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: gē̆nā   '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)

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