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: bhā̆d- 'good, better'
Semantic Field(s): Good
Indo-European Reflexes:
| Family/Language | Reflex(es) | PoS/Gram. | Gloss | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | ||||
| Old English: | bētan | vb | to boot | CDC |
| bet(e)ra | adj.comp | better | CDC/W7 | |
| bet(e)re | adv.comp | better | CDC | |
| bet(e)st | adj.sup | best | CDC/W7 | |
| bet(ō)st | adv.sup | best | CDC | |
| bōt | n.fem | boot; help, offering | ASD/W7 | |
| Middle English: | best | adv.sup | best | CDC |
| beste | adj.sup | best | CDC | |
| bet(t)er, betre | adv.comp | better | CDC | |
| bettre, bet(t)ere | adj.comp | better | CDC/W7 | |
| boote, bot(e) | n | boot, profit | CDC | |
| bot(e), boot | n | boot, cure, salvation | MEV/W7 | |
| bōten, beten | vb | to boot | CDC | |
| English: | batten | vb | to grow fat | AHD/W7 |
| best | adj/adv.sup | excelling all others | AHD/W7 | |
| better | adj/adv.comp | more than half | AHD/W7 | |
| boot | n | redress, remedy, compensation; deliverance | ASD/W7 | |
| boot | vb | to help, avail, profit | W7 | |
| West Germanic | ||||
| Old Frisian: | beste | adj.sup | best | CDC |
| bet(e)re | adj.comp | better | CDC | |
| bōte | n | boot, profit, advantage; repair, reparation | CDC | |
| bote | n.fem | boot, assistance | ASD | |
| Dutch: | baat | n | boot, gain, profit, advantage | CDC |
| baten | vb | to boot | CDC | |
| best | adj.sup | best | CDC | |
| beter | adj.comp | better | CDC | |
| boete | n.fem | boot, assistance | ASD | |
| Old Saxon: | betara, betera | adj.comp | better | CDC |
| betsto | adj.sup | best | CDC | |
| bōta | n.fem | boot, assistance | ASD | |
| Middle Low German: | bate | n | gain, profit, advantage | CDC |
| baten | vb | to boot, help | CDC | |
| Low German: | bate | n | gain, profit, advantage | CDC |
| baten | vb | to boot, help | CDC | |
| bote | n | boot, profit, advantage; repair, reparation | CDC | |
| Old High German: | bezziro | adj.comp | better | CDC |
| bezzisto | adj.sup | best | CDC | |
| bōza | n.fem | boot, assistance | ASD | |
| buoza | n | boot, profit, advantage; repair, reparation | CDC | |
| Middle High German: | bezzer | adj.comp | better | CDC |
| bezzist, best | adj.sup | best | CDC | |
| buoz(e) | n | boot, assistance | ASD | |
| German: | besser | adj/adv.comp | better | LRC |
| best | adj.sup | best | CDC | |
| Busse | n.fem | boot, profit, advantage; repair, reparation | CDC | |
| Busze | n.fem | boot, assistance | ASD | |
| North Germanic | ||||
| Old Norse: | batna | vb | to improve | W7 |
| betr | adv.comp | better, more | LRC | |
| betri | adj.comp | better | LRC | |
| beztr | adj.sup | best | LRC | |
| bót | n.fem | boot, atonement | LRC | |
| Icelandic: | bati | n | advantage, improvement | CDC |
| betri | adj.comp | better | CDC | |
| beztr, baztr | adj.sup | best | CDC | |
| bōt | n.fem | boot, assistance | ASD | |
| Danish: | bedre | adj.comp | better | CDC |
| bedst | adj.sup | best | CDC | |
| bod | n | boot, assistance | ASD | |
| Swedish: | bot | n.masc | boot, assistance | ASD |
| bäst | adj.sup | best | CDC | |
| bättre | adj.comp | better | CDC | |
| East Germanic | ||||
| Gothic: | *batan | vb | to boot, be useful | CDC |
| batists | adj.sup | best | ASD | |
| batiza | adj.comp | better | ASD | |
| bota, bōta | n.str.fem | boot, advantage | ASD | |
| ga-batnan | vb | to boot, be bettered | CDC | |
| Indic | ||||
| Sanskrit: | bhadra | adj | fortunate | W7 |
Key to Part-of-Speech/Grammatical feature abbreviations:
| Abbrev. | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| adj | = | adjective |
| adv | = | adverb(ial) |
| comp | = | comparative |
| fem | = | feminine (gender) |
| masc | = | masculine (gender) |
| n | = | noun |
| str | = | strong (inflection) |
| sup | = | superlative |
| 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) |
| CDC | = | W.D. Whitney and B.E. Smith: The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia (1889-1911) |
| LRC | = | Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin |
| MEV | = | J.R.R. Tolkien: A Middle English Vocabulary (1922) |
| W7 | = | Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963) |