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. mer-, merə- 'to die'
Semantic Field(s): to Die; Dead; Death
Indo-European Reflexes:
| Family/Language | Reflex(es) | PoS/Gram. | Gloss | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Celtic | ||||
| Old Irish: | marb | adj | dead | LRC |
| marbaid | vb | to put to death | LRC | |
| Welsh: | marw | adj | dead | LRC |
| English | ||||
| Old English: | morð | n.masc | death, murder, destruction | LRC |
| morðor | n.masc/neut | murder, misery, wickedness | ASD/W7 | |
| Middle English: | amortisen | vb | to amortize, alienate | W7 |
| immortal | adj | immortal | W7 | |
| moreyne | n | murrain | W7 | |
| mortal | adj | mortal | W7 | |
| morte-mayne | n | mortmain | W7 | |
| mortuarie | n | mortuary | W7 | |
| mot | n | horn blast, note | W7 | |
| murther, murdre | n | murder | W7 | |
| English: | ambrosia | n | food of Greek/Roman gods | AHD/W7 |
| amortize | vb.trans | to kill, slay, deaden, destroy | AHD/OED | |
| amrita | n | ambrosia bestowing immortality (Hindu mythology) | AHD | |
| immortal | adj | exempt from death | AHD/W7 | |
| Mordor | prop.n | land of Sauron in Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings | LRC | |
| moribund | adj | dying | AHD/W7 | |
| mort | n | note (sounded on horn) signalling death of prey | AHD/W7 | |
| mortal | adj | fatal, causing death | AHD/W7 | |
| mortar | n | strong vessel where substances are ground/pounded with pestle | AHD/W7 | |
| mortmain | n | inalienable land/building possession | AHD/W7 | |
| mortuary | n | place where dead bodies are kept before burial | AHD/W7 | |
| murder | n | unlawful killing of person | AHD/W7 | |
| murrain | n | plague/pestilence affecting domestic plants/animals | AHD/W7 | |
| postmortem | adj | occurring after death | AHD | |
| British English: | amortise | vb.trans | to amortize | LRC |
| West Germanic | ||||
| Old Frisian: | morth | n | death, murder, destruction | ASD |
| Old Saxon: | morð | n | death, murder, destruction | ASD |
| Old High German: | mord | n | death, murder, destruction | W7 |
| German: | Mord | n.masc | murder | LRC |
| North Germanic | ||||
| Old Norse: | morþ | n | death, murder | LRC |
| myrða | vb | to kill, murder | LRC | |
| Icelandic: | morð | n | death, murder, destruction | ASD |
| East Germanic | ||||
| Gothic: | maurþr | n | murder | LRC |
| maurþrjan | vb | to murder | LRC | |
| Italic | ||||
| Latin: | ambrosia | n.fem | ambrosia | W7 |
| immortalis | adj | immortal, eternal | W7 | |
| moribundus | adj | dying | W7 | |
| morior, mori | vb.dep | to die, expire | W7 | |
| mors, mortis | n.fem | death | W7 | |
| mortalis, mortalis, mortale | adj | mortal | LRC | |
| mortuarius | adj | re: the dead | W7 | |
| mortuus | vb.ptc | dead | W7 | |
| Vulgar Latin: | admortio, admortīre | vb | to amortize | W7 |
| Portuguese: | morrer | vb | to die | TLL |
| Spanish: | morir | vb | to die | TLL |
| Old French: | amortir | vb | to amortize | AHD |
| mort(e) | adj | dead | W7 | |
| mortemain | n.fem | mortmain | W7 | |
| Middle French: | amortir | vb | to absorb, amortize | W7 |
| morine | n.fem | murrain | W7 | |
| morir | vb | to die | W7 | |
| mortel | adj | mortal | W7 | |
| mortemain | n.fem | mortmain | W7 | |
| French: | amortir | vb | to absorb, subdue, amortize | W7 |
| mourir | vb | to die | TLL | |
| Italian: | morire | vb | to die | TLL |
| Baltic | ||||
| Lithuanian: | mir̃ti, mìršta, mìrė | vb | to die | LRC |
| mirtìs | n.fem | death | LRC | |
| Slavic | ||||
| Old Church Slavonic: | mrĕti | vb | to die | LRC |
| mrьtvъ | adj | dead | LRC | |
| sъmrьtь | n.fem | death | LRC | |
| Hellenic | ||||
| Homeric Greek: | ἀμβροσία | n.fem | ambrosia, immortality | LRC |
| Greek: | ἄμβροτος | n.masc | immortal man | LRC |
| βροτός | n.masc | mortal man | LRC | |
| *μορτός | n.masc | mortal man | LRC | |
| Anatolian | ||||
| Hittite: | martari | vb | to disappear | LRC |
| merzi | vb | to go missing | LRC | |
| Armenian | ||||
| Classical Armenian: | mahaber | adj | death-bearing | LRC |
| mah | n | death | LRC | |
| mard | n | (mortal) man | LRC | |
| mardik | n | mankind, people | LRC | |
| Armenian: | meranim | vb | to die | LRC |
| Iranian | ||||
| Old Persian: | am(a)riyatā | vb.pret | (he) died | LRC |
| Avestan: | miryeite | vb | to die | LRC |
| Indic | ||||
| Sanskrit: | amṛtam | adj/adv | without death | AHD |
| márate, mriyáte | vb | to die | LRC | |
| mṛtam | n | death | AHD | |
Key to Part-of-Speech/Grammatical feature abbreviations:
| Abbrev. | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| adj | = | adjective |
| adv | = | adverb(ial) |
| dep | = | deponent |
| fem | = | feminine (gender) |
| masc | = | masculine (gender) |
| n | = | noun |
| neut | = | neuter (gender) |
| pret | = | preterite (tense) |
| prop | = | proper |
| ptc | = | participle |
| trans | = | transitive |
| 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 |
| 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) |
