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: 2. bel- 'strong'
Semantic Field(s): Strong, Mighty, Powerful
Indo-European Reflexes:
| Family/Language | Reflex(es) | PoS/Gram. | Gloss | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | ||||
| Middle English: | debylite | n | debility | CDC |
| English: | Bolshevik | prop.n | 1917 Russian Revolutionary Communist | LRC |
| debilitate | vb.trans | to weaken, enfeeble, impair strength | AHD/W7 | |
| debility | n | weakness, infirmity | AHD/W7 | |
| Italic | ||||
| Latin: | debilis | adj | weak, lit. not strong | W7 |
| debilitas, debilitatis | n.fem | debility | W7 | |
| debilito, debilitāre, debilitātus | vb | to debilitate | W7 | |
| Portuguese: | debilidade | n | debility | CDC |
| Spanish: | debilidad | n | debility | CDC |
| Old French: | debilite | n | debility | CDC |
| Middle French: | debilité | n.fem | debility | W7 |
| Italian: | debilità | n | debility | CDC |
| Slavic | ||||
| Old Church Slavonic: | bol'ьi | adj.comp | more, bigger | LRC |
| bolьnъ | adj | sick | LRC | |
| bolěznь | n.fem | sickness | LRC | |
| bolěti, bolǫ, boliši | vb | to be ill | LRC | |
Key to Part-of-Speech/Grammatical feature abbreviations:
| Abbrev. | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| adj | = | adjective |
| comp | = | comparative |
| fem | = | feminine (gender) |
| n | = | noun |
| prop | = | proper |
| trans | = | transitive |
| 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) |
| CDC | = | W.D. Whitney and B.E. Smith: The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia (1889-1911) |
| LRC | = | Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin |
| W7 | = | Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963) |
