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)

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