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: médhu 'mead, honey'
Semantic Field(s): Mead, Honey
Indo-European Reflexes:
| Family/Language | Reflex(es) | PoS/Gram. | Gloss | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Celtic | ||||
| Old Irish: | mid | n | mead | LRC |
| Welsh: | meddyglyn | n | drink of mead | W7/WE |
| English | ||||
| Old English: | medo, medu, meodn | n.masc | mead | ASD/W7 |
| Middle English: | amatiste | n | amethyst | W7 |
| mede | n | mead | W7 | |
| English: | amethyst | n | crystallized quartz in clear blue/violet/purple color | AHD/W7 |
| mead | n | drink made from fermented honey | AHD/W7 | |
| Meduseld | prop.n | Mark palace in Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings | LRC | |
| methylene | n | bivalent hydrocarbon radical | AHD | |
| West Germanic | ||||
| Old High German: | metu, meto, mito | n.masc | mead | ASD/W7 |
| German: | Meth | n | mead | ASD |
| North Germanic | ||||
| Old Norse: | mjǫðr | n.masc | mead | LRC |
| Icelandic: | mjödr | n.masc | mead | ASD |
| Italic | ||||
| Latin: | amethystus | n.fem | amethyst | W7 |
| Old French: | amatiste | n.fem | amethyst | W7 |
| Baltic | ||||
| Lithuanian: | medùs | n | honey | LRC |
| Slavic | ||||
| Russian: | med | n | honey | LRC |
| medved | n | bear, lit. honey-eater | LRC | |
| Hellenic | ||||
| Homeric Greek: | μέθῠ | n.neut | mead, wine | LRC |
| Greek: | amethystos | n.fem | remedy for drunkenness | W7 |
| methuskein | vb | to intoxicate | AHD | |
| methyw | vb | to be drunk | W7 | |
| Anatolian | ||||
| Luwian: | maddu- | n | mead | LRC |
| Iranian | ||||
| Avestan: | madu- | n | mead, wine | LRC |
| Indic | ||||
| Sanskrit: | mádhu | n | honey | LRC |
| Tocharian | ||||
| Tocharian B: | mit | n | honey | LRC |
Key to Part-of-Speech/Grammatical feature abbreviations:
| Abbrev. | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| 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) |
| LRC | = | Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin |
| W7 | = | Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963) |
| WE | = | H. Meurig Evans and W.O. Thomas: Welsh-English, English-Welsh Dictionary (1969) |
