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: baba- 'babble, babbling, unclear speech'
Semantic Field(s): to Speak, Talk
Indo-European Reflexes:
| Family/Language | Reflex(es) | PoS/Gram. | Gloss | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Celtic | ||||
| Old Irish: | báb | n | baby, girl | RPN |
| bábán | n | baby | RPN | |
| Irish: | baban | n | baby | CDC |
| Manx: | bab(an) | n | baby | CDC |
| English | ||||
| Middle English: | baban | n | babe, baby | RPN |
| babe | n | babe | RPN | |
| babee, babi | n.dim | baby | CDC/RPN | |
| bab(e)len | vb | to babble | CDC | |
| English: | babble | n | meaningless speech-like sounds | W7 |
| babble | vb | to chatter, prattle, utter meaningless sounds | W7 | |
| babe | n | baby | LRC | |
| baby, babie | n | infant, new-born | CDC | |
| babysit, babysat | vb.str.intrans | to care for children | W7 | |
| West Germanic | ||||
| Dutch: | babbelen | vb | to babble | CDC |
| Low German: | babbelen | vb | to babble | CDC |
| Middle High German: | buobe | n | little boy | RPN |
| German: | bappeln, bappern | vb | to babble | CDC |
| Bube, Bubi | n.masc | lad, little boy | LRC | |
| Swiss German: | Buaeb | n.masc | lad, little boy | LRC |
| North Germanic | ||||
| Icelandic: | babbla | vb | to babble | CDC |
| Danish: | bable | vb | to babble | CDC |
| Slavic | ||||
| Old Czech: | bábě | n | doll, little girl | RPN |
| Czech: | bábenec | n | youngster | RPN |
| Hellenic | ||||
| Greek: | βάρβαρος | adj/n.masc | foreign; non-Greek person | LRC |
Key to Part-of-Speech/Grammatical feature abbreviations:
| Abbrev. | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| adj | = | adjective |
| dim | = | diminutive |
| intrans | = | intransitive |
| masc | = | masculine (gender) |
| n | = | noun |
| str | = | strong (inflection) |
| vb | = | verb |
Key to information Source codes (always with 'LRC' as editor):
| Code | Citation | |
|---|---|---|
| CDC | = | W.D. Whitney and B.E. Smith: The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia (1889-1911) |
| LRC | = | Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin |
| RPN | = | Allan R. Bomhard: Reconstructing Proto-Nostratic (2002) |
| W7 | = | Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963) |
