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: gheis-, and g̑heiz-d- 'shocked, aghast, confused'
Semantic Field(s): Surprise, Wonder, Astonishment
Indo-European Reflexes:
| Family/Language | Reflex(es) | PoS/Gram. | Gloss | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | ||||
| Old English: | gǣstan | vb.wk | to gast, afflict | GED |
| gāst, gǣst | n.str.masc | ghost, angel | ASD/GED | |
| Middle English: | agast | adj | aghast | W7 |
| agasten | vb | to gast | W7 | |
| gast, ghest, gost | n | ghost | W7 | |
| gasten | vb | to frighten | W7 | |
| English: | aghast | adj | shocked, struck with horror/terror/amazement | AHD/W7 |
| barghest | n | ghost/goblin portending misfortune | AHD/W7 | |
| gast | vb.trans | to scare, frighten | AHD/W7 | |
| ghastly | adj | frightful | GED | |
| ghost | n | soul, spirit, seat of life | AHD/W7 | |
| poltergeist | n | mischievous ghost responsible for unexplained noises | AHD/W7 | |
| Radagast | prop.n | wizard in Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings | LRC | |
| snollygoster | n | shrewd unprincipled person/politician | AHD/W7 | |
| Scots English: | gest | n | ghost | ASD |
| West Germanic | ||||
| Old Frisian: | gast, iest | n.masc | ghost | ASD |
| Frisian: | gæst | n | ghost | ASD |
| Dutch: | geest | n.masc | ghost | ASD |
| Old Saxon: | gēst, gāst, geist | n.str.masc | ghost | ASD/GED |
| Low German: | geest | n.masc | ghost | ASD |
| Old High German: | geist | n.str.masc | ghost | GED |
| Middle High German: | geist | n.masc | ghost | ASD |
| German: | Geist | n.masc | ghost | ASD/W7 |
| Poltergeist | n | poltergeist | W7 | |
| North Germanic | ||||
| Old Icelandic: | geiska-fullr | adj | lit. fearful | GED |
| Icelandic: | geiski | n | fright | GED |
| Danish: | geist | n.masc/fem | ghost | ASD |
| Swedish: | gast | n.masc | ghost, evil spirit | ASD |
| East Germanic | ||||
| Gothic: | gaisjan | vb.wk.I | to be frightened | ASD |
| gasts | n | ghost | LRC | |
| *us-gaisjan | vb.wk.I | to frighten | GED | |
| *us-gaisnan | vb.wk.IV | to be amazed, astonished | GED | |
| Iranian | ||||
| Avestan: | zaeša- | adj | horrible | GED |
| zōišnu- | adj | frightened, trembling | GED | |
| Indic | ||||
| Sanskrit: | hinásti | vb | to injure, destroy | GED |
| hīḍ- | vb | to be angry | GED | |
| héḍas- | n | anger (of gods) | GED | |
Key to Part-of-Speech/Grammatical feature abbreviations:
| Abbrev. | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| I | = | class 1 |
| IV | = | class 4 |
| adj | = | adjective |
| fem | = | feminine (gender) |
| masc | = | masculine (gender) |
| n | = | noun |
| prop | = | proper |
| str | = | strong (inflection) |
| trans | = | transitive |
| 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) |
| LRC | = | Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin |
| W7 | = | Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963) |