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: bhren- 'to bulge, stick out; edge, brink'
Semantic Field(s): Edge
Indo-European Reflexes:
| Family/Language | Reflex(es) | PoS/Gram. | Gloss | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | ||||
| Old English: | brant, bront | adj | high, deep, steep, difficult | ASD/IEW |
| Middle English: | brent | adj | steep | MEV |
| brink | n | brink | IEW | |
| English: | brink | n | edge/border (of steep place) | IEW/W7 |
| West Germanic | ||||
| Middle Dutch: | brinc | n | brink, grass field/border | IEW |
| Dutch: | brink | n | brink, grass field/border | IEW |
| Middle Low German: | brink | n | brink, edge of field | IEW |
| North Germanic | ||||
| Old Norse: | brekka | n | brink, slope | W7 |
| Old Icelandic: | brattr | adj | high, steep | IEW |
| brekka | n | brink, steep hill | IEW | |
| Icelandic: | brattr | adj | steep | ASD |
| Old Danish: | brink, brank | adj | steep, upright | IEW |
| Danish: | brat | adj | steep | ASD |
| Swedish: | brant | adj | precipitous | ASD |
Key to Part-of-Speech/Grammatical feature abbreviations:
| Abbrev. | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| adj | = | adjective |
| n | = | noun |
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) |
| MEV | = | J.R.R. Tolkien: A Middle English Vocabulary (1922) |
| W7 | = | Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963) |
