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: 4. mel- 'big, strong'
Semantic Field(s): Big, Large, Great, Strong, Mighty, Powerful
Indo-European Reflexes:
| Family/Language | Reflex(es) | PoS/Gram. | Gloss | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | ||||
| Middle English: | multi- | pfx | multi- | W7 |
| multitude | n | multitude | W7 | |
| English: | ameliorate | vb | to improve, make/grow better | AHD/W7 |
| meliorate | vb | to improve, make/become better | AHD/W7 | |
| meliorism | n | belief that society tends to improve itself | AHD | |
| molto | adv | much, very | AHD/W7 | |
| multi- | pfx | many, multiple | AHD/W7 | |
| multipara | n | female that has borne offspring 2+ times | CDC | |
| multiple | adj | more than one | AHD/W7 | |
| multiplex | adj | re: multiple parts/elements | AHD | |
| multiply | vb | to increase in number | W7 | |
| multitude | n | state of being many/numerous | AHD/W7 | |
| multivoltine | adj | producing several broods per season | AHD | |
| Italic | ||||
| Latin: | melior | adj.comp | better | W7 |
| melius | adv | better | LRC | |
| multi- | pfx | mutliple | W7 | |
| multitudo, multitudinis | n.fem | multitude | LRC | |
| multum | adv | greatly | LRC | |
| multus, multa, multum | adj | much, many | LRC | |
| Late Latin: | meliorō, meliorāre, meliorāvī, meliorātus | vb | to make better | W7 |
| Middle French: | multi- | pfx | many | W7 |
| multitude | n.fem | multitude | W7 | |
| Italian: | molto | adj | much, many | W7 |
| Hellenic | ||||
| Greek: | μάλα | adv | very | LRC |
| μᾶλλον | adv | more and more | LRC | |
Key to Part-of-Speech/Grammatical feature abbreviations:
| Abbrev. | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| adj | = | adjective |
| adv | = | adverb(ial) |
| comp | = | comparative |
| fem | = | feminine (gender) |
| n | = | noun |
| pfx | = | prefix |
| 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) |
| CDC | = | W.D. Whitney and B.E. Smith: The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia (1889-1911) |
| LRC | = | Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, Austin |
| W7 | = | Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963) |
