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)

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