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: gu̯ē̆nā 'wife, queen, woman'
Semantic Field(s): Wife, Woman
Indo-European Reflexes:
| Family/Language | Reflex(es) | PoS/Gram. | Gloss | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Celtic | ||||
| Old Irish: | ben | n | woman | GED |
| Irish: | bean | n | woman | W2I |
| bean-sīdhe | n | banshee | CDC | |
| Gaelic: | bean | n | woman | W2I |
| b(e)an-sīth | n.fem | banshee | CDC/W7 | |
| English | ||||
| Old English: | cwēn | n.str.fem | queen, wife, woman | ASD/GED |
| cwēne, cwȳne | n.fem | queen, quean, wife, woman | ASD/W7 | |
| Middle English: | quene | n | queen | W7 |
| English: | banshee | n | female spirit whose wailing warns family of approaching death (Gaelic folklore) | AHD/W7 |
| -gyne | n.sfx | woman, female | AHD/W7 | |
| gynecocracy | n | political supremacy of women | AHD/W7 | |
| gynecology | n | study of women's hygiene/diseases | AHD | |
| gynoecium | n | pistils, aggregate of flower carpels | AHD/W7 | |
| -gynous | adj | re: female(s) | AHD/W7 | |
| quean | n | disreputable woman | AHD/W7 | |
| queen | n | wife/widow of king | AHD/W7 | |
| zenana | n | harem, seraglio | AHD/W7 | |
| West Germanic | ||||
| Dutch: | kween | n.fem | married woman | ASD |
| Old Saxon: | cwān, cwēna | n.fem | wife | ASD |
| quān | n.str.fem | queen, wife, woman | GED | |
| Old High German: | quena, chena, chone | n.fem | queen, wife, woman | ASD |
| Middle High German: | kon(e) | n.fem | wife | ASD |
| German: | Königin | n.fem | queen | ASD |
| North Germanic | ||||
| Old Norse: | kona | n.fem | queen, wife, woman | LRC |
| Old Icelandic: | kvān, kvæn | n.str.fem | queen, wife, woman | GED |
| kvæna | vb.wk | to make one marry | GED | |
| ū-kvæntr | adj | unmarried | GED | |
| Icelandic: | kona, kuna, kwān, kwǣn | n | queen, wife, woman | ASD |
| Danish: | kone, qwinde | n | wife, woman | ASD |
| kvinde | n | woman | TLL | |
| Swedish: | kvinna | n | woman | TLL |
| kåna | n.fem | quean, low woman | ASD | |
| qwinna | n.fem | wife, woman | ASD | |
| East Germanic | ||||
| Gothic: | qens | n.fem | queen, wife, woman | GED |
| qino | n | woman, female | LRC | |
| Italic | ||||
| Latin: | gynaeceum | n.neut | women's apartments | W7 |
| New Latin: | gynoecium | n.neut | women's apartments | W7 |
| -gynus | sfx | of women | W7 | |
| Baltic | ||||
| Old Prussian: | genno | n | woman | GED |
| Slavic | ||||
| Old Church Slavonic: | žena | n.fem | wife, woman | LRC |
| Russian: | ženà | n | wife | GED |
| Hellenic | ||||
| Boeotian: | βανά | n | wife, lady | GED |
| Greek: | gynaikeion | n.neut | gynoecium | W7 |
| γυναῖκες | n.pl | women | GED | |
| gynaikokratia | n.fem | gynecocracy | W7 | |
| gynaikos | adj | pertaining to women | W7 | |
| γυνή | n.fem | wife, woman | LRC | |
| μνηστεύω | vb | to woo, espouse | LRC | |
| Armenian | ||||
| Armenian: | kin | n | wife, woman | LRC |
| Iranian | ||||
| Avestan: | gənā | n | wife, woman | GED |
| ǰaini- | n | woman | GED | |
| ǰąni- | n | woman | GED | |
| Indic | ||||
| Sanskrit: | jáni- | n | wife, woman | GED |
| jñā́- | n | goddess, divine female | GED | |
| Hindi: | zanāna | n | harem | W7 |
| Tocharian | ||||
| Tocharian B: | klīye, klyiye | n | woman | GED |
| śana | n | wife | GED | |
| Tocharian A: | kuli | n | woman | GED |
| śäm | n | wife | GED | |
Key to Part-of-Speech/Grammatical feature abbreviations:
| Abbrev. | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| adj | = | adjective |
| fem | = | feminine (gender) |
| n | = | noun |
| neut | = | neuter (gender) |
| pl | = | plural (number) |
| sfx | = | suffix |
| str | = | strong (inflection) |
| 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) |
| CDC | = | W.D. Whitney and B.E. Smith: The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia (1889-1911) |
| GED | = | Winfred P. Lehmann: A Gothic Etymological Dictionary (1986) |
| LRC | = | Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin |
| TLL | = | Frederick Bodmer: The Loom of Language (1944) |
| W2I | = | Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language, 2nd ed. (1959) |
| W7 | = | Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963) |
