prop.n | tribe of gods (Norse mythology) | LRC |
| Asgard | prop.n | realm of Aesir (Norse mythology) | LRC | |
| West Germanic | ||||
| Old Saxon: | ōs | n.str.masc | (name for) O-rune | GED |
| German: | Asen | n.pl | gods, Aesir | LRC |
| North Germanic | ||||
| Runic: | a(n)su-gisalas | n | god's hostage | GED/IEW |
| a(n)suR | n | god | IEW | |
| *ansuz | n | god; (name for) A-rune | LRC | |
| Old Norse: | āsgarðr | n | Asgard | W7 |
| áss | n.masc | god | LRC | |
| Old Icelandic: | āss | n.str.masc | god | GED |
| ǫss | n.str.masc | (name for) O-rune | GED | |
| East Germanic | ||||
| Gothic: | anses | n.pl | demigods, half-gods | GED |
| aza | n | (name for) A-rune | GED | |
| Iranian | ||||
| Avestan: | ahura- | n | lord, ruler | IEW |
| aŋhu- | n | world; (breath of) life | IEW | |
| Indic | ||||
| Sanskrit: | ásu- | n | world; (breath of) life | IEW |
| ásu-ra- | n | lord, ruler | IEW | |
Key to Part-of-Speech/Grammatical feature abbreviations:
| Abbrev. | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| masc | = | masculine (gender) |
| n | = | noun |
| pl | = | plural (number) |
| prop | = | proper |
| str | = | strong (inflection) |
Key to information Source codes (always with 'LRC' as editor):
| Code | Citation | |
|---|---|---|
| GED | = | Winfred P. Lehmann: A Gothic Etymological Dictionary (1986) |
| IEW | = | Julius Pokorny: Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (1959) |
| LRC | = | Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin |
| W7 | = | Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963) |
