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: 1. bhes- 'to spread, smear, rub on'
Semantic Field(s): to Strew, Spread Out, to Rub
Indo-European Reflexes:
| Family/Language | Reflex(es) | PoS/Gram. | Gloss | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Celtic | ||||
| Breton: | bezo | n.masc | birch | ASD |
| English | ||||
| Old English: | bes(e)ma | n.masc | besom | ASD/KEW |
| sand | n.masc | sand | AHD/ASD | |
| Middle English: | beseme | n | besom | W7 |
| sand | n | sand | W7 | |
| English: | besom | n | broom: twigs/fibers on long handle for sweeping | LRC |
| epsilon | n | 5th letter of Greek alphabet | AHD | |
| palimpsest | n | writing material reused after erasure of earlier writing | AHD/W7 | |
| psephology | n | study of political elections | AHD | |
| psilomelane | n | hydrous black manganese oxide | AHD | |
| sabulous | adj | sandy, gritty | AHD/W7 | |
| sand | n | loose granular material produced by rock disintegration | AHD/W7 | |
| Sandheaver | prop.n | hobbit surname in Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings | LRC | |
| sandy | adj | re: sand (in color/composition) | W7 | |
| Sandyman | prop.n | hobbit surname in Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings | LRC | |
| upsilon | n | 20th letter of Greek alphabet | AHD/W7 | |
| West Germanic | ||||
| Frisian: | besma | n.masc | besom | ASD |
| Old Dutch: | bes(s)em | n.masc | besom | ASD |
| Dutch: | bezem | n.masc | besom | TLL |
| zand | n | sand | TLL | |
| Old High German: | besamo, besemo | n | besom | ASD/KDW |
| sant | n | sand | W7 | |
| German: | Besen | n.masc | besom | ASD/TLL |
| Epsilon | n | epsilon | LRC | |
| Sand | n.masc | sand | LRC | |
| sandig | adj | sandy, gritty | LRC | |
| North Germanic | ||||
| Danish: | sand | n | sand | TLL |
| Swedish: | sand | n | sand | TLL |
| Italic | ||||
| Latin: | palimpsestus | n.masc/fem | parchment scraped twice | W7 |
| sabulosus | adj | sandy | W7 | |
| sabulum | n.neut | coarse sand | W7 | |
| Hellenic | ||||
| Greek: | palimpsēstos | adj | scraped again | W7 |
| psammos | n.fem | sand | W7 | |
| psēn | vb | to rub, scrape | W7 | |
Key to Part-of-Speech/Grammatical feature abbreviations:
| Abbrev. | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| adj | = | adjective |
| 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) |
| KDW | = | Gerhard Köbler: Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 4th ed. (1993) |
| KEW | = | Gerhard Köbler: Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed. (2003) |
| LRC | = | Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin |
| TLL | = | Frederick Bodmer: The Loom of Language (1944) |
| W7 | = | Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963) |
