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: bhlē-u̯o-s 'a light color (blue, yellow)'
Semantic Field(s): Light in Color, Blue, Yellow
Indo-European Reflexes:
| Family/Language | Reflex(es) | PoS/Gram. | Gloss | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | ||||
| Old English: | *blāw | adj | blue | IEW |
| Middle English: | blo | adj | black and blue | MEV |
| bl(u)we, blue, blew(e), bl(e)u | adj/n | blue | CDC/MEV/W7 | |
| English: | blue | adj | re: color blue (short-wavelength visible light) | AHD/W7 |
| flavin | n | yellow nitrogenous water-soluble pigment | AHD/W7 | |
| flavone | n | colorless crystalline ketone found in primroses | AHD/W7 | |
| West Germanic | ||||
| Old Frisian: | blaw | adj | blue | CDC |
| Middle Dutch: | blaeuw | adj | blue | CDC |
| Dutch: | blaauw | adj | blue | CDC |
| Middle Low German: | blā(w), blauwe | adj | blue | CDC |
| Low German: | blau, blaag | adj | blue | CDC |
| Old High German: | blāo | adj | blue | IEW/W7 |
| Middle High German: | blā | adj | blue; yellow | IEW |
| German: | blau | adj | blue | IEW |
| North Germanic | ||||
| Old Norse: | blár | adj | black and blue | MEV |
| Icelandic: | blār | adj | blue | CDC |
| Danish: | blaa | adj | blue | CDC |
| Swedish: | blå | adj | blue | CDC |
| Italic | ||||
| Latin: | flāvus | adj | yellow, golden | IEW |
| Middle Latin: | blāv(i)us | adj | blue | CDC |
| Portuguese: | blao | adj | blue | CDC |
| Old Spanish: | blavo | adj | blue | CDC |
| Spanish: | blao | adj | blue | CDC |
| Old French: | blue, blef | adj | blue | CDC |
| French: | blue | adj | blue | CDC |
| Provençal: | blau | adj | blue | CDC |
| blava | n.fem | blue | CDC | |
| Italian: | biaro, blù | adj | blue | CDC |
Key to Part-of-Speech/Grammatical feature abbreviations:
| Abbrev. | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| adj | = | adjective |
| fem | = | feminine (gender) |
| n | = | noun |
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) |
| CDC | = | W.D. Whitney and B.E. Smith: The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia (1889-1911) |
| IEW | = | Julius Pokorny: Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (1959) |
| MEV | = | J.R.R. Tolkien: A Middle English Vocabulary (1922) |
| W7 | = | Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963) |
