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: 1. bhedh- 'to dig, stab, pierce, embed'
Semantic Field(s): to Dig, Delve, to Press, Knife (tool)
Indo-European Reflexes:
| Family/Language | Reflex(es) | PoS/Gram. | Gloss | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Celtic | ||||
| Welsh: | bedd | n | grave | RPN |
| Gaulish: | bedo- | n | canal, ditch | RPN |
| English | ||||
| Old English: | bed(d) | n | bed | ASD/W7 |
| Middle English: | bed(de) | n | bed | CDC/W7 |
| fosse | n | fosse | W7 | |
| English: | bed | n | furniture for sleeping/reclining | AHD/W7 |
| bed | vb | to put to bed, place in bed | W2I | |
| embed, imbed | vb | to enclose, set solidly | W2I | |
| fossa | n | anatomical pit/cavity | AHD/W7 | |
| fosse | n | moat, ditch | AHD/W7 | |
| fossil | n | trace of plant/animal of past geological age | AHD/W7 | |
| fossorial | adj | adapted to digging | AHD/W7 | |
| West Germanic | ||||
| Old Frisian: | bed | n | bed | CDC |
| Dutch: | bed | n.neut | bed | ASD/CDC |
| Old Saxon: | bed | n.neut | bed | ASD/CDC |
| Old High German: | bet(ti), petti | n.neut | bed | ASD/CDC |
| Middle High German: | bet(te) | n.neut | bed | CDC |
| German: | Bett | n.neut | bed | CDC |
| North Germanic | ||||
| Old Norse: | beðr | n.masc | bed | ASD |
| Bǫðvarr | prop.n.masc | Bothvar | LRC | |
| bǫðvarr | n.masc | battle | LRC | |
| Icelandic: | beðr | n | bed | CDC |
| Danish: | bed | n | bed | ASD |
| Swedish: | bädd | n.neut | bed | ASD/CDC |
| East Germanic | ||||
| Gothic: | badi | n.neut | bed | ASD/CDC |
| Italic | ||||
| Latin: | fodiō, fodere, fōdī, fossum | vb | to dig (up), pierce, stab | RPN |
| fossa | n.fem | dip, hole in ground | W7 | |
| fossilis | adj | dug up | W7 | |
| Medieval Latin: | fossorius | adj | fossorial, adapted to digging | W7 |
| New Latin: | fossa | n.fem | anatomical pit/depression | W7 |
| Old French: | fosse | n.fem | dip, hole in ground | W7 |
| Baltic | ||||
| Lithuanian: | bãdas | n.masc | starvation | LRC |
| badaũ, badýti | vb | to pierce, gore | RPN | |
| bedù, bèsti | vb | to dig, bury | RPN | |
| Slavic | ||||
| Old Church Slavonic: | bodǫ, bosti | vb | to stick, prick | RPN |
| Anatolian | ||||
| Hittite: | pád-da-i, píd-da-i | vb.3.sg | to dig | RPN |
Key to Part-of-Speech/Grammatical feature abbreviations:
| Abbrev. | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | = | 3rd person |
| adj | = | adjective |
| fem | = | feminine (gender) |
| masc | = | masculine (gender) |
| n | = | noun |
| neut | = | neuter (gender) |
| prop | = | proper |
| sg | = | singular (number) |
| 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 |
| RPN | = | Allan R. Bomhard: Reconstructing Proto-Nostratic (2002) |
| W2I | = | Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language, 2nd ed. (1959) |
| W7 | = | Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963) |