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: 1. meu-, meu̯ə- : mū̆- 'wet, damp; to wash; dirt, mud, mire'
Semantic Field(s): Wet, Damp, to Wash, Mud, Mire
Indo-European Reflexes:
| Family/Language | Reflex(es) | PoS/Gram. | Gloss | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | ||||
| Old English: | mos | n.neut | moss, marsh | W7 |
| must | n | must | W7 | |
| Middle English: | mire | n | mire | W7 |
| moss | n | moss | W7 | |
| must | n | must | W7 | |
| mustard | n | mustard | W7 | |
| smotten, smoteren | vb | to soil, stain, dirty, pollute | IEW | |
| English: | litmus | n | coloring matter from lichens | AHD/W7 |
| mire | n | bog, marsh | AHD/W7 | |
| moss | n | bog, swamp | AHD/W7 | |
| mother | n | barm, yeast, leaven | IEW | |
| mud | n | mire, ooze, slime, sludge | IEW | |
| must | n | juice of grapes/other fruit expressed before/during fermentation | AHD/W7 | |
| mustard | n | pungent yellow powder from seeds | AHD/W7 | |
| mysophobia | n | abnormal fear of dirt/contamination | AHD | |
| quagmire | n | land with soft muddy surface | AHD | |
| smut | n | spot, stain, soot, black matter | IEW/W7 | |
| West Germanic | ||||
| Old High German: | mos | n | moss | W7 |
| most | n.masc | must | ASD | |
| German: | Moos | n.neut | moss | LRC |
| Most | n.masc | must | ASD | |
| Schmutz | n | dirt, filth | TLL | |
| North Germanic | ||||
| Old Norse: | litmosi | n | herb used in dyeing | W7 |
| mosi | n.masc | moss | LRC | |
| mȳrr | n | mire | W7 | |
| Icelandic: | mosi | n | moss | ASD |
| Danish: | mose | n | moss, moor | ASD |
| Swedish: | mudder | n | mud | TLL |
| Italic | ||||
| Latin: | muscus | n.masc | moss | W7 |
| mustum | n.neut | sweet unfermented wine | W7 | |
| Old French: | mostarde | n.fem | mustard | W7 |
| moust | n.masc | must | W7 | |
| Hellenic | ||||
| Greek: | μυρίος | adj | countless | LRC |
Key to Part-of-Speech/Grammatical feature abbreviations:
| Abbrev. | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|
| adj | = | adjective |
| fem | = | feminine (gender) |
| masc | = | masculine (gender) |
| n | = | noun |
| neut | = | neuter (gender) |
| 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 |
| TLL | = | Frederick Bodmer: The Loom of Language (1944) |
| W7 | = | Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary (1963) |
