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)

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