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. enebh- : nebh-, embh-, m̥bh-   'wet, damp; cloud, nimbus; water'

Semantic Field(s): Wet, Damp, Cloud, Mirk, Water

 

Indo-European Reflexes:

Family/Language Reflex(es) PoS/Gram. Gloss Source(s)
Celtic  
Old Irish: nem n sky LRC
Middle Welsh: nyfel n cloud LRC
Welsh: niwl n fog, cloud LRC
English  
Old English: neowol n fog LRC
English: imbricate adj lying overlapped in regular order AHD/W7
imbue vb.trans to dye/tinge deeply AHD/W7
nebula n slight cloudy opacity of cornea AHD/W7
nebulous adj foggy, cloudy AHD/W7
nepheline n glassy crystalline sodium/potassium/aluminum silicate AHD/W7
nephelometer n instrument to measure cloudiness AHD/W7
nephology n meteorology re: clouds AHD
Nibelung prop.n subterranean dwarf (Germanic mythology) AHD
Nibelung prop.n Nibelung W7
nimbus n luminous cloud/vapor/atmosphere around god/goddess on earth AHD/W7
West Germanic  
Old High German: nebul n fog, darkness W7
German: Nebel n.masc fog LRC
North Germanic  
Old Norse: njól(a) n fog, night LRC
Italic  
Latin: imber, imbris n.masc rain W7
imbrex, imbricis n.masc pantile W7
imbuo, imbuere vb to steep, saturate W7
nebula n.fem fog, mist, cloud W7
nebulosus adj foggy W7
nimbus n.masc cloud, halo W7
Late Latin: imbrico, imbricāre, imbricāvī, imbricātus vb to cover with pantiles W7
French: néphéline n.fem nepheline W7
Baltic  
Lithuanian: *nebesis n cloud LRC
Latvian: debess n.fem sky, heaven LRC
Slavic  
Old Church Slavonic: nebesьnъ adj heavenly, of heaven LRC
nebesьskъ adj heavenly, of heaven LRC
nebo n.neut sky, heaven LRC
Hellenic  
Homeric Greek: νέφος n.neut cloud LRC
Greek: νεφέλη n.fem mist, cloud LRC
ombros n.masc rain W7
Anatolian  
Hittite: nepis n sky LRC
Iranian  
Pahlavi: namb n mist W7
Avestan: napta- adj moist, humid LRC
Indic  
Sanskrit: nábhas- n fog, mist, cloud LRC

 

Key to Part-of-Speech/Grammatical feature abbreviations:

Abbrev. Meaning
adj=adjective
fem=feminine (gender)
masc=masculine (gender)
n=noun
neut=neuter (gender)
prop=proper
trans=transitive
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)
LRC=Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin
W7=Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963)

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