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: knei-gu̯h-, knei-b- 'to bow, kneel'
Semantic Field(s): to Obey
Indo-European Reflexes:
| Family/Language | Reflex(es) | PoS/Gram. | Gloss | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | ||||
| Old English: | hnīgan | vb.str | to bow | ASD/W7 |
| English: | connive | vb.intrans | to let pass, pretend ignorance of, fail to act against | AHD/W7 |
| nictate | vb | to wink | AHD/W7 | |
| nictitate | vb.intrans | to wink | AHD/W7 | |
| nisus | n | striving, conative state/condition | AHD/W7 | |
| renitent | adj | resisting pressure | AHD/W7 | |
| West Germanic | ||||
| Old Saxon: | hnīgan | vb | to bow | ASD |
| Old High German: | hnīgan | vb | to bow | W7 |
| North Germanic | ||||
| Old Norse: | hníga | vb | to sink | LRC |
| Icelandic: | hnīga | vb | to sink, bow down, fall gently | ASD |
| East Germanic | ||||
| Gothic: | hneiwan | vb | to bend down, decline | ASD |
| Italic | ||||
| Latin: | conniveo, connivēre | vb | to connive, close the eyes | W7 |
| nicto, nictare, nictavi, nictatus | vb | to nictate | W7 | |
| nisus, nisūs | n.masc | act of leaning down | W7 | |
| nitor, niti, nisus | vb.dep | to strive, bear down, lean on | W7 | |
| renitens, renitentis | adj/vb.ptc | renitent, opposing | W7 | |
| renitor, reniti | vb.dep | to struggle against | W7 | |
| French: | conniver | vb | to connive, close the eyes | W7 |
| rénitent | adj | renitent, elastic | W7 | |
Key to Part-of-Speech/Grammatical feature abbreviations:
| Abbrev. | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| adj | = | adjective |
| dep | = | deponent |
| intrans | = | intransitive |
| masc | = | masculine (gender) |
| n | = | noun |
| ptc | = | participle |
| str | = | strong (inflection) |
| 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) |
| ASD | = | Joseph Bosworth and T. Northcote Toller: An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary (1898) |
| LRC | = | Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin |
| W7 | = | Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963) |
