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: 5. bher- 'shining; bright brown'
Semantic Field(s): to Shine, Glisten, Bright, Dark in Color
Indo-European Reflexes:
| Family/Language | Reflex(es) | PoS/Gram. | Gloss | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Celtic | ||||
| Gaelic: | beabhar | n | beaver | CDC |
| Cornish: | befr | n | beaver | CDC |
| English | ||||
| Old English: | beofor, befer | n | beaver | CDC/RPN |
| beorn, birn | n.masc | man, prince, hero, warrior | ASD | |
| bera | adj | brown | GED | |
| bera | n.masc | bear | ASD/RPN | |
| brūn | adj | brown, dark | RPN | |
| Middle English: | bere | n | bear | W7 |
| bever | n | beaver | W7 | |
| broun(e), browne | adj | brown | MEV/W7 | |
| burnet | n | burnet | W7 | |
| burnischen | vb | to burnish | W7 | |
| English: | bear | n | large heavy mammal with long shaggy hair | AHD/W7 |
| beaver | n | large semiaquatic rodent with broad flat tail | AHD/W7 | |
| Beorn | prop.n | heroic bear-man in Tolkien: The Hobbit | LRC | |
| berserk(er) | n | (Norse) warrior frenzied in battle | AHD/W7 | |
| brown | adj | very dull dark reddish color | AHD/W7 | |
| bruin | n | bear (large mammal) | AHD/W7 | |
| brunet | adj | (with hair) of dark brown color | AHD/W7 | |
| burnet | n | herb with stipulate odd-pinnate leaves | AHD/W7 | |
| burnish | vb.trans | to polish, make shiny/lustrous by rubbing | AHD/W7 | |
| Grimbeorn | prop.n | Beorn's son in Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings | LRC | |
| West Germanic | ||||
| Old Frisian: | brun | adj | brown | ASD |
| Frisian: | brun | adj | brown | ASD |
| Middle Dutch: | bere | adj | brown | GED |
| Dutch: | beer | n.masc | bear | ASD |
| bever | n | beaver | CDC | |
| bruin | adj | brown | ASD | |
| bruin | n | bruin | W7 | |
| Low German: | baar | n | bear | CDC |
| bever | n | beaver | CDC | |
| Old High German: | bero, pero | n | bear | ASD/RPN |
| bero | adj | brown | GED/IEW | |
| bibar | n | beaver | RPN | |
| brūn | adj | brown | RPN | |
| Middle High German: | ber | n | bear | ASD |
| biber | n | beaver | CDC | |
| brūn | adj | brown | ASD | |
| German: | Bär | n.masc | bear | ASD |
| Bieber | n.masc | beaver | LRC | |
| braun | adj | brown | ASD | |
| North Germanic | ||||
| Old Norse: | ber-serkr | n.masc | giant, lit. bear-sark (bear-shirt) | ICE |
| björn | n.masc | bear | ASD/RPN | |
| Old Icelandic: | bjórr | n | beaver | RPN |
| bjǫrn | adj | brown | GED/IEW | |
| brúnn | adj | brown | RPN | |
| Icelandic: | berserkr | n | berserk | CDC |
| bjōrr | n | beaver | CDC | |
| björn | n.masc | bear | ASD | |
| brūnn | adj | brown | ASD | |
| Danish: | bjørn | n.masc | bear | TLL |
| bruun | adj | brown | ASD | |
| bæver | n | beaver | CDC | |
| Swedish: | björn | n.masc | bear | ASD |
| brun | adj | brown | ASD | |
| bäfver | n | beaver | CDC | |
| Italic | ||||
| Old Latin: | biber | n | beaver | CDC |
| Latin: | fiber | n | beaver | RPN |
| Spanish: | bibaro | n | beaver | CDC |
| Old French: | brun | adj | brown | W7 |
| brunette | n.fem | dark brown fabric | W7 | |
| burnete | n.fem | (genus of) herb | W7 | |
| Middle French: | brun | adj | brown | W7 |
| brunir, brunissé | vb | to make brown | W7 | |
| French: | bièvre | n | beaver | CDC |
| brun | adj | brown | TLL | |
| brunet, brunette | adj | brown(ish) | W7 | |
| Old Occitan: | vibre | n | beaver | CDC |
| Italian: | bevero | n | beaver | CDC |
| Baltic | ||||
| Old Prussian: | bebrus | n | beaver | CDC |
| Lithuanian: | bebrùs | n | beaver | RPN |
| bėras | adj | brown | GED/IEW | |
| Latvian: | bebris | n | beaver | CDC |
| Slavic | ||||
| Polish: | bóbr | n | beaver | RPN |
| Czech: | bobr | n | beaver | CDC |
| Old Church Slavonic: | *bebrъ | n | beaver | RPN |
| bĭbrŭ, bŏbrŭ | n | beaver | CDC | |
| Russian: | bobr | n | beaver | RPN |
| bobrŭ | n | beaver | CDC | |
| Hellenic | ||||
| Greek: | φρῦνος, φρύνη | n | toad | RPN |
| Indic | ||||
| Sanskrit: | babhrú-ḥ | adj | ruddy, brown | RPN |
| bhallas | n | bear | GED/IEW | |
| bhallū́kas | n | bear | GED/IEW | |
Key to Part-of-Speech/Grammatical feature abbreviations:
| Abbrev. | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| adj | = | adjective |
| fem | = | feminine (gender) |
| masc | = | masculine (gender) |
| n | = | noun |
| prop | = | proper |
| trans | = | transitive |
| 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) |
| GED | = | Winfred P. Lehmann: A Gothic Etymological Dictionary (1986) |
| ICE | = | Richard Cleasby and Gudbrand Vigfusson: An Icelandic-English Dictionary (1874) |
| IEW | = | Julius Pokorny: Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (1959) |
| LRC | = | Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin |
| MEV | = | J.R.R. Tolkien: A Middle English Vocabulary (1922) |
| RPN | = | Allan R. Bomhard: Reconstructing Proto-Nostratic (2002) |
| TLL | = | Frederick Bodmer: The Loom of Language (1944) |
| W7 | = | Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963) |
