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: legu̯h- 'to move easily'
Semantic Field(s): to Move
Indo-European Reflexes:
| Family/Language | Reflex(es) | PoS/Gram. | Gloss | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | ||||
| Old English: | lēoht | adj | light, easy | LRC |
| lungen | n.fem | lung | ASD/W7 | |
| Middle English: | elevaten | vb | to elevate | W7 |
| legerdemain | n | legerdemain | W7 | |
| levain | n | leaven | W7 | |
| lever | n | lever | W7 | |
| light | adj | light | W7 | |
| lightenen | vb | to lighten | W7 | |
| lighter | n | lighter | W7 | |
| lightes | n.pl | lights | W7 | |
| lunge | n | lung | W7 | |
| releven | vb | to relieve | W7 | |
| English: | alleviate | vb.trans | to moderate, make easier to endure | AHD/W7 |
| carnival | n | pre-Lenten season/festival of merrymaking | AHD/W7 | |
| elevate | vb.trans | to raise, lift up | AHD/W7 | |
| leaven | n | substance (e.g. yeast) producing gas/fermentation in dough/liquid | AHD/W7 | |
| legerdemain | n | sleight of hand | AHD/W7 | |
| lever | n | bar used to pry/dislodge something | AHD/W7 | |
| levity | n | excessive/unseemly frivolity | AHD/W7 | |
| light | adj | not heavy, having little weight | AHD/W7 | |
| lighter | n | large flat-bottomed barge used to load/unload ships | AHD/W7 | |
| Lightfoot | prop.n | Snowmane's dam in Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings | LRC | |
| lightly | adv | not heavily | LRC | |
| lights | n.pl | lungs of (slaughtered) animal | IEW/W7 | |
| lung | n | compound saccular thoracic respiratory organ of air-breathing vertebrate | AHD/W7 | |
| mezzo-relievo | n | sculptural relief between bas-/high relief | AHD/W7 | |
| relevant | adj | pertinent, bearing upon matter at hand | AHD/W7 | |
| relieve | vb | to succor, free from evil/burden/distress | AHD/W7 | |
| West Germanic | ||||
| Old Frisian: | līcht | adj | light, easy | ASD |
| Middle Dutch: | lichten | vb | to unload | W7 |
| lichter | n | lighter | W7 | |
| Dutch: | long | n | lung | TLL |
| Old Saxon: | līht(līc) | adj/adv | light(ly) | ASD |
| Old High German: | līhti | adj | light, easy | W7 |
| lungun, lung(in)a | n.fem | lung | ASD/W7 | |
| German: | leicht | adj | light, easy | ASD |
| Lunge | n.fem | lung | ASD | |
| North Germanic | ||||
| Icelandic: | léttr | adj | light, easy | ASD |
| lungu | n.pl | lungs | ASD | |
| Danish: | lunge | n | lung | TLL |
| Swedish: | lunga | n | lung | TLL |
| East Germanic | ||||
| Gothic: | leihts | adj | light, easy | ASD |
| Italic | ||||
| Latin: | elevo, elevare, elevavi, elevatus | vb | to raise | W7 |
| levis | adj | light, smooth, mild | W7 | |
| levitas, levitatis | n.fem | lightness, inconstancy | W7 | |
| levo, levāre | vb | to lift, raise | W7 | |
| relevo, relevare | vb | to raise up, relieve | W7 | |
| Vulgar Latin: | levamen | n.neut | leaven | W7 |
| Late Latin: | allevio, alleviare, alleviavi, alleviatus | vb | to make light | W7 |
| Medieval Latin: | relevans, relevantis | adj/vb.ptc | relevant | W7 |
| Old French: | lever | vb | to raise | W7 |
| levier | n.masc | lever | W7 | |
| Middle French: | levain | n.masc | leaven | W7 |
| relever | vb | to raise, relieve | W7 | |
| Italian: | carnevale | n.masc | carnival | W7 |
| mezzorilievo | n.masc | half-relief | W7 | |
| rilievo | n.masc | relief, remark | W7 | |
| Baltic | ||||
| Lithuanian: | leñgvas, lengvà | adj | light, easy | LRC |
| Hellenic | ||||
| Greek: | elachys | adj | small | W7 |
Key to Part-of-Speech/Grammatical feature abbreviations:
| Abbrev. | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| adj | = | adjective |
| adv | = | adverb(ial) |
| fem | = | feminine (gender) |
| masc | = | masculine (gender) |
| n | = | noun |
| neut | = | neuter (gender) |
| pl | = | plural (number) |
| prop | = | proper |
| ptc | = | participle |
| 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) |
| ASD | = | Joseph Bosworth and T. Northcote Toller: An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary (1898) |
| IEW | = | Julius Pokorny: Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (1959) |
| LRC | = | Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin |
| TLL | = | Frederick Bodmer: The Loom of Language (1944) |
| W7 | = | Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963) |
