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: bheleu- 'to hit, weaken; ill, weak'
Semantic Field(s): to Hit, Strike, Beat, Sick; Sickness, Weak, Infirm
Indo-European Reflexes:
| Family/Language | Reflex(es) | PoS/Gram. | Gloss | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | ||||
| Old English: | bealo, b(e)alu | n | bale, injury | ASD/RPN |
| Middle English: | balw(e), baluw | n | bale | CDC |
| ba(y)le, bayll | n | bale, torment, mysery | MEV/W7 | |
| English: | bale | n | great evil; woe, sorrow | AHD/W7 |
| baleful | adj | deadly/pernicious in influence | W7 | |
| West Germanic | ||||
| Old Frisian: | balu | n | bale | ASD |
| Old Saxon: | balu | n | bale | RPN |
| Old High German: | balo | n | bale, destruction | RPN |
| North Germanic | ||||
| Old Icelandic: | böl | n | bale, misfortune | RPN |
| East Germanic | ||||
| Gothic: | balweins | n | pain, punishment | ASD |
| balwjan | vb | to plague, torment | RPN | |
| Baltic | ||||
| Lithuanian: | blúkšti | vb | to become weak | RPN |
| Slavic | ||||
| Old Slavic: | bolŭ | n | sick man | W7 |
| Old Church Slavonic: | bolěti | vb | to be sick | RPN |
Key to Part-of-Speech/Grammatical feature abbreviations:
| Abbrev. | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| adj | = | adjective |
| n | = | noun |
| 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) |
| MEV | = | J.R.R. Tolkien: A Middle English Vocabulary (1922) |
| RPN | = | Allan R. Bomhard: Reconstructing Proto-Nostratic (2002) |
| W7 | = | Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963) |
