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: mātér- 'mother'
Semantic Field(s): Mother
Indo-European Reflexes:
| Family/Language | Reflex(es) | PoS/Gram. | Gloss | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Celtic | ||||
| Old Irish: | máthir | n | mother | LRC |
| English | ||||
| Old English: | mōdor | n.fem | mother | ASD/W7 |
| Middle English: | matere | n | matter | W7 |
| materiel | adj | material | W7 | |
| maternal | adj | maternal | W7 | |
| matrimony | n | matrimony | W7 | |
| matrone | n | matron | W7 | |
| moder | n | mother | W7 | |
| English: | Demeter | prop.n | goddess of fertility (Greek mythology) | LRC |
| endometrium | n | membrane lining mammalian mother's uterus | TLL | |
| gammer | n | godmother, grandmother, old woman | OED | |
| godmother | n | woman who sponsors child at baptism | W7 | |
| grandmother | n | parent's mother; ancestress | LRC | |
| madrepore | n | stony reef-building coral of tropical seas | AHD/W7 | |
| material | adj | re: matter, physical substance | AHD/W7 | |
| maternal | adj | motherly, re: mother | AHD/W7 | |
| maternity | n | motherhood | AHD | |
| matriclinous | adj | having maternal hereditary traits | AHD | |
| matriculate | vb | to enroll as member, esp. of college | AHD/W7 | |
| matrimony | n | marriage, union of man/woman as husband/wife | AHD/W7 | |
| matrix | n | intercellular substance of tissue | AHD/W7 | |
| matron | n | married woman | AHD/W7 | |
| matronymic, metronymic | adj/n | (re:) maternal ancestor's name | AHD | |
| matter | n | subject under consideration | AHD/W7 | |
| mother | n | female parent | AHD/W7 | |
| British English: | mater | n | mother | AHD |
| West Germanic | ||||
| Old Frisian: | mōder | n | mother | ASD |
| Dutch: | moeder | n | mother | TLL |
| Old Saxon: | mōdar | n | mother | ASD |
| Old High German: | mouter, muotar | n | mother | ASD/W7 |
| German: | Mutter | n.fem | mother | LRC |
| North Germanic | ||||
| Old Norse: | móðir | n.fem | mother | LRC |
| Icelandic: | móðir | n | mother | ASD |
| Danish: | moder | n | mother | TLL |
| Swedish: | moder | n | mother | TLL |
| mor | n | mother | TLL | |
| Italic | ||||
| Latin: | Demeter | prop.n.fem | Demeter | W7 |
| mater, matris | n.fem | mother | W7 | |
| materia, materiae | n.fem | matter, physical substance | LRC | |
| maternus | adj | of a mother | W7 | |
| matrimonium, matrimoni | n.neut | marriage | LRC | |
| matrona | n.fem | wife, married woman, mother | W7 | |
| Late Latin: | materialis | adj | material, touchable | W7 |
| matricula | n.fem | public roll | W7 | |
| matrix, matricis | n.fem | list, womb | W7 | |
| Medieval Latin: | matriculo, matriculare, matriculavi, matriculatus | vb | to matriculate | W7 |
| Old French: | matere | n.fem | matter, physical substance | W7 |
| Middle French: | materiel | adj | material | W7 |
| maternel | adj | maternal | W7 | |
| matremoine | n.masc | matrimony, marriage | W7 | |
| matrone | n.fem | wife, married woman, mother | W7 | |
| French: | madrépore | n.fem | madrepore | W7 |
| Italian: | madre | n.fem | mother | W7 |
| madrepora | n.fem | madrepore | W7 | |
| Slavic | ||||
| Old Church Slavonic: | mati | n.fem | mother | LRC |
| Hellenic | ||||
| Doric: | μάτηρ | n.fem | mother | IEW |
| Homeric Greek: | Δημήτηρ | prop.n.fem | Demeter | IEW |
| Greek: | μήτηρ | n.fem | mother | LRC |
| Armenian | ||||
| Armenian: | mayr | n | mother | LRC |
| Iranian | ||||
| Avestan: | mātar- | n | mother | LRC |
| Indic | ||||
| Sanskrit: | mātṛ | n | mother | W7 |
| Tocharian | ||||
| Tocharian A: | mācar | n | mother | LRC |
Key to Part-of-Speech/Grammatical feature abbreviations:
| Abbrev. | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| adj | = | adjective |
| fem | = | feminine (gender) |
| masc | = | masculine (gender) |
| n | = | noun |
| neut | = | neuter (gender) |
| prop | = | proper |
| 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 |
| OED | = | James A.H. Murray et al: The Oxford English Dictionary (1933) |
| TLL | = | Frederick Bodmer: The Loom of Language (1944) |
| W7 | = | Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963) |
