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: bherəg̑-, bhrēg̑- 'to shine; bright, white'
Semantic Field(s): to Shine, Glisten, Bright, White
Indo-European Reflexes:
| Family/Language | Reflex(es) | PoS/Gram. | Gloss | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Celtic | ||||
| Old Irish: | bergann | n | list of runes (?) | GED |
| Welsh: | berth | adj | beautiful | RPN |
| English | ||||
| Old English: | be(o)rc | n.str.fem | birch; (name for) B-rune | GED |
| be(o)rht, byrht, bryht | adj | bright | ASD/W7 | |
| bi(e)rce, byrc(e) | n.str.fem | birch | ASD/GED | |
| Middle English: | birch, birk(e) | n | birch | CDC/W7 |
| bri(g)ht, bryght(e) | adj | bright | MEV/W7 | |
| English: | birch | n | monoecious deciduous tree/shrub | AHD/W7 |
| birk | n | birch | AHD/W7 | |
| bright | adj | shining, reflecting/radiating light | AHD/W7 | |
| Camembert | prop.n | (village in Basse-Normandie famous for) a cheese | LRC | |
| fraxinella | n | Eurasian perennial herb | AHD/W7 | |
| Scots English: | birk | n | birch | CDC |
| West Germanic | ||||
| Middle Dutch: | berck | n.str.fem | birch | CDC |
| Dutch: | berk | n.str.fem | birch | CDC |
| Old Saxon: | ber(a)ht | adj | bright | ASD |
| Old High German: | beraht, peraht | adj | bright | ASD/W7 |
| bircha, birihha | n.str.fem | birch | GED | |
| birka | n | birch | W7 | |
| piricha | n.wk.fem | birch | CDC | |
| Middle High German: | berht | adj | bright | ASD |
| birke, birche | n.fem | birch | ASD | |
| German: | Birke | n.fem | birch | ASD |
| North Germanic | ||||
| Runic: | *berkanan | n | birch; (name for) B-rune | LRC |
| Old Norse: | biartr | adj | bright | ASD |
| Old Icelandic: | birti | n | brightness | RPN |
| bjarkan | n | birch; (name for) B-rune | GED | |
| bjartr | adj | bright, shining | RPN | |
| bjǫrk | n.str.fem | birch | GED | |
| Icelandic: | biörk | n.str.fem | birch | CDC |
| Danish: | birk | n.str.fem | birch | CDC |
| Swedish: | björk | n.str.fem | birch | CDC |
| East Germanic | ||||
| Gothic: | bairhtei | n | brightness | RPN |
| bairhts | adj | bright, manifest | RPN | |
| bercna | n | birch; (name for) B-rune | GED | |
| Italic | ||||
| Latin: | fraxinus | n.fem | ash (tree) | ELD/GED |
| New Latin: | fraxinella | n.dim | fraxinella | W7 |
| French: | Camembert | n.fem | city in Normandy, France | W7 |
| Baltic | ||||
| Lithuanian: | béržas | n | birch | GED |
| brė́kšti | vb | to dawn | RPN | |
| Slavic | ||||
| Old Church Slavonic: | breza | n | birch | CDC |
| Russian: | berëza | n | birch | GED |
| Albanian | ||||
| Albanian: | bredh | n | fir, pine | GED |
| Hellenic | ||||
| Greek: | βράθυ | n | (species of) juniper | GED |
| Anatolian | ||||
| Hittite: | pár-ku-uš | adj | pure, clean | RPN |
| Palaic: | pa-ar-ku-i-ti | vb | to clean, to purify | RPN |
| Iranian | ||||
| Avestan: | brāza- | n | shimmering; radiance | RPN |
| brāzaiti | vb | to beam | RPN | |
| Ossetic: | bærz | n | birch | GED |
| Indic | ||||
| Sanskrit: | bhargas | n | splendor, brightness | ASD |
| bhūrjás | n | (species of) birch | GED | |
| bhrā́jate | vb | to shine, gleam, glitter | RPN | |
Key to Part-of-Speech/Grammatical feature abbreviations:
| Abbrev. | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| adj | = | adjective |
| dim | = | diminutive |
| fem | = | feminine (gender) |
| n | = | noun |
| prop | = | proper |
| str | = | strong (inflection) |
| vb | = | verb |
| wk | = | weak (inflection) |
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) |
| ELD | = | Charlton T. Lewis: An Elementary Latin Dictionary (1999) |
| GED | = | Winfred P. Lehmann: A Gothic Etymological Dictionary (1986) |
| 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) |
| W7 | = | Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963) |
