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) |