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: blou-, bhlou-?, plou- 'flea'
Semantic Field(s): Insect
Indo-European Reflexes:
| Family/Language | Reflex(es) | PoS/Gram. | Gloss | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | ||||
| Old English: | fleā, fleah | n.masc | flea | ASD/W7 |
| Middle English: | fle(e) | n | flea | CDC |
| English: | flea | n | wingless bloodsucking insect adapted to leaping | AHD/W7 |
| psylla | n | plant louse/pest | AHD/W7 | |
| psyllium | n | annual Eurasian plant | AHD | |
| puce | n | dark red, flea-color | AHD/W7 | |
| West Germanic | ||||
| Dutch: | vloo | n.fem | flea | ASD/CDC |
| Middle Low German: | vlō, vloe | n | flea | CDC |
| Low German: | flo, flö | n | flea | ASD/CDC |
| Old High German: | flō(c)h | n.masc | flea | ASD/W7 |
| Middle High German: | vlōch | n.masc | flea | ASD/CDC |
| German: | Floh | n.masc | flea | CDC |
| North Germanic | ||||
| Icelandic: | flō | n.fem | flea | ASD/CDC |
| Italic | ||||
| Latin: | pulex, pulicis | n.masc | flea | W7 |
| Spanish: | pulga | n.fem | flea | LRC |
| Old French: | pulce | n | flea | CDC |
| French: | puce | n.fem | flea; puce | W7 |
| Hellenic | ||||
| Greek: | ψύλλα | n.fem | flea | LRC |
| Indic | ||||
| Sanskrit: | pluṣi | n | plant louse | W7 |
Key to Part-of-Speech/Grammatical feature abbreviations:
| Abbrev. | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| fem | = | feminine (gender) |
| masc | = | masculine (gender) |
| n | = | noun |
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) |
| 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) |
