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: bhrā́ter- 'brother, family member'
Semantic Field(s): Brother, Relative(s)
Indo-European Reflexes:
Family/Language | Reflex(es) | PoS/Gram. | Gloss | Source(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Celtic | ||||
Old Irish: | brāthir | n | brother | GED |
Irish: | brathair | n.masc | brother | ASD |
Welsh: | brodyr, brawd | n.masc | brother | ASD |
English | ||||
Old English: | brōðor, brōðer, brōder | n.masc | brother | ASD/GED |
gebrōðra, gebrōðru, gebrōðro | n.masc.pl | brethren | LRC | |
Middle English: | boy | n | boy | W7 |
brother | n | brother | W7 | |
confrere | n | confrere | W7 | |
fraternal | adj | fraternal | W7 | |
fratricide | n | fratricide | W7 | |
frere, fryer | n | friar | W7 | |
English: | boy | n | male child | IEW |
brethren | n.pl | brothers | W7 | |
brother | n | male sibling | AHD/W7 | |
bully | n | habitually cruel/overbearing person | AHD | |
confrere | n | comrade, colleague | AHD/W7 | |
Fra | prop.n | Brother (religious title) | AHD/W7 | |
fraternal | adj | re: brothers | AHD/W7 | |
fraternity | n | guild, brotherhood | AHD/W7 | |
fraternize | vb | to mingle/associate as brothers | AHD/W7 | |
fratricide | n | one who kills a sibling | AHD/W7 | |
friar | n | member of mendicant order | AHD/W7 | |
pal | n | partner | AHD/W7 | |
phratry | n | brotherhood, (religious) clan/tribe | AHD/W7 | |
American English: | bro | n.sl | brother | LRC |
British English: | fraternise | vb | to fraternize | LRC |
West Germanic | ||||
Old Frisian: | brōther, broder | n.masc | brother | ASD/GED |
Frisian: | boi | n | boy | W7 |
Dutch: | broeder | n.masc | brother | ASD |
Old Saxon: | brōðar | n.masc | brother | GED |
gibroðar | n.pl | brethren | ASD | |
Old High German: | bruoder, bruodor, brōdar | n.masc | brother | ASD/GED |
gapruoder | n.pl | brethren | ASD | |
Middle High German: | bruoder | n.masc | brother | ASD |
German: | Bruder | n.masc | brother | ASD |
Gebrüder | n.pl | brethren | ASD | |
North Germanic | ||||
Old Norse: | bróðir, bródir | n.masc | brother | ASD |
Old Icelandic: | brōðir | n.masc | brother | GED |
Danish: | broder | n.masc | brother | ASD |
Swedish: | broder | n.masc | brother | ASD |
bror | n | brother | TLL | |
East Germanic | ||||
Gothic: | broþar | n.wk.masc | brother | GED |
Crimean Gothic: | bruder | n.masc | brother | GED |
Italic | ||||
Latin: | frāter, frātris | n.masc | brother | GED |
fraternus | adj | fraternal, re: brother | W7 | |
fratricida | n.fem | fratricide | W7 | |
fratricidium | n.neut | killing of a brother | W7 | |
Medieval Latin: | confrater | n.masc | confrere, fellow, brother | W7 |
fraternalis | adj | fraternal, re: brother | W7 | |
Old French: | frere | n.masc | friar, brother | W7 |
Middle French: | confrere | n.masc | confrere, member of same fraternity | W7 |
fratricide | n.masc | killing of a brother | W7 | |
Italian: | Fra | prop.n.masc | Fra [religious title] | W7 |
frate | n.masc | friar, monk | W7 | |
Baltic | ||||
Old Prussian: | brote, brāti | n | brother | GED |
Lithuanian: | brólis | n.masc | brother | GED |
broter-èlis | n | brother | GED | |
Latvian: | bràlis | n | brother | GED |
Slavic | ||||
Old Church Slavonic: | brat(r)ъ | n.masc | brother | GED |
brat(r)ъja | n | phratry | GED | |
Russian: | brat | n | brother | LRC |
Hellenic | ||||
Hesychius' Greek Lexicon: | φρᾱτρία | n.fem | phratry | GED |
φρήτηρ | n | phratry member | GED | |
Doric: | πάτρα | n.fem | phratry | LS |
Ionic: | φρήτρη | n.fem | phratry | LS |
Homeric Greek: | φράτρα | n.fem | phratry, people of kindred race | GED |
Attic: | φρατρία | n.fem | phratry | LS |
Greek: | φράτηρ, φράτωρ | n.masc | brother, clansman, phratry member | LRC |
φράτρα | n.fem | phratry | GED | |
Armenian | ||||
Classical Armenian: | ełbayr | n | brother | LRC |
Iranian | ||||
Old Persian: | brātā | n | brother | GED |
Avestan: | bhrātar- | n | brother | LRC |
brātā | n | brother | GED | |
Indic | ||||
Sanskrit: | bhrā́tar- | n | brother | LRC |
bhrā́tā | n | brother | GED | |
bhrātrám | n | phratry | GED | |
bhrātryam | n | phratry | GED | |
Romani: | ph(r)al | n | brother, friend | W7 |
Tocharian | ||||
Tocharian B: | pracer | n | brother | LRC |
procer | n | brother | GED | |
Tocharian A: | pracar | n | brother | GED |
Key to Part-of-Speech/Grammatical feature abbreviations:
Abbrev. | Meaning | |
---|---|---|
adj | = | adjective |
fem | = | feminine (gender) |
masc | = | masculine (gender) |
n | = | noun |
neut | = | neuter (gender) |
pl | = | plural (number) |
prop | = | proper |
sl | = | slang |
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) |
GED | = | Winfred P. Lehmann: A Gothic Etymological Dictionary (1986) |
IEW | = | Julius Pokorny: Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (1959) |
LRC | = | Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin |
LS | = | Liddell and Scott: Greek-English Lexicon, 7th-9th ed's (1882-1940), rev. |
TLL | = | Frederick Bodmer: The Loom of Language (1944) |
W7 | = | Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963) |