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) |
