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: 3. lei- 'slimy; to slip, glide'
Semantic Field(s): to Slip, Slide
Indo-European Reflexes:
Family/Language | Reflex(es) | PoS/Gram. | Gloss | Source(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Celtic | ||||
Old Irish: | ad-slig | vb | to persuade | GED |
English | ||||
Old English: | lām | n.neut | loam | ASD/W7 |
līm | n | lime | W7 | |
sliht | adj | slight, simple, level | GED | |
slīm | n.masc/neut | slime | ASD/W7 | |
slipor | adj | slippery | W7 | |
Middle English: | lime | n | lime | W7 |
liniment | n | liniment | W7 | |
lom | n | loam | W7 | |
oblivion | n | oblivion | W7 | |
slight, sleght | adj | slight | GED | |
sliken | vb | to slick | W7 | |
slime | n | slime | W7 | |
slippen | vb | to slip | W7 | |
slipper | adj | slippery | W7 | |
English: | limacine | adj | re: slug | AHD/W7 |
lime | n | birdlime, sticky substance | AHD/W7 | |
limicoline | adj | shore-inhabiting | AHD/W7 | |
liniment | n | thin medicinal preparation for skin application | AHD/W7 | |
litotes | n | understatement having affirmative expressed by negative of contrary (not a bad...) | AHD/W7 | |
loam | n | soil mixture composed mainly of moistened clay | AHD/W7 | |
oblivion | n | forgetfulness, act/instance of forgetting | AHD/W7 | |
oubliette | n | dungeon with opening only at top | AHD/W7 | |
schlep | vb | to lug, carry clumsily; move slowly/laboriously | AHD | |
slick | vb | to make sleek/smooth | AHD/W7 | |
slight | adj | slim, frail; sleek, smooth | AHD/W2I | |
slime | n | soft moist clay/earth | AHD/W7 | |
slimy | adj | viscous, re: slime | W7 | |
slip | vb | to move with smooth sliding motion | AHD/W7 | |
slippery | adj | causing one to slide/fall | AHD/W7 | |
West Germanic | ||||
Old Frisian: | sliucht | adj | slight, even | GED |
Middle Dutch: | slicht | adj | slight | W7 |
Dutch: | slijk | n | mud | TLL |
slijm | n | slime | ASD | |
Old Low German: | lēmo, leimo | n | loam | ASD |
Middle Low German: | slecht | adj | slight, even, friendly | GED |
slippen | vb | to slip | W7 | |
slipper | adj | slippery | W7 | |
Old High German: | leim | n | loam | ASD |
līm | n | lime | W7 | |
slefar | adj | slippery | ASD | |
sleht | adj | slight, even, friendly | GED | |
slīhhan | vb.str | to glide | GED | |
slīmen | vb | to smooth | W7 | |
Middle High German: | slepfer | adj | slippery | ASD |
slīm | n.masc | slime | ASD | |
German: | Lehm | n | loam | ASD |
Schleim | n.masc | slime | ASD | |
schleimig | adj | slimy | LRC | |
North Germanic | ||||
Old Norse: | leir | n | clay | KNW |
Old Icelandic: | slēttr | adj | slight, even, smooth, gentle | GED |
slīur | adj | smooth | GED | |
Icelandic: | slím | n.neut | slime | ASD |
Danish: | ler | n | clay | TLL |
slette | n | plain | TLL | |
Swedish: | lera | n | clay | TLL |
slät | n | plain | TLL | |
East Germanic | ||||
Gothic: | *slaihts | adj | smooth | GED |
Italic | ||||
Latin: | levis | adj | light, smooth, mild | W7 |
lima | n.fem | file | W7 | |
limax, limacis | n | slug | W7 | |
līmus | n.masc | mud | W7 | |
lino, linere | vb | to smear | W7 | |
oblivio, oblivionis | n.fem | oblivion | W7 | |
obliviscor, oblivisci, oblitus | vb | to forget | W7 | |
Late Latin: | linimentum | n.neut | liniment | W7 |
New Latin: | limacinus | adj | of slugs | W7 |
Middle French: | oblivion | n.fem | oblivion | W7 |
oublier | vb | to forget | W7 | |
oubliette | n.fem | oubliette, remote prison | W7 | |
French: | oubliette | n.fem | remote isolated cell in medieval dungeon | W7 |
Slavic | ||||
Russian: | slizkij | adj | slippery | GED |
Hellenic | ||||
Greek: | leios | adj | smooth | W7 |
λίγδην | adv | scraping | GED | |
λίσσομαι | vb | to pray | LRC | |
litos | adj | simple | W7 | |
litotēs | n.fem | simplicity, litote (figure of speech) | W7 | |
olibros | adj | slippery | 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) |
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) |
GED | = | Winfred P. Lehmann: A Gothic Etymological Dictionary (1986) |
KNW | = | Gerhard Köbler: Altnordisches Wörterbuch, 2nd ed. (2003) |
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) |