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: bhei(ə)-, bhī-   'to hit'

Semantic Field(s): to Hit, Strike, Beat

 

Indo-European Reflexes:

Family/Language Reflex(es) PoS/Gram. Gloss Source(s)
Celtic  
Irish: bil n bill: beak, mouth CDC
Gaelic: bil n bill: beak, mouth CDC
English  
Old English: bān, baan n.neut bone ASD/W7
bile n.masc bill: beak CDC
bil(l) n.neut bill: pick; sword, falchion ASD/IEW
Middle English: bil, bill(e) n bill: pick; sword CDC
bil(l), bil(l)e n bill: beak CDC/W7
bon n bone W7
English: Beechbone prop.n Ent name in Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings LRC
Bilbo prop.n hero in Tolkien: The Hobbit LRC
bill n bird's beak AHD/W7
bill n pick, mattock, long staff with hook-shaped blade AHD/W7
Bohemia prop.n (area in) Czechoslovakia AHD
Bohemian prop.n native/inhabitant of Bohemia W7
bohemian n artist, writer; wanderer, vagabond AHD/W7
bone n hard part of skeleton of vertebrate HGE/W7
twibill n double-bladed battle-ax, lit. two-bill AHD/CDC
West Germanic  
Middle Dutch: bille n bill; sword CDC
Dutch: been n bone; leg TLL
bijl n.fem bill; sword ASD
Old Saxon: bil n.neut bill; sword ASD/CDC
Old High German: bein n bone W7
bi(h)al n.neut bill; sword ASD
bill n.fem bill: pick; sword CDC/W7
Middle High German: bil(e) n.neut bill: pick (to sharpen millstones) ASD/CDC
German: Bei(he)l n.neut bill; sword ASD
Bein n.neut bone; leg TLL
North Germanic  
Old Norse: bein n bone W7
Danish: ben n leg TLL
Swedish: ben n bone TLL
bill n bill, plowshare CDC
Italic  
French: bohème n gypsy, musician, bohemian W7
Hellenic  
Greek: phitros n.masc log W7
Indic  
Sanskrit: bil vb to divide ASD
bhid vb to split, cleave CDC

 

Key to Part-of-Speech/Grammatical feature abbreviations:

Abbrev. Meaning
fem=feminine (gender)
masc=masculine (gender)
n=noun
neut=neuter (gender)
prop=proper
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)
HGE=Vladimir E. Orel: A Handbook of Germanic Etymology (2003)
IEW=Julius Pokorny: Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (1959)
LRC=Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin
TLL=Frederick Bodmer: The Loom of Language (1944)
W7=Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963)

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