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. dens- 'to learn; mental power'
Semantic Field(s): to Learn
Indo-European Reflexes:
| Family/Language | Reflex(es) | PoS/Gram. | Gloss | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | ||||
| English: | autodidact | n | self-taught person | AHD/W7 |
| didactic | adj | fitted/intended to teach | AHD/W7 | |
| Hellenic | ||||
| Homeric Greek: | δήνεα | n.neut.pl | counsels, plans | RPN |
| Greek: | autodidaktos | adj | self-taught | W7 |
| δαΐ-φρων | adj | wise of mind, prudent | RPN | |
| didaktikos | adj | didactic | W7 | |
| didaktos | adj | taught | W7 | |
| didaskein | vb | to teach | W7 | |
| Iranian | ||||
| Avestan: | dąh- | vb | to be wise/mighty | RPN |
| dąhah- | n.neut | mastery | RPN | |
| dąhišta- | adj.sup | wisest | RPN | |
| Indic | ||||
| Sanskrit: | dáṁsas- | n.neut | wondrous deed/power | RPN |
Key to Part-of-Speech/Grammatical feature abbreviations:
| Abbrev. | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| adj | = | adjective |
| n | = | noun |
| neut | = | neuter (gender) |
| pl | = | plural (number) |
| sup | = | superlative |
| 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) |
| RPN | = | Allan R. Bomhard: Reconstructing Proto-Nostratic (2002) |
| W7 | = | Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963) |
