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: 2. bhlēu- : bhləu- : bhlū- 'bad, weak, miserable'
Semantic Field(s): Bad, Weak, Infirm, Sad
Indo-European Reflexes:
| Family/Language | Reflex(es) | PoS/Gram. | Gloss | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | ||||
| Old English: | blēat | adj | poor, wretched, miserable | IEW/RPN |
| blēate | adv | wretchedly, miserably | ASD | |
| blēað | adj | shy, timid; gentle, peaceful; silly, stupid | ASD/IEW | |
| English: | blot | n | weak/exposed point; exposed game piece | ODE/W7 |
| Scots English: | blait | adj | naked, exposed, destitute | ASD |
| West Germanic | ||||
| Old Frisian: | blāt | adj | naked, exposed, destitute, miserable | ASD/ODE |
| Frisian: | bleat | adj | naked, exposed, destitute | ASD |
| Middle Dutch: | bloot, blōt | adj | poor, naked; wretched, miserable | ASD/ODE |
| Dutch: | bloot | adj | naked, exposed; wretched, miserable | ASD/ODE |
| Old Saxon: | blōdi | adj | coy, modest, bashful | IEW |
| Middle Low German: | blōt, bloot | adj | bare, mere; poor, naked | IEW/ODE |
| Old High German: | blōz | adj | bare, mere | ODE |
| Middle High German: | blœde | adj | timid; fragile | IEW |
| blōz | adj | bare, mere; wretched, miserable | ASD/IEW | |
| German: | blöde | adj | silly, stupid, idiotic, imbecilic | IEW |
| bloss | adj | bare, mere | IEW | |
| North Germanic | ||||
| Old Icelandic: | blauþr, blautr | adj | soft, weak, timorous | IEW/RPN |
| Icelandic: | blautr | adj | wretched, miserable | ASD |
| East Germanic | ||||
| Gothic: | blauþjan | vb | to void, abolish | RPN |
| Hellenic | ||||
| Greek: | φλαῦρος | adj | bad, shabby, useless | RPN |
Key to Part-of-Speech/Grammatical feature abbreviations:
| Abbrev. | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| adj | = | adjective |
| adv | = | adverb(ial) |
| n | = | noun |
| vb | = | verb |
Key to information Source codes (always with 'LRC' as editor):
| Code | Citation | |
|---|---|---|
| ASD | = | Joseph Bosworth and T. Northcote Toller: An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary (1898) |
| IEW | = | Julius Pokorny: Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (1959) |
| ODE | = | C.T. Onions: The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology (1966) |
| RPN | = | Allan R. Bomhard: Reconstructing Proto-Nostratic (2002) |
| W7 | = | Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963) |
